At this stage NTU is considered to be a speculative stock, and...

At this stage NTU is considered to be a speculative stock, and only a fool would consider it otherwise. However I do believe that it has a good change of rewarding those willing to take risks. I have noticed that the price of the NTU stock has been cracking under pressure lately, however for last two days thanks to a bit of PR exercise by management and Trump's actions it has been able to sustain such pressure quite well. Imagine now if China overtly or otherwise decides for economic or political reasons to abruptly or even gradually restrict supply. Where would the price of the stock stop?

"Why do you think Lynas quotes "NdPr China Domestic VAT excluded" as a base price in all its QR's?"

I have no clue if it does or does not, but I take your word for it. VAT on exports is refundable therefore that will be the way that the Chinese, in principle, are expected to quote their export prices for FOB contracts and that is the price that one would expect to sea as the reference price for the international price of a commodity. For reasons perhaps to do with geopolitics and some pragmatism the export reference prices for rare-earth materials are the Chinese consumer prices.

I have no background in mining and the reason why I am here is to sharpen my mind and to test my knowledge and gain further understanding.