some basics - sdl vs. fmg, page-27

From the December quarterly production report (FMG):

Cash costs per tonne:
Operating cost of sales $38.01
Operating lease $3.49
Total direct costs $41.50

As compared with the September quarter of total direct costs of $34.83 per tonne.

The above are OPEX costs (current), i believe the costs in the table were estimated costs at time of their DFS???

And that was for their current project of 40-55mtpa.
Note they're ramping up to 55-155mtpa. CAPEX for this ramp up is $8.4 billion spend over 30months.

Now with that in mind, i do believe SDL will have the ability with their original CAPEX to ramp up with a lower cost implication (though this is ages away and there is no point in speculating at this stage)