Even if price drops to $US10,000 per tonne, they will still be...

Even if price drops to $US10,000 per tonne, they will still be making $US6,000 gross margin - 5000 tonnes x $6,000 x .6 (ORE's share) = $US18 million gross profit before deductions for interest, tax and depreciation. IIRC the original business case for the Olaroz project was based on a sale price of $US6,000 or less, so at $10,000 it should be highly profitable even with reduced levels of production.

Capital works are not an expense, they are an investment. The only part that affects P&L is the depreciation of the asset over time which is a loss (but is also tax deductible). ORE's profit last year was impacted by the one-off write-down of Borax Argentina to $0, so no further write-down possible there.