Overview and History
Iofina plc is the holding company of a group of companies involved in the exploration and production of iodine, produced water and natural gas with complete vertical integration into the specialty chemical iodine derivatives business. Iofina also provides third party brine stream operators with a turnkey mid stream fee based solution to extract iodine. The Group has iodine production operations in the United States in the states of Texas, California, Montana, Oklahoma and Wyoming.
The presence of both iodine and natural gas has been discovered on acreages (Atlantis Field) which the Company holds through its wholly owned subsidiary Iofina Natural Gas, Inc. The presence of iodine, co-produced water and natural gas allows the Group to generate three revenue streams over a single cost structure. A dual revenue approach has worked successfully in the Mobara field in Japan, which has been produced iodine and natural gas for over 50 years.
Iodine is a rare element that is only produced in a few countries in the world, with over 92 per cent. coming from Chile (67 per cent.) and Japan (25 per cent.). This has resulted in the US and Western Europe becoming major net importers to meet growing demands from pharmaceutical and industrial manufacturers. Iodine demand is growing at over 6 per cent. per annum driven by a combination of increased usage in a wide variety of sectors from pharmaceutical manufacturing, LCD screen manufacturing, medical imaging, cosmetics, biocides in paints and pesticides, as well as the emergence of new uses for iodine and greater consumption from developing countries such as India and China.
The Group’s proprietary Wellhead Extraction Technology® (WET®) method allows low cost production metrics and high operational efficiencies compared to other large iodine/gas fields in Mobara, Japan.
Existing iodine extraction technologies that extract iodine rely on the incoming brine stream’s pH being carefully controlled, by large volumes of acid and base which are added at various stages in the process. This is costly in terms of both operating and capital expenditure. The WET® method employs two different iodine extraction methods depending on brine chemistry and temperature for optimal efficiency. The first technology for cold brine streams is a chemical-based method using an anion exchange resin, to which the iodine anions are attracted and this method can also be based on a “physical system” for separating out iodine molecules in a physical trap using carbon. The second method is called the WET® IOsorb™ method and is used on higher temperature brine streams which may include oil and other impurities. What distinguishes our technologies from other processes is that the incoming brine stream only has to undergo minor pre-treatment for effective extraction. Either method can create elemental iodine or sodium iodide depending the iodine derivative that is desired to be manufactured. Being able to directly convert the iodine into a chosen molecular form can enable Iofina to reduce costs by skipping certain synthesis steps, as well as avoid certain hazardous processing steps.
Each mobile WET® unit is capable of production rates of up to 10,000 bbpd per unit. Iofina also has modular WET® plants capable of handling 30,000 bbpd. If the operator site produces more than those quantities a custom designed plant can be built or multiple modular WET® plants can be used together. The mobile WET® units are mounted in a standard trailer that can be rapidly deployed to locations using an articulated truck. The self-contained WET® units is key to Iofina’s ability to extract third party brine streams in a rapid and highly cost effective manner that has not previously been available in the iodine industry. Iofina has a series of patents pending relating to its technology for capturing iodine from iodine-rich brine from wells and converting it into a range of iodine molecules.
Iofina uses its WET® technology on its own company owned production and offers it to third party producers on a contract basis. This allows the operator to have additional income on a waste brine stream.
Iofina was incorporated on 15 March 2005 in the UK and registered in England and Wales. In January 2006 the Group acquired the entire issued share capital of Iofina Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Iofina Natural Gas Inc., each of which is a Colorado corporation, with the objective of becoming a low cost producer of iodine and natural gas. Iofina Chemical Inc., a Colorado corporation, was created as the specialty chemical division of Iofina Inc. in May 2006. The Group successful completed its IPO and was admitted for trading on 9 May 2008 on the London Stock Exchange AIM market.
The Directors believe that the Group’s WET® technology will enable it to become one of the world’s leading low cost producers of iodine, and become a significant player in an industry which has been dominated by Chilean and Japanese producers for over 50 years. As far as the Directors are aware, the Group will be the only independent iodine producer in the USA and control the largest currently known reserves in North America.