Itronics Inc. (PINKSHEETS: ITRO) today announced that it has issued
a detailed letter to its shareholders updating progress on the
Company's business plan. It follows in full:
Dear Shareholder:
We are writing this letter to provide an update on Itronics'
business plan direction and vision for the future. This letter
presents a summary of "what we have," "where we're at," and "where
we are going." The Company is a "clean technology (cleantech)"
fertilizer company that produces silver bullion as a byproduct. The
Company's fertilizers are marketed under its proprietary GOLD'n GRO
brand. The fertilizers are now well established and plans are being
implemented to expand sales into other geographic regions of the
United States. The Company's long term goal is to achieve
profitable large scale clean technology driven sustainable growth
in specialty fertilizers, mining chemicals, and specialty minerals.
Sales in 2011 are expected to be about $3 million.
The Company has created revolutionary vertically integrated
technology that provides reduced costs to its customers, completely
converts a hazardous liquid waste stream (silver-bearing
photographic liquids) to commercial goods (fertilizer and silver
bullion) thereby contributing to long term material resource
sustainability. The GOLD'n GRO fertilizers provide a number of
agronomic and environmental benefits. They are more effective than
fertilizers they replace, they contribute to increased crop
production, they reduce the amount of fertilizer residuals in the
soil, the risk of surface runoff into surface waters, and the risk
of groundwater pollution. Our cleantech business model is
structured to produce profits that are not constrained by
regulatory control, thus providing open upside to Itronics'
investors as the Company grows. As a "Clean Technology Company," we
are an emerging leader in the markets in which we operate. The
Company, its technologies, and its projects completely embrace the
concept of creating and using clean technology to maximize long
term sustainability. Profitably maximizing the use of material
resources is a specific goal.
New technology development is an integral component in Itronics'
implementation of its business plan to use internally developed
environmentally green clean technology to produce solid profitable
growth. Itronics, through the fertilizer division, is the inventor
and operator of award winning recycling technology that converts
spent photographic liquids into pure silver and award winning
GOLD'n GRO fertilizers. Commercialization of this technology has
created a "Green Consumer Option" for photo and x-ray processors
and "Green fertilizers" for horticulture and agriculture. The
fertilizers incorporate the "essence" of green because of how they
are sourced and because of their excellent performance in the
field.
Rapid technological changes are occurring in many industries and
these changes are creating new growth opportunities. The fertilizer
division is an example of one of these developments. A core skill
set of the Company is its ability to create and implement new
"award winning" metallurgical chemistry technologies in recycling,
fertilizer manufacturing, and mining. The Company intends to
continue to utilize and emphasize its technological skills in
chemical metallurgy and to utilize advanced process and
manufacturing technology as it expands its two business
segments.
Itronics operates two divisions. One division, Itronics
Metallurgical, Inc. (Fertilizer Division), is an emerging cleantech
specialty fertilizer and silver refining business that now accounts
for most of the Company's sales. The other division, Whitney &
Whitney, Inc. (Minerals Division) provides administrative services
to Itronics Inc. and its subsidiaries, manages research and
development for the Fertilizer Division and historically provided
technical consulting services to the mining industry. Today the
Minerals Division is continuing to provide administrative and R
& D services to Itronics and its subsidiaries. Now, instead of
providing technical consulting services to the mining industry, it
is transitioning to become a cleantech specialty minerals producer
by helping its majority-owned subsidiary, Auric Gold &
Minerals, Inc., acquire and develop a major polymetallic and
multi-mineral Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) exploration project
(Fulstone Project) in the Yerington Mining District near the
northern Nevada community of Yerington, about 90 miles southeast of
Reno, and by seeking to acquire specialty minerals operations.
On June 3, 2005, Itronics outlined its eight-part growth plan
for the fertilizer division. Implementation of this plan is
continuing, with adjustments being made as market conditions
warrant. The fertilizer business has strengthened as the markets
for the individual GOLD'n GRO fertilizers have been developed and
as they are now being expanded. The Company's metallurgical
technology development is continuing with the Stage 1 silver
refinery expansion project that is underway. Meaningful operational
cost savings in the refinery are being achieved. The new Itromet
FeLix Process is operating successfully and creates additional
expansion opportunities for the Company. The Company has identified
certain specialty minerals that may have environmental benefits in
mining, agriculture, horticulture, and animal husbandry and that
may fit within the Company's cleantech business model. As time and
funding permits, we are evaluating the feasibility of incorporating
these minerals within the Company's business plan. A major
objective of current business plan development activities is to
identify and implement sales that are less seasonal in order to
achieve more stable year round sales and cash flow. We believe that
specialty minerals may provide opportunities to achieve this.
One of the most significant business plan adjustments since the
fertilizer division business plan was published in 2005 is the
shift in emphasis from rapidly expanding the fertilizer division by
introducing the novel, environmentally friendly, GOLD'n GRO
Guardian deer repellent into the up-scale urban home owner market,
to developing an attractive IOCG project through the minerals
division. This shift was made because the up-scale home owner
market collapsed in the 2008-2009 time frame and funding could not
be obtained to complete the United States Environmental
Protection
Agency (EPA) registration requirements. This formerly attractive
market is not expected to recover for several more years. During
the same time period a renewed strong global market interest in
gold, silver, and other metal commodities emerged. The minerals
division, which has a long and successful history in helping mining
companies develop new mines, owns intellectual property that
provided the opportunity to enter this rapidly strengthening
market. In the first half of 2009 the corporate decision was made
to make the adjustment in direction. Today the Company is expanding
its fertilizer division and intends to make strategic acquisitions
to establish and expand sales in its minerals division.
