Offtake agreements aren't worth the paper they are written on....

Offtake agreements aren't worth the paper they are written on. Typically they only "guarantee" volumes based on prices to be negotiated at the time of delivery based on "market pricing". End users simply can't afford to be lock into paying $1,300 for zircon when the market price is $800. However, even contracted volumes aren't guaranteed in a downturn as most contracts have various outs with hardship clauses, force majeure clauses and pro-rata of volumes.

Complicating this issue is that most of SFX's zircon off-take agreements are with pretty minor, 3rd tier players (who are currently strongly aligned to Tronox & Rio). I wouldn't want to rely on any of these companies in a downturn.