Hank - Sulfuric Acid
I put a few hours in on trying to find a sulfuric acid play. Nothing so far due to these facts.
Sulfuric has been an industrial by-product that results from several large processes. The major one is the smelting of sulfite ore to produce most base metals. The ore is fed into a kiln or roaster to oxidize the ore. The resulting sulfur gas is collected and reacted with a catalyst to make sulfuric acid. The smelters call this "fatal" acid, due to the fact that they must get rid of it or they will drown in it. For decades the world was awash in acid and most of it was literally given to anyone that would haul it away. There were several blips when huge producers had unexpected short term outages, but most of the time acid has been a liability.
Hence, there are no "on purpose" sulfuric acid producers that I can find. Most of the producers have their acid sold on long term contracts and have very little "spot" acid to sell.
All I can say is that anyone invested in companies that consume major amounts of sulfuric acid, especially fertilizer and heap leech miners, needs to make sure those companies have contracted all of their needs. No acid means no production and nasty earnings surprises.
I don't think anyone will go out and build a sulfuric acid plant unless they are convinced the shortage is here to stay.
Kipp
AI
