Something from the RB site ...
By: stockdc $
28 Jan 2002, 03:42 PM EST Msg. 1583 of 1585
This was from almost a year ago....
All that follows is not to be considered in any way shape or form a true or binding statement. I am just an
investor from Ontario Canada who has some theories and did some DD.
Here in a nutshell is my opinion of this company and devulcanized rubber. Please do not use this to
colour you opinion or make any decision on whether to invest.
Rubber Background
When natural or synthetic rubber is first purchased the molecules have little stringy attachments on their
surface...think of it as your fingers sticking up from your hand....Well basically, the rubber in this state is
very sticky and is easily pulled apart. That is why the process of vulcanization became useful.
Essentially, this means the molecules combine with an agent and those fingers mesh with each other
and bind....Kinda like crossing your fingers in a motion like when you pray.
A puck for example is extremly vulcanized...very hard and durable. It has very little tendancy to form any
other bonds and is not sticky. There is about 800 million tons of discarded rubber sitting in Landfills in
America and 300 million produced new annually. For we Canadians thats 2000 pounds per ton. Rubber
in its natural state costs about $1 a pound.
Crumb Rubber
When you take a discarded tire(which all are vulcanized to a large degree), remove the rubber from the
steel and then grind it up very very fine, it's called crumb rubber. If you could zoom in on a molecular
level at this product you would see those little fingers still crossed over each other....In other words, it is
still vulcanized. This product can be used as a filler in ashphalt as well as mats and other stuff. It just
does not stick to whatever you mix it with very well. So it fills up space that might otherwise have to be
filled by more expensive materials. Some companies are trying to add chemicals to these crossed
fingers to try and attach hooks to those crossed fingers to make them sticky again...this has been met
with very limited success and costs are quite high. Crumb rubber factories have popped up everywhere
in the world now and they are finding many new uses for the product....It's a good investment. The draw
backs are that they are not dramatically profitable. Crumb rubber sells for between 4 cents and 10 cents
per pound.
Process of Devulcanization
The holy grail of the rubber industry has always been the desire to uncross those little fingers. Some
have tried mixing crumb with chemicals or heating the crumb up very hot and adding chemicals etc.
These processes were very expensive and yielded very low percentages of devulcanized rubber. These
processes also produced harmful byproducts. The company that could accomplish this feat of
devulcanization would stand to profit tremendously.
Landstar
Quietly working in China is a gentleman who seems to have a process that very simply and in an
environmentally friendly manner uncrosses those little fingers and in a sense, recreates natural rubber.
Elroy Fimrite has purchased the North American rights to this process. They were once called Rebound
Rubber from Vancouver. As you know, the Vancouver exchange has very little respect on a world stage
so they fell under the envelope of a defunct company from Nevada called Landstar Inc. So it's time to
see if this process really works...so they build a demonstration plant. The rubber devulcanizes
50-80%!!!I believe this was released at the ITRA Conference in Nashville this year. This is the Holy Grail
achieved. Because there has never been a product such as this in existance, it's time to see what it can
be used for. The process is so simple that a factory can be made fully automated and Homer Simpson
could run the controls...(I was going to say Terry Karpiuk but thats insulting..hehe). This means two
things ...low expenses/high profits and very little byproduct...in fact the product can be safely poured into
existing water systems. Landstar has 38.5 million shares outstanding. Devulcanized rubber can be sold
IMHO for 35 cents to 60 cents.
The Uses
Even as testing goes on the results are supposed to be very good. The devulcanized rubber acts very
much like natural rubber. From what I hear the product can be used in everything from roofing tiles to
pylons...from tires to asphalt.
A wonderful bonus is that in the process of making the tires companies add other products....Indeed this
was a concern...how would all of these products interact?? Would devulcanized rubber be useful?? Well
the answer has been a resouding YES!! When crumb rubber (see above) is used as a filler in ashphalt
you can imagine that these little balls do not add to the strength compared to how those little fingers
could attach to all around it. Devulcanized Landstar rubber increased the properties of asphalt in
wonderful ways. Rumour has it that the asphalt SMEARED(term used to describe the full mixing of all
products of ashphalt into a unified substance) at a lower temperature than anticipated making the
asphalt easier to pour at a lower temperature. Cheaper??. I would imagine that the braking qualities of
the asphalt would be enhanced due to rubber on rubber...pretty sticky!! This is just one description of its
use....They have recently hired 5 new executives (see recent press release) with a combined age
average of over 50. They all have experience in the rubber industry including one who was hired to find
even more uses to devulcanized rubber.
What's up now
The form 10SB was not in on time this meant they got booted off the OTC:BB and a lot of investors lost
confidence as they'd seen alot of failed companies searching for the elusive Holy Grail. Little did they
know that Landstar was still grinding away and making tremendous headway. Anyway, it took a long
time to content the SEC. Finally they approved the filing on or about the 6th of September and this
allows the company to get back on the bulletin board. First they have to go through a thirty day
paperwork junket and then Nasdaq OTC:BB. So on or about the 4th of October They will be able to apply to the OTC:BB. I realize now that market makers are still
involved and we need at least three to get to BB, which I hear we do. Also the company can at any time make the jump to OTC BB but is presently trying to finish up
many other business dealings so that when they go to the OTC:BB they can report on these inroads. The stock will be much easier to buy and sell. I believe we will see a
substantial gain when this occurs. The general public has not yet fully realized the potential here, but when they know, watch out.
Future
Updated: I predict Nasdaq within 12 months. I predict lots of contracts with a multitude of purchasers. Update: Landsatr will use the product themselves and craete new
end user products...thus making more profit!!! I predict a volitile price per pound for the first few years as the market looks for the most profitable applications. I
predict all these crumb rubber factories paying Landstar for the right to add a simple and inexpensive
mechanism to their factories to produce the higher profit devulcanized rubber. May still happen but this does not have to happen as Landsatr will own its own crumbing
factories so that they do not have to sell their technology. I predict government
stepping in and somehow mandating certain use of recycled rubber. I predict Landstar becomes a
household company name...and instead of you paying to get rid of your tires you will leave them beside
your blue box at night. Call it pumping but that's what I predict.
Sorry bout the long post..... |
