RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:Don Lay - insiderWould only be guessing, but one of the advantages here is that flexibility, they could buy feed and process in the US, perhaps license flow sheet to someone else in India or Australia.
Process is agnostic, low CapEx, and creates an intermediate product that can be fed direct to SX, i.e. LAMP Malaysia, provided the cost basis is attractive.
Nothing to say the big guys can't develop their own flow sheets but it takes time, likely several years, equals money.
Spec play but definitely an interesting one as the monazite waste to REO space is getting staked out by some big players in Australia, and understand there is a LOT of activity just below the surface in US.
Given the scale of resources available, and potentially low CapEx & OpEx to carbonate, Hasting's Yangibana may well be the last hardrock RE mine developed, and that would be on the basis it can produce a cost effective 60% TREO that runs 40% NdPr.