RE:% of exerciseHow did you come up with 45% of the shares are held by insiders? When I looked up the insider holdings on SEDI. it only came to about 28% of the common shares. What did I miss? Did you include all the options and warrants? Or double count the Johnson\Orca holdings?
I think things will be fine if we hit at least the 35-50% uptake for the RO. Though the biggest question will be the OTP outcome. Assuming that the MRT process will be significantly more cost effective than SX, it has a chance of making the mine cost effective. According to a just published study in the Minerals journal, Bokan doesn't really stand a chance at being profitable using current techniques, even at double the current REE prices. (
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/9/10/576) My guess is that The actual cost of the MRT process is significantly less than standard SX, and that is why Izatt is trying so hard to avoid having to sell the company. The fact that the ligands are reusable and the rest of the process is fairly straightforward. Potentially the biggest upside to this is not the mine itself, but being able to build a significant infrastructure for REE processing here in North America. That would further reduce the strangle hold China has on the supply of refined REE. One interesting though that comes to mind is that if the US goverment feels that REE are such a critical commodity, there may be a chance that they create a stockpile, somewhat similar to their strategic petroleum reserves. With a regulation forbidding the purchase of Chinese sourced REE, a creation of this reserve would definitely increase the market prices of REE and make marginal deposits economical.