Iofina Share Discussion Threads

[naphar] 11/6/2014 17:44

Rugrat
the word hill was an exaggeration to make the point I think.
The point was that despite 170k bpd of brine in the operators pipe network, it's not been easy to reroute the brine, because apparently IO3-6 are on sites geographically higher than other disposal Wells. I still don't fully get it but that seemed to be the gist. I just accepted that iof had priory investigated rerouting, found it too difficult and or expensive despite the volume of brine I the pipe network and gave up on the basis that the fix was needed short term only.

[rugrat2] 11/6/2014 17:38

I'm rather bemused by the comments about IO#4 being built on the top of a hill, "and will never get much brine". It is built beside an swd sited by CHK midway along a 9 mile stretch of their leases to service all the wells, whether higher or lower than the swd. Four miles away at the western end the elevation is 1262ft, the swd is at 1243ft and five miles east it is 1192ft. Scarcely mountainous! The western half of Alfalfa generally slopes east like that, so many wells on the eastern side of an swd will need the brine to be pumped.

It's easy enough to look at on GE - just draw a line and on the bottom of the edit tab click on 'show elevation profile'.

[bobbyshilling] 11/6/2014 17:33

Thanks for all the updates.

[superg1] 11/6/2014 16:43

Test

I know but if you say hill on here, the picture how far above the tree line it is, and whether snowed in and accessible during the winter months. Hence my post, I know what you meant, but from experience know how simple words can turn into storms on here.

mention the Japanese and no one reacts, let's see what happens.


Awol

That defeats what the header says, I bet they have rung their mates to buy IOF and have fed you some BS etc. :-)

[awolagain] 11/6/2014 16:11

This is the jest of what was said in the news...my friends English is as bad as my Spanish...

Mayor met with union representatives ZOFRI, who formed (loaders, workers, business users and system works).
The idea is to get ahead Iquique.

It seems that the central government is not doing much for Iquiqui
But the unions are coming together to move this city
Whose main driver is the port (for entry and exit of merchandise)
and the free zone is the heart, delivering loads users from different countries.

In short what says Mr. GUSTAVO ARIEL LEPISKE (Union Company Spokesperson ZOFRI)
Is that the Central Government is not doing enough to take this city forward.
But who are these people who have come together to give the Government should support this port city.

[hazbaz] 11/6/2014 15:28

Superg, many thanks, nice meze.

[superg1] 11/6/2014 14:43

Hazbaz

On that point





Note the link up and the battery company plus comments.

Lithium iodide batteries are seen as possible replacements but could be a while off. However the next step change which they are probably looking at is this



Lithium ion batteries with iodine used in the process.

[sandbag] 11/6/2014 14:40

Test, Sg1,

Thanks for your answers.

[superg1] 11/6/2014 14:25

Bogg1e

Crossover on who owns the iodine/brine/royalties. EG plants are currently with Chesa and Mid states.

Only brine from their own wells can go to related plants, so a non runner.

[beercapafn] 11/6/2014 14:23

Boog. Love that idea.

[hazbaz] 11/6/2014 14:19

Just one point discussed yesterday was the fact that Japanese companies are buying up lithium companies and there was an inference this was maybe down to the future of lithium iodine batteries. If this is the case then an off take agreement with a Japanese company to produce additional iodine could be the catalyst for pushing the button on mobile plants. It was mentioned mobile plants could be operational in 60 days (component parts readily available in the US without the need to import specialist parts) from placement of order and based upon infrastructure works already being commenced ......

[bogg1e] 11/6/2014 14:11

I still dont understand why they dont collect the low bpd/high ppm brine sources in tanks and transport them to a pod or plant. The 5000 ppm site is a 50 bpd site? 1 bpd = 160 liters. So 50 bpd = 8000 liters. A liquid transporter truck holds about 48000 liters, ie one tanker would take 6 days to fill, then off to a pod while a second tanker fills up. (If they painted it black they could steam off half the water by the time it gets to the plant meaning even higher ppm concentrations - pipedream i know!)

