Harms' presentation about the potential her company holds once it achieves full capacity at its processing plant was during a Sunny Side Breakfast at the El Rancho.
Leonardite Products LLC, which Harms purchased in April 2008, is working to get its processing plant back to full capacity. It was originally built in the early 1980s by GeoResources.
She said a fire at the plant several years ago before she took over kept production down, but that will change in the future.
"We can do about four tons per hour. We could do twice as much at full capacity," said Harms. Harms said having more product out there could be highly beneficial for clients, as well as profitable for the products they mine. Harms' company mines and processes a type of low-grade coal known as Leonardite. The mineral is named after a North Dakota geologist named Leonard Dave, who discovered it in 1919.
Harms said this specific form of lignite is an exceptional fertilizer additive and water-based drilling fluid material. The Leonardite in North Dakota is of the highest quality known to exist, she added.
"Every day I find more and more applications for it. It's used mostly for off-shore drilling, unfortunately, so we have to ship it to the Gulf. We've been told by companies that it's better ecologically and superior to chemicals. They say it doesn't gum up their equipment," said Harms.
Harms said they're currently beginning to move more into fertilizer additives for agricultural use. She said when the mineral is processed, they only heat the material in their 10 million BTU burner at about 168 degrees Fahrenheit. There's a critical reason for this, she said.Leonardite has microorganisms that if left alive inside the Leonardite fertilizer additive, helps with soil texture and improves its pH level.
"It's organic matter. If you have sub-par soil, this will help. But there will not be overnight results and it treats the soil, not the plant," said Harms.
Harms said recently she met with a delegation from Turkey while in Fargo and made some sales.
"They said 'If this stuff can do what you say it can do, it could do wonders for us,' This stuff can have applications all over the world," said Harms.
Harms said what's most in demand is the 11-mesh Loenardite, which is about the same size and consistency as table salt. She said clients from the oil industry are most in demand of that material.
"We can't keep up with orders we have. We're into November already. That's why I'm going to learn how to drive a forklift this afternoon," joked Harms.
Harms said they have a 160-acre site leased that is mined for Leonardite from. She said 5-acre segments are mined at a time, and then the mining moves to another spot once all the material is gone. Harms was asked what she would do if the mineral runs out at its site.
"We believe there's about 500,000 tons of material at the site. If, which would be wonderful, we did run out, we likely could find more at another site," said Harms.
Harms said Leonardite Products LLC has 31 clients and the processing plant should be running at full capacity by fall 2010. As the company increases its client base, Harms said the goal is to have a mix of clients.
"We don't want to put all of our eggs into one basket," said Harms.
The Leonardite Products office is located at 501 E. Broadway in Williston. For more information, contact the company by calling 701-572-7659 or by visiting www.leonarditeproducts.com.
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