Member Info for expatbrat

more progress needed on Natchez first. We've been looking for strategics since April 18.
The UK project should remain in a holding pattern until we on-board those strategics for Mississippi, otherwise we'll be out of cash before end of Q1 '19.

This will most likely be a Condition of Appointment. - Senior entrants needing to own a certain number of shares as part of their new appointment. Happens in many companies now - New CEO's need to do this to show that they are 'on the same page' as the minions by having skin in the game.

Lets see what 2019 brings in terms of real progress, ie,completed engineering and the on-boarding of investors. Thats what we can really get excited about.
Happy Christmas everyone.

This is great news from a progress perspective, however it does not help the underlying financial challenges of the company. We really need to on-board that big strategic to pay of all the expensive engineering work ahead.

a lot of talking up of late. Lets see some action.

Looking forward to hearing more details of the new Immingham site that VLS appear to have selected.

The Envia plant is tiny and uses natural gas and a bit of landfill gas. Its only a demo scale facility. This one that Fulchrum is building sounds big.
Im surprised Fulchrum isn't building on here in the UK.

great PR for VLS and BA.
However, I feel sorry for BA backing the wrong horse again. Remember Solena Fuels and the BA tie up ? Looks like VLS is slowly turning to the same fate...
To me, this competition is a realisation from BA that VLS is struggling and they need mitigating options.

Is there some good news coming??

youre probably right. That said, i suspect the second round of this competition wont be a walk in the park for them. In between the original award and the up coming one, weve had a change in leadership. The incoming CEO will have to build those relationships all over again and Im not sure if the UK project has his focus - he is focusing his efforts on the US project which in my opinion, is the right thing to do given the limited resource.

i think it'll be March 2019 for any further award from the Competition. Submissions are due in around now. That said, given the current situation at VLS, Id be surprised if HMG was prepared to give them millions of tax payer pounds..

news is needed. Preferably good. The best news would be that a decision has been made to focus all effort and manpower onto the Mississippi project and get that over the line. Everything else is just a distraction.

Did he mention that their cash burn rate will be the biggest near term challenge? Id challenge the 'world class' aspect of this endeavour. If they were so 'world class', they'd have more than a Russian Oligarch as the main shareholder. Yes, we have Shell on board as a 'partner' but they are clearly not comfortable enough to through any real money at us - this is quite telling imho. The latest announcment that RedRock have brought in EFT to support their first plant is a massive alarm bell. To those who dont appreciate the work needed to custom match a FT reactor to a plant ouput, its not just a plaug and play. You cant unplug a VLS reactor and plug-in an EFT reactor. Theres a significant amount of re-engineering needed to do this swap. My bet is that RR have both EFT and VLS on standby until the FT data is needed for th plant design. Then they will chose the best one (or whichever is still in business)

I think RRB are just covering themselves. Clearly, VLS is in a tough spot right now, and they dont want to end up with no reactors. Maybe the RRB financiers are suggesting they get some contingency in place to ensure they have at least something on site when they need it.

or they know something about VLS that we do not...

no offence taken DHC. Its a fair approach to have.
However, a 4 acre site for a commercial sized plant isn't going to happen I'm afraid. I fully understand the modular, scalable model being employed, however starting on a 4 acre site will not be the best move as economies of scale will not lend themselves to such a small output. Again, the VLS woody biomass site, natchez, is 100 acres. Please do your research, before putting me in the filter bin.

DHC. Have you actually looked at the masterplan properly? The site destined for the gasification project is about 4 acres.
To give you an idea of scale, the Enerkem site in Cananda (waste to methanol) is about 38 acres. As I said eariler, this will be a small scale waste to electricity site, using gasification technology and providing private wire arrangements with the local tenants.

in this instance, the charts are meaningless. The company facts are driving the share price, not the Fibonacci...

This is the reality: They want $60m for development costs for Mississippi from investors. Aint gonna happen. Poor track record from the ENVIA plant, a reliance on grants and loans, a poor communicating BOD. The $60m might get the plant permitted and ready for construction, but the project itself is probably north of $400m. The UK project will also need development money. The F4C grant is match funding and I doubt Shell or BA will be putting the cash in unless the Mississippi project is getting traction.
Personally, speaking, I hope the UK Gov doesn't spunk a load of tax payer money on a company that has this burn rate. Thats the criminal bit.

We are all still waiting for the UK site announcement, however i don't think it will ever materialise. I was speaking with a pal in the energy industry last night and he said that the costs of securing a site (think he called it an Option) are huge, especially as it will be a couple of years before you actually build anything on it. Youre basically paying rent on it, whilst you get on with designing the thing. As VLS have nothing in the bank, how will they secure a site and py this rent? Without a site, you cant raise the finance to build so its a bit chicken and egg.

and now the Johnson Matthey version which has been waiting for a commercial entry for years, will soon see the light of day and wipe the floor with them. They have BP as a backer in case theres any issue. VLS have a Russian football team owner.

Its a joke now. There is no way on gods earth VLS are going to raise the millions and millions of pounds needed to undertake the development work for the UK plant. Didnt they say they need $40m for the Mississippi plant? Who would be stupid enough to back it these bunch of clowns?
How long before BA ditch VLS and go knocking on someone else's door for their jet fuel? Lanzatech perhaps?