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ITRONICS PROVIDES UPDATES ON
CURRENT OPERATIONS AND SILVER/GOLD ZERO WASTE GREEN TECHNOLOGY
GROWTH PROJECTS
New Technologies; New Revenue
Streams
RENO,
NV -- November 14, 2019 -- InvestorsHub NewsWire -- Itronics Inc.
(OTC:ITRO),
a growing Zero Waste Greentech Fertilizer, Silver, and Mineral
Producer, today updated its operations and growth projects
progress.
Itronics'
mission is to enhance the sustainability and utilization of mineral
resources by improving the effectiveness of resource use, improving
used mineral recovery and re-use, and enhancing new mineral
extraction. The Company's focus is on materials that contain
recoverable silver, gold, and base metals. The Company's
GOLD'n GRO fertilizer technology increases the availability of
mineral nutrients to plants thereby improving crop quality and
yield.
Today
the "Award Winning" GOLD'n GRO fertilizers and the "Award Winning"
Zero Waste Greentech developments are transforming the Company. The
fertilizers are now a rapidly growing core operation, with year
over year sales increasing by 59 percent in the first nine months
of 2019. Year over year silver bullion sales from production
by the Company's break-through pilot scale e-scrap refining project
increased by 129 percent in the same time period.
The
Company is expanding its "Zero Waste" green technology portfolio to
create large-scale, long term profitable growth
opportunities. Itronics' updated Corporate Profile
http://www.itronics.com/docs/Itronics-Business-Profile-2019
that
describes these opportunities was distributed by a press release
dated 10/23/19. These are technologies to convert
silver-bearing concentrates, gold/silver-bearing circuit board
scrap (e-waste), and certain types of battery materials to
commercial products. Newly introduced is breakthrough "Rock
Kleen" technology for use in silver/gold mine heap leach tailing
reprocessing to neutralize cyanide and recover silver, gold, and
other metals and minerals. Also being introduced is
technology to reduce the uptake of non-nutrient toxic metals from
agricultural soils by vegetable crops and by field
grains.
Development of a Ten-Year Expansion Plan
Underway
During
the first quarter of 2019 the Company, with the assistance of
senior industry experts, began development of a detailed 10-year
operations and expansion plan. One objective is to produce an
operations expansion and financial plan to guide operations
development and to define financing needed to support
expansion. Itronics is expecting to achieve rapid growth over
the next several years, to be driven by GOLD'n GRO fertilizer sales
and to be accelerated by development of additional technologies
from the Company's portfolio of "Zero Waste
Technologies."
The
Company has completed the Reno Operations portion of this plan
which defines the capital investment needs and an associated growth
path which is primarily driven by growth in sales of the GOLD'n GRO
fertilizers. Within three years the growth is expected to be
supplemented by circuit board refining and projects to be developed
using the breakthrough "Rock Kleen" technology to accomplish
recovery of residual silver and gold, while neutralizing residual
cyanide by reprocessing silver/gold heap leach tailings at mine
sites in Nevada. The Wabuska development and operations
planning is just beginning and will be advanced in 2020 as more
knowledge of project requirements is gained from on-going research
and pilot testing. The Company goal is to begin permitting
followed by construction within the next 2 to 3 years.
GOLD'n GRO Fertilizer Progress and
Developments
"The
GOLD'n GRO fertilizer sales growth achieved in the first nine
months is expected to continue in the fourth quarter," said Dr.
John Whitney, Itronics President. "Our GOLD'n GRO sales team is
demonstrating exciting new field applications for the fertilizer
that are expected to lead to significant expansion of sales in
2020. We are successfully expanding and diversifying GOLD'n
GRO fertilizer sales in our existing markets and we are
establishing sales in the California coastal vegetable markets
which will greatly reduce the seasonality of the business in coming
years."
This year
the GOLD'n GRO sales team has developed and obtained accreditation
approval for a plant nutrition training program for Certified Crop
Advisers (CCA's), and certified Pest Control Advisers (PCA's) that
provides continuing education credits for attendees. The
course will be presented at meetings that are attended by our
distributor's sales personnel and branch managers in California
starting in December 2019. This course was made possible by
the unique qualifications of the GOLD'n GRO sales team and fills an
important need in the marketplace.
