To: JACK R. SMITH JR. who wrote (11317 ) 9/13/1999 11:03:00 PM From: Scott Wheeler Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Jack, no specifics, only generalities. I'm sure this letter will unleash the usual gratuitous profligacy of derision (present company excepted, of course, btw), but I'm willing to endure it anyway. They may have s/t to say shortly on the site. Initially I spoke with Robert Neilsson [sp?] who said to expect good news soon - before I asked anything. Then I talked with Dick who said that things were indeed closer to production and was encouraged with Russell's progress. He makes no secret that progress is hampered (in other words, slowed) by the dearth of operating funds, but this has been the case all along the way. Sabin has been not only patient, but encouraging to Global, even to the point of advice (not specified). Rh appears to be the first target, owing to its higher value relative to other PMs (e.g., 3.5x the POG). Homemade Rh inquarts are being extracted and used to extract more of itself as part of the precip method. Other inquarts can/will also be used for other metals. I don't know (I didn't ask) if they have to do multiple passes per inquart, but I assume this is the case. Those of you with more technical backgrounds could provide more illumination here. The focus is now squarely on extracting a concentrate that can be shipped as is and processed by Sabin; it appears that the furnace-dore-electrowin approach has been all but shelved for now. It was too costly, complicated and things broke down a lot. It's now the concentrate-and-no-more-moving-parts approach. I encourage others to call and make their own inquiries, too.