[spike_1] 11/6/2014 14:06

Nothing much to add, and again my thanks to all. I told Lance that once the new CEO is in place and up to speed, I would not expect to see he / she and Lance travelling on the same plane.

Interestingly, he said that that policy was already in place.

Not only did they (almost always Lance) answer every single question asked, but they almost never sited commercial confidentiality to not provide a substantive answer.

Best question: (to jeff) 'last year you said your wife was begging you to sell some of your IOF holding, are you still together?'

Apparently they are =;0)

Cheers - Mike

[superg1] 11/6/2014 14:03

Bit of an exaggeration re 'hill', higher ground more like.

It's a web of pipelines as said before, and yes water will naturally have a higher pressure going to lower areas.

The fact is io4 is at an SWD where brine flows to. Thinking logically the more wells that are going in, the more water there will be, increasing pressures all round.

Didn't they say io4 up to 20k bpd recently. In other words it's unlikely to get above 20k.

As the land lies it's at a high point in the pipe matrix.

[testuser123] 11/6/2014 13:58

Sandbag - there were a couple of questions along those lines and the company have spoken to CHK about it, but fixing it would require IOF to be responsible for large chunks of the brine network which are currently CHKs responsibility (not to mention the power costs). It seems that the takehome is that the CHK plants are profitable but (with the exception of IO5) they will never be in IO2 territory.

I raised the option of just trucking being from a high PPM site to one of the more useless CHK sites, but Jeff reckoned that the operators would be funny about having you use their SWDs to dispose of a competitor's brine. I can see his point on that one.

It's not all bad though - bear in mind that even the rubbish sites are profitable, it's just that their contribution to overall production isn't that much. The company has cash in the bank plus other financing options and now we've got Lance back we can expect the next plants/pods will be done right.

[1madmarky] 11/6/2014 13:41

A little clarification with respect to ppm of IO 3-6 they did see numbers as low as 60 ppms at one plant but this was due to frack water going to the plant which is at least 20% fresh water, along with whatever else they put into the water. So once the fracking has stopped, it will be better than that.

It's a good job Lance came back when he did else we would be up the creak without a paddle

[testuser123] 11/6/2014 13:40

"I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will. " - Warren Buffet.

The hill thing was particularly annoying for me because I'd already noticed it (I'd cross referenced the OCC dataset with the SRTM dataset). I assumed that the the brine pipes must have been high enough pressure that gravity wasn't an issue, because I didn't think the company would have done something so braindead. Sigh.

[sandbag] 11/6/2014 13:40

I'd like to add my thanks to all contributors too for reports from the meeting.

WRT:
"Another example - the chesapeake brine network is mainly gravity-fed. IO4 will never get much brine because it was built on top of a hill."
Surely pumps could be used. They could be solar / wind powered with Vanadium Redox batteries if mains not available.

[naphar] 11/6/2014 13:27

1MM
They were not making money though... they have ended up making money by doing things right now, despite the past balls ups.
I was talking to an M&A expert a few days ago. He knows of 2 businesses in the same sector, the owner of one simply stated the sector is impossible to make money in. The owner of the other loved the sector because it was so lucrative!
It's often down to the person and the mindset.

[1madmarky] 11/6/2014 13:15

That's the funny thing about this whole rigmarole.... What other industry could you go in, do everything wrong and still make money?

[che7win] 11/6/2014 12:27

Superg/Mark
Those mobiles definitely sound like the way to go.

1/3rd the cost and highly profitable, seem like they will pay back far quicker than the full plants.

Nice point Mark that the mobiles can help fill the crystallisation capacity at the full plants right now. Makes sense to have a couple out in the field.

[ammons] 11/6/2014 12:26

Sounds like the old management made a complete pigs ear of just about everything. Building plant for the sake of it. Unless they were keeping half an eye on the previous guidance that 12 plant would be built by end 2014 which then changed to "up to" 9? The original 12 plant was stated before Lance took his sickness break did it not?