A start up plant sounds a little unusual, given BRB's already...

A start up plant sounds a little unusual, given BRB's already reasonable capital base (to source the equity component) and current low cost of funds (debt component) - which should make a full scale plant readily achieveable.

You also have the time / value of money to consider, which would place a higher value on near term full scale production cashflow, by going straight to a full scale plant.

Like most things, the devil will be in the detail, but from what I see, most goldies seem to avoid this route to production.