As far as i understand its not the boiler capacity that is...

As far as i understand its not the boiler capacity that is restraining production from reaching break even. The first bottleneck to overcome is the installation of the second centrifuge which will bring brine flow rates into the plant to full capacity. This is scheduled to be completed this month. This alone should allow production to reach 22 - 30 tpd (above break even). Installation of extra heat exchangers and use of flocculants should then allow the absorption stage to operate at full capacity (scheduled for completion by early December). At this point the crystallizers will limit production and this is where the extra boiler comes in:

"Boiler Increase: Engineering studies undertaken during the design of the cooling requirements in the absorption part of the purification circuit discussed above have identified a new heat deficiency on the crystallizer end of the circuit. Additional boiler capacity will be added during November to address this deficiency. The increase in boiler capacity will permit the crystallizers to meet full capacity."

Maybe Lowry has some inside info we don't or maybe he's just understandably pessimistic like the rest of us after seeing so many schedule delays and missed forecasts. I'm really hoping that they've learnt from their mistakes in making overly optimistic forecasts and that these forecasts are more conservative and realistic. I agree its about credibility now and if break even can be achieved in December then that will go a long way to restoring it.

As for operaters , yes im sure there's some green operators among the crew as the JV has a policy of hiring locally where possible however im sure they would have recruited some experience too. Mostly i think they are referring to the operators learning the particulars of this plant. Optimum operating parameters - flow rates, temperatures, levels, equipment operation and maintenance, faster turn around time on routine maintenance and inspection procedures. Maximizing production and minimizing down time basically. All looks easy on a flow sheet of course. Lucky it only has to be done once for the life of the plant.