I know absolutely nothing about manufacturing, but I think Ellipse once said that some of the tooling/molds wear out with use. However, I can't imagine that they would wear out with such a small production run, and information like the measurements and paint mixture recipes would certainly be reusable. That said, I bet it would cost a bit to store the tooling and molds until another run if there isn't enough demand to keep these keyboards in constant production. I'm completely ignorant of the industry and process, so maybe that doesn't make sense.
In China they can manufacture ANYTHING at this point in time. Making this Keyboard is difficult due to past tolerances achieved with the technology that was available back then. BUT making a keyboard now that feels like the previous Model-F is not an easy task.
Ellipse still sticks to his guns regarding tight tolerances which the Chinese tend to ignore so most of the time is wasted in achieving his dimensions and of course trying it out. That is what it's like when creating anything, you make an experiment in trying it out, if it fails you make another until the PERFECT specimen is achieved and applied. When the keyboard is put together, the most difficult keyboard to build compared to all the lazy/easy PCB tech, separate switches, currently used everywhere.
Unlike here in the West where most molds are stored, in China all molds are recycled again to make new molds for future projects. In China space is valuable and suddenly to start storing multiple molds on the side line not making any money for the owner of the factory, doesn't compute. They will re-use the molds either by breaking them apart and welding other pieces together or simply melting them all down for a completely new pour, for another design.
That is why in China you can't find any OLD molds anywhere because the metal in them is so valuable for recycling. So all those here who think there will be another Model-F manufacture 2 or 5 years from now, can keep on dreaming about that because by the time you save up or hold onto that fantasy of yours, all you would of achieved is in joining the long que of absolute LOSERS, as they all start crying in unison that NO one told me about this.
But rest assured, that someone did tell you here on Geekhack, so you can go quietly to your graves missing out on owning this once in a Life-time keyboard, due to your own ignorance and stupidity.