Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
the time they have had they could have rebuilt the eiffel tower.
Back in 2014 there was over 800,000 m3 of sawmill waste that was looking for a home. I have a nice picture of me and my pick up on top of sawdust mountain in Jamestown, and I have no doubt the piles have grown a lot bigger since then.
800,000 m3 is about 600,000 tonnes (300,000 BDW) or 0 MC). It is piled so high you could put one of the 5 tonne an hour machine on one of these sawdust and chip mountains and never have to move it for 5 years or more. You would never even have to go out to chop down new timber, it is all piled up just sitting there on about 5 main sites across the island.
So why didnt AEG go for that? They surely must know about them, dont they?
SC. I know nothing of utah. But I do know NL, Georgia, and NC. I set up a company called Erabol to develop projects in Newfoundland. Everything I say I can prove, loads of documents and emails, so do bother challenging me on this. We had a deal with the govt for the central region and we were asked to come up with a solution for northern and labrador, which we did. We were backed by a major US play or. We had deals in principle with Joe Kruger, sawmill and harvesters so were hood to go. We even had the permission to rebuild the 1st rail link since they were closed down and to build a 100 acre development park in Bishops Falls. We spent a lot of money and time but were shafted by the government of the time who wanted rentech instead. Long story short, we pulled out, rentech never did anything and finally went bust. We had a £100 mill pot via a UK company, but they pulled out when govt screwed around. Pellets were a stepping stone a pump and dump. It is high risk, low margin industry and nothing I wanted to do. I wanted the development park and the rail link, that was.by far the most attractive and profit able option. I know Georgia very well and NC timber pellet industry. Lumberton is a real possibility and AEG last best hope. I have a business and friends network that covers Ukraine, Canada. UK and of course USA. I have long since moved on but i do keep in contact with old friends, and because I am trusted I am told things in confidence, and I am known as a person who can be trusted, and I want to keep it that way.
NFL deal is dead, believe me. Govt are not the only decision makers on this so believe me it is dead. Polite chat is all that is left, but all credibility is gone as AEG confirmed by their actions or lack of that the warnings were real. AEG were given a chance despite everything and they blew it. In the industry and on the island AEG is just another name who tried and failed.
BF. I expect you are right. It is now nearly 2 years since I first posted and I said then on how the group works. Dissolution, splitting assets and side ways share deals. My sources were impeccable and they were right. Who owns what now, do you know? Are you sure?⅞
I just had a chat with an old friend in the provence and it looks like Mitchelmore is expected to lose his seat over the AEG fiasco. My friend is high up in the rural liberal party circles, so is very well informed.
Chris is a career politician, though admittedly not a very good one, so I dont know what if any future he has now, but then again there are not a lot to choose from in the area, and anyone who is any good has either left or has some business going on.
I am also told that feelings are running high against AEG now, so the opposition has substantially increased from the people, the government and the industry. I think you can safely rule out anything happening for AEG in Newfoundland now.
Thanks Nagy.
JJJ. If you look at the history of Newfoundland, even going back to the earliest days, you will find that sadly it is true.
As most will privately acknowledge. the timber business in the province is not viable and cant compete with the USA or even Europe. Why do you think we went from 3 paper mills to just one, and even that is just hanging on by its finger nail and it was only saved because the devaluation of the Canadian dollar. The history of Newfoundland is one cock up after another
Nagy, what article are you on about? I can assure you I have not spoken to anyone in on this for awhile, as far as everyone is concerned this is history now and they have moved on.
My failing health means I could never go back anyway and I have more than enough to cope with here in the UK.
After some of the malicious posts I have had on here, you dont really expect me to give you personal information do you?
We looked at NC and Georgia, both good places, both have millions of tonnes of timbers available, but the kicker is the logistics costs and which ports you can use. People forget about transport and storage costs, and think it is negligible when it isnt, far from it.
We looked at Savannah as that was the obvious choice, but from where we wanted to work that meant using 2 rail companies, meaning 2 lots of costs, and THAT is why you get a free rail terminal, as you are the trapped and committed.
Trucking is a bitch as you are limited to 25 Ton a load, and a 25,000 tonne shipment would mean a 1,000 truck loads, not cheap.
