Hi Mark,
I was very glad I went to the demonstration plant tour as it calmed any doubts I had about the functionality of the plant. Also, I was fortunate enough to meet with Ed Kroeker, Senior Vice President and Principal Engineer, and with Rene Branconnier, President & CEO!
We talked alot about the problems that the Corinth plant had, which were quite extensive, and the problems at the Ontario plants. They are very confident that they have worked out all the kinks, although it comes with a larger price tag. Rene mentioned $12 million for a 200 TPD plant and $14 million for a 300 TPD plant versus the $10 million that has been mentioned previously.
To answer some of your questions, as Lionel has been saying lately, they are expecting to be in the black by the end of this calender year. Rene said Nov or Dec, which to me sounds like they will be operating profitably by this time period, which will be reflected in their quarter ending in Jan '97. Sounds very encouraging! Evidently, Canadian/Thermo Waste Exchange is contributing very well to these expected results.
Unfortuneatly, we didn't talk much about the Solucorp deal. Rene said there was a deal, that the company was having some problems, but that their technology was very good. Maybe you have some more insite on what the deal is that you can share with me?
We discussed the huge volume in trading of TTRIF. There was alot of discussion on this board about the reason for this activity, but the one Rene mentioned was the convertible debenture. When this was first discussed here it didn't make sense to me. But as Rene explained it, Regulation S came into play here. It is designed to protect the investor, and in this case when the stock price fell a certain percentage below the conversion price, Reg S allows the investor to obtain shares from the company at some percentage (I think he said 15-20%) below the current market price. They have a 45 day wait, but then can sell the shares on the market for a 15 to 20% return. Not a bad return for 45 days!
--Wayne-- |