In 2019
the GOLD'n GRO sales team expanded a program of application field
testing on cherry and almond orchards to determine whether certain
of the GOLD'n GRO fertilizers would solve nutrient deficiencies by
improving the ability of tree roots to take up nutrients applied to
the soil by microsprinkler and drip irrigation. Wide
areas in central California are now demonstrating iron
deficiency. Field trials that applied GOLD'n GRO
10-0-0+4% Fe demonstrated that
the iron was effectively taken up by cherry and almond trees,
thereby eliminating iron chlorosis. The application rates
used are cost effective for the growers. These successful
demonstrations produced increased sales in 2019 and are expected to
significantly expand in 2020 as the grower customers gain a better
understanding of how the GOLD'n GRO fertilizers work to improve
tree crop quality and yield.
Two field
trials on almonds using a multiple GOLD'n GRO fertilizer approach
with supplementation of GOLD'n GRO 10-0-0+4% Fe produced the best
yield each grower had achieved on the block of trees that were in
the trial. One of the growers received a significant premium
per acre for his crop based on nut size and color. The value
of the premium was many times greater than the cost of the GOLD'n
GRO fertilizer used. The cherry tree trials were started too
late to benefit the crop yield, but did visibly improve the health
and vigor of the trees as a result of improved nutrient
uptake.
The
Company's GOLD'n GRO sales team also started application field
testing on vegetable and fruit crops in the California coastal
vegetable and strawberry growing areas. A field trial on
strawberries demonstrated that GOLD'n GRO 9-0-2+3%
Zn was
able to quickly boost levels of certain critical nutrients in
strawberries, thereby overcoming some difficult crop limiting
nutrient deficiencies. Trials on other berry crops such as
blackberries are also being undertaken with very satisfactory
results for the growers. Sales of GOLD'n GRO fertilizers for
these crops are new and will make an immediate contribution to
growth for the Company beginning in late 2019 and continuing into
2020 and future years.
Similar
field trials have been initiated on broccoli, Brussels
sprouts,
and kale. These trials are for complete crop cycles and are
still underway. They are using multiple GOLD'n GRO
fertilizers and mid-growth tissue tests are demonstrating very
satisfactory results. Widespread vegetable crop nutrient
deficiencies are showing up in the coastal California growing
areas. The GOLD'n GRO fertilizers are demonstrating the
ability to cost effectively overcome some of the more significant
nutrient deficiencies. Solving these deficiencies for the
vegetable growers presents an important new growth opportunity for
the GOLD'n GRO fertilizers in 2020 and future years.
Pilot Scale Breakthrough Technology Circuit Board
Refining
The
Itronics' R&D group is successfully increasing silver content
in the bullion being produced by the pilot scale circuit board
refining operation, while improving the operating reliability of
the refining furnaces. An operating routine has been
developed for the furnaces and bullion production is becoming much
more consistent. The Company expects that the amount of
bullion per shipment will increase over the next few shipments and
that the value of the shipments will be increased by a combination
of increased silver content and the continuing increases in gold
and silver prices. The Company's pilot plant operation, using
only two furnaces, is expected to produce 3 to 4 bullion shipments
and one glass shipment per year going forward.
The pilot
scale operation has demonstrated that the current furnace heating
technology cannot easily be scaled up. As a result, the
company is planning to engineer and install an electric induction
furnace which uses an entirely different method of putting heat
into the melt and can be readily scaled up once it is proven.
The furnaces are operated in pairs, so successful implementation of
the new furnace will result in a second furnace being
installed. The two furnaces will then be used to provide
engineering design data to serve as the basis for larger scale
furnaces to be installed at the Wabuska Green Technology Campus
that the Company is developing. Addition of two electric
induction furnaces will increase bullion production sequentially as
they are installed and put into operation in 2020 and 2021,
resulting in doubling pilot scale production at the Reno
facility.
The
R&D group has also been improving the leaching technology that
is producing high silver content material for the refinery.
Operating knowledge for using the new equipment installed late last
year is improving and the silver content of concentrates being
produced for the refinery is increasing. The group is now
integrating the iron and sulfur bearing liquids being produced by
the leaching technology into the GOLD'n GRO fertilizer
manufacturing operation thereby reducing the cost of raw materials
for the fertilizers and improving their profitability.
Rock Kleen Technology Development
The
Company's technical services group has signed a research contract
to evaluate the potential for silver tailings reprocessing for a
silver mining company. The project is using the Company's newly
developed Rock Kleen Technology to accomplish the
reprocessing. Results of the first round of testing are
expected late in the fourth quarter. The Company expects that the
silver tailings reprocessing research could begin to generate
meaningful cost reimbursement revenues in 2020 as the scope of work
expands.
