[throwaway422432]

The know-how has been lost so those currently looking to build plants have to relearn the processes. At the same time they need to examine new methods using different chemicals depending on the material they are extracting from and the particular impurities that need to be removed.

Ball park for a processing plant is 1.5b and 2-3 years from digging foundations to operations if the funds are there and it's fully approved. A lot of the metallurgical testing can be done in parallel with the build, but getting off-take partners requires being able to prove you can supply, and the off-take partners usually supply a lot of the funding.

Case in point, Lynas' Seadrift project in Texas is stalled and may not proceed due to an waste-water permitting issue and the USG not wanting to provide the additional funding required, or fully commit and guarantee off-take.