18th Apr 2018 11:27
LONDON (Alliance News) - Iodine producer Iofina PLC said on Wednesday adverse weather conditions and brine flow diversion hampered iodine production for the first quarter of 2018, leaving it largely in line with the year before.
For the three months to the end of March, Iofina production 118.2 metric tonnes of crystalline iodine from its operating IOsorb plants in Oklahoma, slightly down from 118.7 metric tonnes for the same period, due to January and February operations being affected by extreme winter weather and a greater diversion of brine flow.
Despite this, iodine production run-rate for Iofina in March was significantly higher than in the first two months of the year.
During the period, the group completed the new IOsorb plant IO#7, which scaled up operations in mid-February and is contributing additional production at double the production rate of its predecessor IO#3. As a result, Iofina expects overall total iodine production rates in the second quarter to rise.
With IO#3 successfully repurposed to IO#7, a similar decision on the future use of IO#5 is being reviewed, which could feature moving the plant to a different location to increase production output while reducing production cost.
"Despite the effects of the weather and brine supply, 2018 iodine production is off to a solid start with the opening of IO#7 midway through the quarter, which is expected to increase output and reduce iodine production costs in second quarter of 2018," said President & Chief Executive Officer Tom Becker.
"Importantly, commencement of production at IO#7 started on time and management expects output from the plant to increase during the year as it moves to full optimisation. Management continues to review the strategy for IO#5 in order to optimise production from this plant."
Shares in Iofina were down 5.9% at 19.30 pence on Wednesday.
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