The growth plan for the minerals division is to continue to
expand and develop the Fulstone Project, and to seek out specialty
minerals production acquisitions that are complementary to the
development of the Fulstone Project, or to the fertilizer division
growth plan, and that may be able to provide demonstrable
environmental benefits. The Company believes that technology
synergy between the two divisions is strong and that opportunities
exist to strategically develop an integrated business model that
includes fertilizers, mining chemicals, and specialty minerals. The
fertilizer division is a clean technology driven business that has
intellectual property as one of its strongest assets. The minerals
division uses proprietary intellectual property to facilitate
physical asset acquisition and development and new clean technology
development. The minerals division is skilled at R & D, has a
demonstrated ability to develop clean technology, and is skilled at
identifying and integrating advanced mineral recovery technologies
developed by others to achieve advanced clean technology goals.
Development of mineral projects by the Company makes it possible
to capitalize on its intellectual property assets and technical
expertise and to create the opportunity for potentially rapid
increases in the value of those mineral property assets. The Auric
Fulstone Project is classified as an IOCG (Iron Oxide Copper Gold)
exploration target and is strategically located within the
Yerington District. Some of the largest polymetallic copper gold
deposits in the world are classified as IOCG deposits. These
deposits often contain a variety of extractable metals and minerals
including specialty minerals, uranium, and rare earths. The
Yerington District hosts several nearby undeveloped copper-gold
deposits that are partially drilled. One of these, which is about
20 miles from the Fulstone Project, is an IOCG deposit and now has
a drill indicated resource approaching 1 billion tons. Another,
which is about 5 miles away from the Fulstone Project, is a
porphyry copper deposit with gold, silver, and molybdenum that has
a drill measured resource of over 800 million tons. Both of these
deposits would be characterized as "elephants" on a world scale.
The Company believes that the Yerington District is one of the few
locations in the world that hosts such a cluster of large
undeveloped polymetallic copper-gold deposits. The Yerington
District is globally attractive, not only because it is mineral
rich, but because of its "politically safe" location with much
infrastructure including rail service in place and a skilled work
force readily available.
The Company believes that the Fulstone Project could contain up
to 6 recoverable metals (iron, copper, gold, silver, molybdenum,
zinc), and that there is potential for development and recovery of
at least 3 specialty minerals (silica, clay, pyrophyllite). This
project is very exciting because of potential large size, the
potential for discovering recoverable metals and specialty minerals
besides iron, copper, and gold, and the potential for application
of advanced mineral recovery technologies to expand recoveries and
reduce waste. At the Fulstone Project the Company anticipates that
the project will achieve above average profitability by acquiring
and integrating proven extractive technologies to maximize total
mineral recoveries and thereby reduce the amount of waste rock and
process tailings that are expensive to handle and that require
investment in safe long term storage. As such, this will be an
environmentally green clean technology mining project.
Company management believes that with its intellectual property
foundation, its history of successfully creating and implementing
award winning recycling technology that maximizes sustainability,
and with new technology and project developments that are underway,
Itronics is seriously undervalued. With about 4.1 million shares
outstanding and a current share trading price of about $0.60 the
market cap is approximately $2.4 million. Many early stage green
technology companies trade at a premium to annual sales. Itronics
is currently trading at a discount to its expected 2011 sales which
are projected to be in the $3 million range.
During 2010 and 2011 the ability of small public companies to
acquire funding to support operations and expansion has been
severely constrained by changes in the regulatory environment and
serious challenges in the financial markets in general. Itronics
has dealt successfully with a number of financial challenges
beginning in 2008 and continuing to the present time. Management
intends to bring the Company's audits current and return to fully
reporting status on the OTC BB as soon as funding permits.
The rate of growth and implementation of the business plan for
both Divisions is dependent on raising additional capital. The
Company had, until mid 2008, a relatively consistent, albeit
expensive, source of capital. The recession in 2008 ended that
source and the capital markets have still not fully recovered. In
spite of this, the Company has made progress in implementing the
business plan in ensuing years, but the growth rate has been slowed
due to the lack of sufficient operating capital and a nearly
complete lack of capital that could be used for growth purposes.
The Company is actively working on raising the capital required to
increase the rate of implementation of the business plan.
We would like to thank our shareholders for their on-going
support. We are developing a strong cleantech business model and
have a very positive vision for the future. Shareholders and
potential investors who have questions regarding the Company, its
growth prospects, and its financing should contact Bill Forkner,
Itronics Director of Acquisitions & Finance or Shareholder
Relations at 888-795-6336.
Sincerely, Itronics Inc.
Dr. John W. Whitney, Chairman and President
* * * * * * * * * * VISIT OUR WEB SITE:
http://www.itronics.com
("Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains or may contain
forward-looking statements such as statements regarding the
Company's growth and profitability, growth strategy, liquidity and
access to public markets, operating expense reduction, and trends
in the industry in which the Company operates. The forward-looking
statements contained in this press release are also subject to
other risks and uncertainties, including those more fully described
in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update these
forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in
risks, uncertainties or assumptions underlying or affecting such
statements, or for prospective events that may have a retroactive
effect.)
Contact: Bill Forkner 888-795-6336
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