TAMPA, Fla., April 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- MagneGas
Corporation (NASDAQ: MNGA) (the "Company"), today provides a letter
to shareholders to address the recent accident at its Tarpon Springs facility.
Dear Fellow Shareholders,
As previously announced, we unfortunately experienced a tragic
accident at our Tarpon Springs
facility on Thursday, April 16, in
which one employee died and another was injured. Our deepest
sympathy and heartfelt condolences go out to the families and
friends who lost a loved one and to everyone else affected by this
accident. Our top priority has always been and continues to be the
health and safety of all our employees, who are of great importance
to us and highly valued members of our MagneGas family.
We take this matter very seriously and are dedicating all of the
necessary corporate resources to assist in the investigation of
this incident. We have been working closely with the appropriate
authorities to determine the cause and circumstances surrounding
this accident. At this time, we can report that the accident
occurred during the tank filling process. In addition to conducting
our own thorough investigation, we will continue to work in full
cooperation with the Tarpon
Springs Fire Department and the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) to determine what caused this
accident.
Until we complete this investigation we have temporarily
suspended production of certain products. We plan to resume
production of these products once we have isolated and fully
addressed the cause of this accident. We also plan to take whatever
steps are needed to help prevent another accident from occurring in
the future. In the meantime, we have a reserve supply of
MagneGas® on hand and plan to continue supplying our customers. In
other instances, we can supply our customers with alternative gases
for their near-term needs through our wholly owned subsidiary,
Equipment Sales and Services, Inc. (ESSI), which is open for
business as usual.
We have spoken with most of our MagneGas® metal cutting
customers and partners and they have expressed their sympathies
regarding the accident. They have assured us that they understand
the situation and plan to continue working with MagneGas ®.
We believe that the strong support of our customers reflects our
dedication to safety and the fact that we have independently
demonstrated that MagneGas® is a stable gas. Unlike acetylene,
which pools to the ground and could present a serious ignition
hazard risk, MagneGas® is lighter than air and rises quickly in the
event of a leak.
In terms of our financial strength, we believe that we are
well-positioned to move forward in the wake of this tragedy. As of
December 31, 2014, we had more than
$5 million of cash on hand. We also
have comprehensive coverage under our insurance policies. We will
continue operating our other business lines, which comprise the
majority of our revenues at the present time. These business lines
include the sale of sterilization equipment and the sale of a
variety of gases through ESSI.
We will also be hosting our first quarter 2015 conference call
in the coming weeks. During that call we will provide our
shareholders the opportunity to ask questions in a public forum. We
look forward to sharing with you recent developments and the
progress that we have made towards achieving our strategic
objectives as respectfully as possible given the circumstances. We
are committed to full transparency while fulfilling our mission of
bringing MagneGas® to the global commercial market.
Following this tragic accident we held a team meeting, which was
attended by the Chaplain of the Tarpon Spring Fire Department. He
provided great comfort to us and led a prayer for our departed and
injured, and discussed taking time to grieve.
These have been extremely difficult circumstances for us given
our tight-knit culture. We have reflected on the contributions of
these team members and the lives affected by this incident. We are
so very fortunate to have such a tremendous and harmonious team at
MagneGas. We have been there for each other and will continue to be
there for each other as we heal and try to move forward. This
is a very emotional time for us, but we owe it to everyone,
including our departed and injured, to forge ahead with our
company's vision so that their contributions are not in vain. At
our team meeting I assured our team that we have an obligation to
ourselves, our customers, and our shareholders to grieve and then
respectfully raise our eyes once again to the horizon to continue
on our path of development and success.
We have a great appreciation for and would like to say a special
thanks to the State and local fire, rescue and police service for
their support and assistance in this time of great need. Their
professionalism and diligence in these tragic circumstances has
provided us with an environment where the accident can be properly
addressed while providing us with the space to grieve and find
comfort in each other. Finally, in response to this tragedy we have
given our employees a paid week to grieve. We have also
immediately begun providing crisis counseling with the cooperation
of the Tarpon Springs Florida Fire
Department Chaplain.
We deeply appreciate the outpouring of support from our
shareholders, our customers, and our community in the wake of this
tragedy. This heartfelt support has made a huge difference for
us as we reflect on our losses and aim to move forward. We
plan to keep our stakeholders apprised of material developments as
the investigation progresses and our company takes the steps
necessary to achieve its goals and vision.
Sincerely,
Ermanno P. Santilli
Chief Executive Officer
About MagneGas Corporation
Founded in 2007,
Tampa-based MagneGas Corporation
(NASDAQ: MNGA) is a technology Company that counts among its
inventions, a patented process that converts liquid waste into
hydrogen based fuels. The Company currently sells MagneGas® into
the metal working market as a replacement to acetylene. It is also
selling equipment for the sterilization of bio-contaminated liquid
waste for various industrial and agricultural markets. In addition,
the Company is developing a variety of ancillary uses for MagneGas®
fuels utilizing its high flame temperature for co-combustion of
hydrocarbon fuels and other advanced applications. For more
information on MagneGas®, please visit the Company's website at
www.MagneGas.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements as
defined within Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. These statements relate to future events, including
our ability to raise capital, or to our future financial
performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of
activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different
from any future results, levels of activity, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking
statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements since they involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond
our control and which could, and likely will, materially affect
actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements.
Any forward-looking statement reflects our current views with
respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks,
uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results
of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. We assume no
obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking
statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results
could differ materially from those anticipated in these
forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes
available in the future.
For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, please see
our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Our public
filings with the SEC are available from commercial document
retrieval services and at the website maintained by the SEC at
http://www.sec.gov.
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SOURCE MagneGas Corporation