Krypton, "Hence simple return on investment could be as low as...

Krypton,

"Hence simple return on investment could be as low as 55/1500 = 3.7%. Would not it be very unlikely for the project to fly at this low return on investment? (and would not it struggle to cover its interest bill on CAPEX debt?)."

So now you get it. Big players like BHP, RIO, Vale want to keep holding IO price down by massive production at low cost to them. New players will struggle to get into the market including Gina's Roy Hill.

However, I must add, some Chinese steel mills do NOT care about return on investments (ie even lower than 3.7% as you calculated) but on having ownership of iron ore rather than depend on BHP, RIO and Vale. They want to be more independent, so that's ROY board needs to go out and find those companies.

Just IMHO.