Evidence based speculation, page-34

I think you are worrying yourself too much Esh . To make a tonne of pig iron from magnetite (Fe3o4) it requires a couple of tonne of magnetite guessing two tonnes is worth $120 US which includes guessing 30% SiO2 and an electric arc furnace ,( pig iron melts at around 1500 C )
Anyway it all gets melted up, the magnetite beneath the SiO2 slag reduces to pig iron that sells for about US$250 a tonne
So the electric cost would be less than $250- 125 = $130 a tonne and that is a very liberal figure assuming there was no profit , labor , CAPEX expenses so lets say $100 a tonne in energy costs .
There are plenty of production refractory smelters in Nevada , that treat the refractory gold from gold mills there so I doubt if this is an unsermountable hurdle .