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Thanks for clarifying that, Dick. I was fairly certain that Statoil had a presentation lined up for next week, in some respects I think that it will be more interesting for us than yesterday's conference.

Apolog�es, Cebo, I understood that Statoil were presenting at a Capital Markets Day next week, but clearly I was misinformed. I have seen JOG's presenttation, courtesy of a link from an ADVFN p�ster, do you by any chance have a link to Statoil's presentation?

Cebo, for the avoidance of doubt, I am referring to your post today timed 12.10 .

Cebo456, may I ask you who you persist in thinking that Statoil are presenting at today's conference ?

I thought that it was JOG who were presenting at tomorrow's conference, but clearly there are some posters here who seem to think that Statoil is presenting. Assuming that I am correct, and it us JOG who are presenting, then I really do not think that we are going to learn anything new. After all, what has happened since Monday's RNS?

Fundementals now justify a higher price in my opinion, but we do not know if Stena are going to continue selling and this clearly has been holding the price down in recent weeks. Stena now could convert their first tranche of Convertible Stock ( at 18p ) and it is possible that they now want to sell sufficient of their existing equity holding so as to ensure that their holding post conversion is as it was before. If that is their aim then we must expect further sales in the short term, but taps do not last forever and sooner or later value will out.

You guys need to remember that JOG cannot say anything until Statoil give them the heads up. Criticism of the JOG Directors is therefore totally unwarranted.

But surely rylidan the PE would be 9 , based on your �4m profit forecast. After all, there will be a total number of 180m shares in issue after conversion ( as you have correctly stated ) and therefore at 20p the market cap would be �36m, which of course is 9 times your �4m profit forecast. Having said that, I do think that �4m could prove to be way too conservative if the price of iodine stages a major recovery and/or Iofina are able to get more plants up and running.

Should read Too early to hear any news on that particular point.

Point taken, rylidan, but I am thinking that they will hold back a production update until IO7 is complete, so as to guarantee maximum impact. If at the same time they can make some detailed comment about the price of iodine then so much the better. And if they could say something about how in the future they plan to redeem the convertible stock so as to avoid dilution of the equity, well that really would put a light to the blue touchpaper, but I suspect that it is too early to hear any news on the part I hear point.

Are you sure about that? What is the source of your information because I am not hearing this from anybody else.

This rise really should be no surprise to anybody, and I think to talk of a leak of information is a little over-dramatic. What we have had over the past ten days is a. News of the bankruptcy of a rival iodine producer b. A report by IndMin that iodine prices have risen in the opening days of the New Year c. A continuation of reasonable weather conditions in Oaklahoma, that should ensure that IO7 is completed ahead of target. All three of these pieces of the jigsaw have been available to anybody who was minded to look for them, there is no need to speculate about information leaks or forthcoming RNS announcements.

But craig, the placing was priced at a discount to the price prevailing in the market the night before. If you are a novice investor then I can forgive your naiviety, but I do recommend that you spend some time studying before comitting further funds to the equity market. I do not know if it is still in print, but the Investors Chronicle once published a very useful introductory book called Beginners Please. Read that and then perhaps we can have a meaningful exchange of opinions on this board.

Thank heavens that there are posts such as Dick' s most recent offering, because when I read posts such as today's comments by craig123 re the pricing of rights issues then I really do despair. Craig, do you not understand that equity capital is risk capital, if you cannot understand this then really you should not be invested in the equity market. Dick, glad to see that you are in Serica, me too. Remarkable though it might seem, the story is still not that well known in the City, and I really believe that the stellar performance of the share price since the BP deal is more the result of private client buying rather than any great degree of institutional involvement. Once the forthcoming trading update is out of the way ( next week? ) hopefully Tony CW will be able to get out and sell the story so as to get some new quality names on the Register. City fund managers may be exceptionally clever ( and exceptionally well paid ) but sometimes they need to be spoon-fed ! Sad, but true. Good luck to you in 2018, and thank you for attempting to raise the calibre of this bulletin board !

Can somebody confirm exactly when is the last date by which the Iranians could put a spanner in the works ( if they were so minded ). And before anybody answers along the lines of " this is highly improbable, Tony CW will have sounded then out before, the UK Govt. would not allow the Iranians to control such an important source of UK energy needs ", let me say that I totally agree, I am confident that the Iranian issue will prove to be a red herring, but nevertheless I would still like to know the exact date when their ability to spoil the party expires. Any views anybody ?

Norbert, production volumes are only one part of the picture, a much more important variable is the price that you can actually sell the finished product at into the global market. In that respect I assume that you have taken note of what happened in Chile on Wednesday. The potential effect of that court ruling on iodine prices over the next year could leave your 20p exit target looking far too low. There is no doubt that Iofina is now a very efficient producer, with high operational gearing. Imagine the effect on profitability if say global iodine prices moved up into the 30s, and there are some who might argue that a rise into the 40s is a real possibility.

Today's announcement that SQM has to temporarily curtail water extraction could have a significant effect on iodine prices as clearly it is going to add to SQM's cost base. For years SQM has been abusing its privileged position, so it is good to see the authorities in Chile finally beginning to flex their muscles. 2018 could finally be the year when we long suffering shareholders finally get our reward!

Thought that you were not that impressed with Fleggy ( as you call him). Has something changed your mind Richin?

For some years Chilean iodine producer SQM ( probably the world's largest producer and historically the lowest cost producer ) has been selling iodine at low prices so as to force competitors out of business. They have been able to do this because they have been making substantial profits from their lithium operations. Those lithium operations are essentially a joint development with a Government agency, and SQM is now being accused of breaking several of the terms of that joint development agreement. SQM is likely to be subject to some sort of recrimination, they could even lose their lithium rights. That probably will not happen, but whatever the outcome it is more likely than not that in the future SQM will not be allowed to make such large profits, and therefore will look to recoup lost profits from other areas of their operations. Clearly one possibility is that they will take the brakes off the iodine price and allow it to rise to a more normal level of say $35 a kilo. This would be massively positive for Iofina, particularly as their new plants now have lower costs of production than SQM. If Iofina could roll out more new plants ( and obviously this would require financing ) then they have the opportunity to become a truly global force in the world iodine industry. The current market cap of the company would then look like an absolute bargain.

Interesting comments over on the ADVFN board this evening re developments concerning Chile's principal iodine producer, a Company that is generally credited with having forced the price of iodine down over the past few years.