Pacific Ethanol resumed production at its Burley, Idaho ethanol plant earlier this month and that paid off with a big jump in the share price this week.

The company fired up its 60 million gallon per year Magic Valley facility on January 6, after being shut down for almost a year. “We are pleased to restart our Magic Valley facility and we are grateful for the cooperation our lenders and other stakeholders have extended,” said Neil Koehler, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, “the restart of the facility has also been well received by the local community.”

Apparently it was also well received by the business community as shares of Pacific Ethanol were up as much as 80 percent on Monday to a one year high of $2.65. Last September, the company was facing delisting from the NASDAQ because shares had been below $1 since November 2008. Shares were trading at 59 cents at the time.