Post by
ridethewinners on Aug 13, 2023 10:31am
Business development
Volta is a slow, uncertain low margin project. It has an uncertain shelf life as battery technology is changing almnost daily. I hope it happens, but there are still a lot of pieces to find before it gets done, and the technology there is ageing as we wait for clarity.
The Paccar volumes are great but there is a capacity constraint there, and expanding them overnight is just not possible. Even with willing partners it takes time and space to expand capacity, and keeping the QC is essential. The schedule GRA has outlined in the 5 years plan seems reasonable, and it will be hard to accelerate beyond that.
What I am most interested in quickly is drilling fluids. This is a large market, GRA has been testing their GBlack for a few years and the results seem to have justified confidence. This is a product that can be accelerated very quickly. A longer term contract there could quickly eat up the excess capacity GRA currently has, and make a fast case for another GBlack processing unit. This company is all about incremental gains over time, drilling fluids could accelerate faster without a lot of new equipment and financing, safety trials and partner validation. I hope Dr. SN can give some clarity on this when he delivers the MDA next month.