I believe IDO are advancing in good faith. Indon's insistence on value adding for resource exports virtually compel them to go down the PI route. Not a bad thing, as then they will not be open to the vagaries of the Ti-V-magnetite market and they can capture additional value from the by-products. As you can see from their preso (slide 15), the prices obtained for the product on the international market is low (highest on the slide is IDR290,000, or about US$22.60/t).
The key will be, of course, funding to set up the proposed vertically integrated operation.
PI production is, in general, a risky business, as HISmelt found out. Merchant PI has a limited market as most countries view steel production a strategic enterprise. The best opportunity, however, may well be in SE Asia where electric arc furnaces dominate the industry.
Interestingly, Rockcheck Steel, one of the few steel mills in the world that use Ti-V-magnetite, are on IDO's share register. Rockcheck was the company that had the off-take agreement with Aurox' Balla Balla project.