Research
cost reimbursement is a new revenue source for the Company and is
expected to increase as new process application research gets
underway on new projects and as existing projects expand.
This new revenue source is expected to increase revenues in the
fourth quarter 2019.
Manufacturing Facilities Operation and
Development
The
Company's Reno manufacturing facility is fully operational and
acquisition of the Wabuska manufacturing facility has been
completed.
The
Company's manufacturing plant in Reno, Nevada is a major asset and
is strategically located near a rail siding, which is next to the
Reno-Stead Airport, and has significantly increased in value over
the past two years. We expect this property to continue to
increase in value because of the influx of large tech manufacturing
and distribution companies in northern Nevada. The Reno
facility is also increasing in value for the Company as a location
to perform application R&D and specialty manufacturing,
including the GOLD'n GRO fertilizers.
During
the third quarter the Company acquired control of a 48-acre, 60,000
square foot manufacturing facility located at Wabuska, Nevada for a
purchase price of $1.6 million. The site is zoned for
fertilizer manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, and foundry
operations. It has four dry product silos and four liquid
product tanks with a total volumetric capacity of almost 300,000
gallons and is adjacent to a rail siding. The purchase
includes almost 9-acre feet of water rights and there is one water
well on site. The site includes a large electrical power
supply and a large natural gas supply. This is a long-term
strategic site acquisition for commercial expansion of the Itronics
portfolio of "Zero Waste Green Technologies" including expanded
manufacturing capacity for its GOLD'n GRO fertilizers. This
facility is being developed as the Wabuska Green Technology
Campus.
As part
of the acquisition, the Company completed a current Phase I
Environmental Review which recommended a Phase II Sampling
Program. The Northern Nevada Development Authority (NNDA),
under terms of a contract with U.S. EPA, agreed to fund both the
Phase I and Phase II studies. The total cost was estimated to
be about $40,000. The Phase II sampling plan was approved by
U.S. EPA and was completed in June 2019. The property,
consisting of six parcels, was cleared by the sampling
project. The Company now has a "clean" Phase II study for
each of the six parcels. This is a real value enhancement for
the company due to the fact that the site and the associated rail
siding has been in use since the 1920's.
The
Wabuska Green Technology Campus is conveniently located about 15
miles east of the Fulstone Project area and may be able to serve as
an operations base to support development of that
project.
Auric Fulstone Project Developments
The
Itronics technical services group has also been soliciting and
negotiating confidentiality agreements with potential mining
companies that might become joint venture partners for developing
the Auric Fulstone Project. One confidentiality agreement is
in place and the mining company will begin reviewing the Auric
Fulstone project late in the fourth quarter 2019. The
technical services group has high expectations that one or more
mining companies will have an interest in co-developing the Auric
Fulstone project in 2020, especially if gold and silver prices
continue to increase.
About Itronics
Headquartered in
Reno, Nevada, Itronics Inc.
is a "Creative Green Technology" Company which produces GOLD'n GRO
specialty liquid fertilizers, silver bullion, and silver-bearing
glass. The Company's goal is to achieve profitable green technology
driven organic growth in specialty GOLD'n GRO fertilizers, silver,
zinc, and minerals. The Company's technologies maximize the
recovery and uses of metals and minerals and by doing this maximize
sustainability.
Through
its subsidiary, Itronics Metallurgical, Inc., Itronics is the only
company with a fully permitted "Beneficial Use Photochemical,
Silver, and Water Recycling" plant in the United States that
converts 100 percent of the spent photoliquids into GOLD'n GRO
liquid fertilizers, silver bullion, and silver bearing glass. This
is internationally recognized award winning "Zero Waste"
Technology. The Company is developing a portfolio of
environmentally beneficial "Zero waste" processing and mining
technologies. Itronics has received numerous domestic and
international awards that recognize its ability to successfully use
chemical science and engineering to create and implement new
environmentally green recycling and fertilizer
technologies.
The
Company's environmentally friendly award winning GOLD'n GRO liquid fertilizers,
which are extensively used in agriculture, can be used for lawns
and houseplants, and are available at the Company's
"e-store" on Amazon.Com. Due
to expanded retail customer interest, GOLD'n GRO fertilizer may now
be purchased in Reno, Nevada at the "Buy Nevada First Gift Shop" at 4001 S. Virginia
St.
Follow
Itronics on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itronicsinc
Follow Itronics on
Twitter: https://twitter.com/itronicsinc
* * * * * * * * * *
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:
Paul Knopick
888-795-6336