Putting the cart before the horse Is never advisable. Yet it's the advice you get here.
The reason the sp sits where it does unbeknownst to some is because of the high risk factor associated with the metallurgical break through achieved extracting rare earth content from eudialyte on a bench scale, and if it were to fail to translate at the pilot plant scale. You then can expect to see significantly higher operating costs and rare earth recoveries impacted such that the bench scale results would no longer be reliable.
The bench scale often done more for characterization than process testing is typically conducted on samples from 1 to 20 kg , whereas pilot scale testing can require samples of 100 kg upwards to several tonnes.
Much higher operating cost are pretty much a given. The question is how much higher than the numbers arrived at from the bench scale.
This is going to factor into the feasibility study being undertaken by TTC and there is no guarantee of an economical extraction endpoint at this stage in the process. If the pilot test fails , the jv with Toyota will not materialize. It's just that simple.
The ill informed are always certain it's a sure thing well before it ever is - putting the proverbial cart before the horse.