Business aspects and future technical outlook for hydrometallurgy

Many are called, but few are chosen. The biblical adage applies not only to life, but also to hydrometallurgical processes. There have been, in the past, many outstanding successes with new processes - and also some dismal failures. What are the odds of success for a new process? When there have been problems, why? What can you do to make sure these problems don't occur with your process? What effect will a slow startup have on project economics? How do financial institutions - the people who loan your company money for the project - feel about new processes and why? Is it possible to predict or estimate the time required to reach design parameters...and if so, how do you sell this estimate to management - and financial institutions? Probably most important - when do you start thinking about the answers to these questions?