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

To: Larry Ricker who wrote (5951)	8/19/1998 9:15:00 AM
From: David Coakley	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6735

Anyone here know what Shell's separation tech looks like?

To: Larry Ricker who wrote (5951)	8/19/1998 10:29:00 AM
From: mqmsi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6735

Larry, Nice to have you back. I was worried that all of you who are against Solv-Ex took your bats and balls and went home. Correct me if I am wrong. Doesn't Solv-Ex have a pilot plant operation in Albuquerque? I also understand from eye witness accounts that it works very well. You also state "We have seen specific claims regarding the quantity and quality of SOLV's bitumen production." Would you mind revealing the source and the specific claims, as I haven't seen them. Thanks. Mark

To: Larry Ricker who wrote (5951)	8/21/1998 2:48:00 AM
From: bigtoe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6735

Larry, >>>Are you comparing the cost of a pilot plant plus a pipeline to the cost of a plant alone? Ridiculous. <<< Jeez Larry...do you fall asleep during your own lectures, too?? Let's review: The article we were discussing states that Shell only has $10 Mil in this project plant. The inference is that they are actually accomplishing something for a meager $10 Mil. THAT is the definition of "ridiculous", Professor. Shell has only been "doing " this for a month now and will shut down for the next month while "the $10-million plant will undergo maintenance and some adjustments are being made to improve the its performance." KA-CHING!! .... Did you just hear the distinct sound of a cash register opening?? Shell doesn't even claim to know if the technology there are testing is what they will eventually use: ""We've tested the process we want to use in the laboratory ... to separate the oil from the sand," said Lynne. "It works well in the lab, but now we're trying it out on a pilot plant [KA-CHING!!].". Hey, wait just a darn minute...didn't you just give SOLV grief for the same thing? you wrote: >>>SOLV tried to jump from a lab-scale operation to production and burned up a lot of money in the process.... Shell is doing it in more reasonable steps.<<< They wrote: "We've tested the process we want to use in the laboratory ... to separate the oil from the sand," said Lynne. "It works well in the lab, but now we're trying it out on a pilot plant."..."this won't be the last time the pilot is going to shut down during its operation [KA-CHING!], which is expected to run until the end of the year [KA-CHING!!!] and perhaps longer...[KA-CHING!!!!!!!!, KA-CHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]...But they're not sure when the next shutdown will take place [oh jeez, just give me the Visa Gold]" Here's the clincher: "It's a testing unit. It is mainly to provide us with information to tell us how the real mining and extraction plant will work if and when we build it." Did you catch that Professor? She just said IF!! "It's really hard to predict because with a pilot plant, you're testing and experimenting. I wouldn't say it's going to a rigid schedule." I tell ya what Professor...there is no "if" in rigid....and one of us needs to let her know that ....Something VERY RIGID this way comes!!! "...Meanwhile, Trans Mountain Pipe Line Company Ltd. is filing for regulatory approval on Monday for the construction of a $440-million dual pipeline...." So here's the question for the whole class: what do you do with a half billion dollar pipeline that you installed in the backyard of your brand new 10 million dollar (less expenses) pilot plant that might not be "up" for awhile? A. Hook it into syncrudes' outflow... until somebody tells b. Donate it to Greenpeace as the worlds largest bong. c. Expense it out on Gary's 22-account travel budget d. Hide your start-up expenses and look like a God when oil starts flowin'. the music to jeopardy has started..... regards, bigtoe