@Mining8 ....................
"There is no evidence the transport numbers will be high, just down ramping speculation by people who pull numbers from where the sun don't shine to suit their agenda and do not even consider all routes involved."
I'd love to know your definition of 'high'.
There is plenty of evidence from Ivanhoe Mines with their current studies showing a number of over $US300/t transport cost for the Kamoa-Kakula mine, even after they have a rail siding at the mine (that they include a capital cost for the spur line).
I'll take Ivanhoe Mines logistics experts as people that know what they are doing, are you suggesting otherwise?? They even mention going the 2,200 km to Dar es Salaam, but dismiss it for the longer journey to Durban 3,300 km because it is more reliable, they then are going west to Lobito via train, but still have a cost of $US323 for transport. They are going to take a couple of years to build their mine as well.
Ivanhoe Mines long term solution for 'high' transport costs are to build a blister copper smelter onsite, so they transport a higher grade product.
I suspect that a hydroxide plant (or 5) is AVZ's longer term solution, but too far out for the current scoping study.
