Acid recycle is around 95% which is where the OPEX is saved. DNi bought the rights for a nitric acid recycle technology and worked from there. I would imagine the $2-3 figure quoted is for larger plants which will have economies of scale. Initially I think the plan will be get a smaller scaled plant going and expand in stages, which is possible due to the modular design of the proposed plant, I have enquired this and there was talk in an interview about a larger scale plant. In time I believe the $2-3 dollar figure is achievable but not until expansion.
In terms of CAPEX the use of 304 and 316 stainless steel instead of more exotic custom designed and made parts made from more expensive materials is where the saving comes in. The size chosen as a starter is prudent I believe.
As you say this would be the first production plant using the DNi process. It has been de-risked quite a lot through the demonstration plant that they ran continously for 1 yr at 1t/day roughly about 1:1100 the scale of the proposed plant. So certainly it is a respectable demo plant and has de-risked a lot from the lab results prior to the 2013-2014 completion of the demo plant.
The byproducts have very deep markets which bodes well. More recently Alumina has become a valuable by-product. With the possibility of converting to HPA an interesting prospect. I believe this would be an excellent opportunity as I dont believe there are any companies on the ASX looking to make HPA as a byproduct. Others are looking to make it as a primary product however given the size of the HPA market (25000tpa currently though expected to increase to 85000tpa in the near future) pricing risks for primary producers exist. Alumina sells at $400US/t HPA sells for $25000US/t for 4N (99.99%). Iggy is trying to export Kaolin to JB Malaysia to process. A4N is looking to refine an unspecified, industrial feedstock whose supply is unknown. Both break even at around $10000 US/t. It will be interesting to see how that market develops. Congrats to Iggy, he was really early on HPA just like lithium, the guy certainly has a good eye for future trends.
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