Despite what they said about Georgia being ready for the industry it wasnt. They wanted companies to commit BEFORE they upgraded rail and storage.
Wilmington is not a bad port and is in easy trucking range of Lumberton, so no real issues there, but NC timber is or at least was at the time, dearer, so swings and roundabouts.
Brownfield sites are available from the local town development officers, and they will more often than not, give it to you free if you are creating jobs, but I doubt the Lumberton site was owned by the town, so yes it would cost, but $ 7 million I think is high. The number I got was from here and I was responding to that, that is all.
I am no more that I said I am, we looked at and tried and failed in NF, and I cut my losses and moved on. In Georgia I was part of a larger group responsible for the tech side. Sadly our CEO was a money man, you can guess the rest and some of us got screwed, but it was a good learning period.
Pellets for me was only ever a short term stepping stone to do what I am doing now. Pellets are high volume, low margin and high risk, certainly not for me.
If they paid $7 million, then they were robbed. In Sandersville Georgia we were offered land for nothing AND a free rail siding to boot so we could get our product to the port, and to bring in timber waste from elsewhere
I did say about the EU grant, and how it was very unlikely, and as always I was attacked for it. There was grant funding in Canada and the US that they could have gone for and they had a good chance of getting it.
Applying for funding in the EU using a Polish partner as cover was in some way understandable, but once again AEG showed a total lack of judgement.
AEG/Spinks had no choice in the matter about pulling out of the Ukraine.
There is a lot of pressure from the tourist industry NOT to cut timber as the industry is worth far more than the timber industry. The problem with that argument is that nearly the whole of the island is perfect for tourism. Most people live on the Avalon peninsular anyway, and the rest in a thin ribbon around the highway. The entire center of the island is empty.
If anyone loves nature type stuff I can strongly recommend a holiday there, ESPECIALLY in the Northern Peninsular, it is like being the last person on the planet, and scenery really has the wow facture.
Power is significantly cheaper in NC than NL, normally less than half.
Logistics can be cheaper but loads are normally limited to 25 US Ton, due to bridge weight load restrictions.that is about 22.5 UK tonne.
Wilmington is the port they will most likely use and that is only about 75 miles, so not bad at all and about half of what it would be in NL.
Z. You wouldn't be calling me a liar now would you? I have never met or communicated with Leander and I am sure he doesnt need any help from me.
More garbage and personal threats. You really are pathetic. Grow up. I would really love to go to court so I can say what I know, and which I can't say on here.
Even if you run 2 x 10 hr shifts.there is no hope in hell of getting 100 ton, plate output is never achieved in reality. A 5T/hr is at best 40t-50T a long day, these things dont run 24/7, they need a lot of maintenance and downtime. This type of overestimation is a rookie mistake and has seen a lot of companies fail because of it.
Z. Once again you spout garbage. I have never met, spoken to or even emailed Leander Pilgrim, it is so sad but typical of you that you cant even get his name right., and yes I got a lot right because I know what I am talking about AND went through the process myself, so I know the set up and the politics. i am glad to say, yes we failed to get an agreement, but I learnt from the experience, AEG has not. They screwed up from the get go and made every mistake they possible could.
People like you and DrM are either by being so inept and incompetent, or deliberately misled others for your own personal profit talked people into putting in funds when any sane investor would not.
Yes it is now complex because AEG screwed up.
No I didnt make it easy for them, why should I. I did my due diligence and made use of my contacts in the industry and passed on the information to the government and others. AEG were under at least 3 investigations in the province that I know of. The only reason they got the 'offer' was pure politics, as nobody expects them to do anything.
Their business plan sucks,and the numbers dont add up, even Diane Abbot could have done better.
I did try to warn people but people like you tried to shut me down, I wonder how many people would now be financially better off if they had listened to me instead of the likes of you and DrM.. You cost a lot of people their hard earned money, shame on you.
Z. What gets my back up is the drivel that you write. AEG had their chance and blew it. For a piddling 5t/hr plant they could have had that up and running in NL ages ago just using the waste from the Corner Brook Mill or from Burton Cove, and without the expense of going into the forest to get it.
This would have got them going, proved their plant and improved relationships with government and the industry. AEG can not go it alone in the province without working with locals, somethin I realised from day 1 I was there.