You raise a valid concern re CAPEX assuming the same annual throughput , probably need to break the CAPEX down and also look at other factors , ie SFRs Degrussa was built around 2011 , there seemed to be a lot of plants being built around then so maybe contractors could set their price ?
The next factor is grind size necessary for flotation and then for further downstream processing , going from a final grind size of 100 microns instead of 200 microns could double the power required for processing which also means bigger crushers and ball/SAG mills needed
The next factor is ore type which could increase power requirement by about 30%
The ore at De Grusa is in Sulphides , while the ore at Galena is going to be in magnetite initially and then in Dolomite breccia which is relatively soft ,
Imagine If you were given a sledge hammer and a wheelbarrow of dolomite you are going to smash it to bits a lot faster than rock with the hardness of 50Mpa concrete , therefore Degrussa for its 1.5Mpta plant probably needs 20 Mwh of muscle to run its plant to hit quartz carbonate and chalcopyrite and correspondingly bigger sledge hammers than the same capacity plant but at Galena which may only need 15Mwh to process dolomite assuming the same grind size .
The next factor is reagent use ..............
But your argument still stands given none of my argument is qualified and that is how can Degrussa have around the same sized plant as Galana's be costing $100M and Galenas plant only cost $51M
chapter 9.3.2.5 of the book "economic evaluations in exploration" describes the above and is qualified by F-W Wellmer
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