RE:RE:RE:Three parts to AIDEA fundingHi Dragon,
Yes, as you state, first step(s) are, mining, separation of REE minerals from gangue, breakdown of minerals to extract REEs, separation of REEs from other breakdown elements, purification of extract, then the difficult seprartion of individual REEs. Even then, not many industries in US can incorporate those REEs into products, e.g., magnets. So much work to be done rebuilding the full REE industry in US.
As to price of concentrate, it's even difficult to get a price on REEs. Pretty obscure pricing. Dark contracts. I've read reports from some pay-for services, e.g., Roskill,; not cheap to subscribe! There's a pretty good German site with some prices; AliBaba also. But concentrate, not seen any data. MP might be the only, or one of a very few, sellers of concentrate other than intra-China transactions.
As with lithium, the money in REEs is in the purification and separation, not in the concentrate.