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Gold/Mining/Energy : Solv Ex (SOLVD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bigtoe who wrote (5950)	8/19/1998 3:51:00 AM
From: Larry Ricker	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 6735

bigtoe, "Heck, the article states that they have ALREADY contracted to shell out (pun intended) 440 MIL for the pipeline alone, and $440 MIL is greater than $100 Mill...isn't it?" Are you comparing the cost of a pilot plant plus a pipeline to the cost of a plant alone? Ridiculous. "... and produced the same amount of oil." We have seen specific claims regarding the quantity and quality of SOLV's bitumen production. Are you also privy to Shell's data? I doubt it. SOLV tried to jump from a lab-scale operation to production and burned up a lot of money in the process. Will SOLV repeat its mistake when/if it scales up the "mineral production" unit? Shell is doing it in more reasonable steps. Probably in no hurry to start producing with the current price of oil... Larry

To: bigtoe who wrote (5950)	8/19/1998 2:41:00 PM
From: WTMHouston	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6735

Bigtoe....my observations about the lack of a meaningful comparison between Solv (and its planned commercial plant) and Shell (and its pilot plant) were neither worded as nor intended as a taunt to anyone....(now, the rumble stuff - that's a different story, but it was tongue in cheek). I stick by what I said. I don't think that a comparison is valid. That Shell may spend around $1 billion is, in my view, a pretty good indication of what it really takes to do it right. If that is what it takes to do it right, I don't think that one can make a meaningful comparison with a company who tries to do it on only $100M or so. My guess is that if someone told Shell that all they could spend was $100-$200M, they would probably say no thanks, let's not invest the money and let's not risk the money since it can't be done right for that. Plus, unlike Solv, Shell management has not promised a specific result by a specific date. IMO, many of Solv's problems can be linked directly to promises such as those that weren't kept - even if they were genuine and in good faith when made. I have READ the article and we just have a different view of it. Troy P.S. - it was tempting to respond to your pun (shell out) with a pun about a shell game, but I won't...) - it is neither necessary nor warranted and might not be taken as only humor.