ITRONICS
REPORTS 200
PERCENT
INCREASE IN YEAR-TO-DATE SILVER BULLION SALES
- Itronics' Breakthrough Process Uses Silver to Extract Gold,
Silver, and Copper and Addresses America's "Critical Mineral"
Shortage, Also Recovering Tin, Antimony, and Palladium
-
RENO, NV -- August 12, 2020 --
InvestorsHub NewsWire -- Itronics Inc. (OTC:ITRO),
an emerging
"Cleantech Materials" growth Company that
manufactures GOLD'n GRO Multi-Nutrient Fertilizers
and produces Silver, today announced that
through July 31,
2020 pilot
scale silver bullion sales increased by 200 percent compared to 2019, from
$27,900 to $83,900. Silver sales
include revenues from gold and copper recovered from e-scrap
(printed circuit boards) using the Company's proprietary
breakthrough e-scrap refining process which is now producing
bullion on a regular basis.
The Company anticipates making
one or two more bullion shipments this year which may generate up
to 50%
more revenue
per shipment due to the increased precious metal prices.
Silver prices have increased from $15.00 per troy ounce earlier
this year to more than $25 per troy ounce currently, and
gold has increased from $1700 per troy ounce to more than
$1900 per troy ounce. Most
of the bullion revenue is from silver sales.
Itronics wholly-owned
subsidiary, Itronics Metallurgical, Inc., currently operates a
pilot plant refinery at its Reno production facility. Full
scale production will be implemented at the Itronics
Cleantech
Materials Campus
north of Yerington, Nevada. Refinery construction is
scheduled for 2023 and 2024. Growth plans set the production
growth target at a 55-110 times increase, making Itronics one of
the largest printed circuit board refiners in the U.S. Silver
bullion production expansion will also benefit from silver
recovered by Itronics' Rock Tailings Processing. The
Itronics Cleantech Materials Campus is
strategically situated in Western Nevada close to California's
Silicon Valley and will be the only major printed circuit board
refiner in the western U.S.
Itronics presents here an
updated overview of the market scope, breakthrough e-scrap refining
technology, and its emerging technology for recovering "Critical
Minerals" from e-scrap. The Company's breakthrough e-scrap
refining technology is one of its "Zero Waste Energy Saving
Technologies" that is demonstrating the Company's "Power of Zero"
concept.
Itronics'
E-waste Refining Breakthrough; Gold, Silver, Copper + U.S. Critical
Minerals
Electronic waste
(e-waste) describes a vast array of discarded electronic devices. A
small but valuable subset of this e-waste is made up of printed
computer circuit boards, which contain various precious metals;
just one ton of printed circuit boards contain about 40 times more
gold than one ton of heap leach ore (https://www.simsrecycling.com/resources/circular-economy/).
The annual increase in the use of electronic devices makes e-waste
one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world. The U.S.
alone generated approximately 7 million tons of e-waste in 2016.
Globally, the buildup of e-waste has more than doubled in the last
decade.
According to the
United Nations University, as of 2016 the yearly accumulation of
e-waste had reached 49 million tons. By 2021, e-waste is
predicted to exceed 57 million tons globally. Approximately $10
billion worth of gold, platinum and other precious metals are
dumped every year, polluting the planet, according to a new UN
report. In late July 2020, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell addressed the Senate and categorically mentioned U.S.
critical minerals directly in an effort to bring mainstream
attention to the growing problem of critical mineral foreign
dependence. https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063641625
Recovering
Gold, Silver, Copper + U.S. Critical Minerals
Itronics has
developed proprietary breakthrough energy saving furnace refining
technology to reclaim precious metals from discarded printed
circuit boards, including gold, silver, and copper. This
breakthrough technology also recovers several U.S. critical
minerals, tin, antimony, and palladium. Itronics is also developing
technology to recover the critical minerals manganese and
potassium. There are currently 35 minerals deemed critical to the
nation's National Security.
To begin its
breakthrough process, Itronics first reclaims silver from
silver-bearing liquid photographic waste. The reclaimed silver
exhibits a special chemical makeup that enables it to soak-up
metals from printed circuit boards during furnace refining,
effectively acting like a sponge to the metals. Other smelters use
copper to reclaim metals from circuit boards during furnace
refining, however this results in a less efficient, less
environmentally friendly process. Once Itronics' process is
complete, the reclaimed metals then become ingredients in the
company's bullion. This bullion is then sold to refiners for
further refining.
Underpinning this
breakthrough technology is a significant energy savings during the
furnace refining process. In 2016 Itronics won an award from NV
Energy, a Nevada public power company, for reducing furnace power
consumption by 50 percent. As a result, Itronics offers a solution
to circuit board refining that not only saves energy, but also
results in a 100 percent beneficial use outcome.
A novel aspect of this
breakthrough technology is that the Company uses the measured
composition of several different raw materials, including e-scrap,
plus fluxes to formulate and produce a new chemical composition of
glass. This
glass rejects all of the base and precious
metals recovered from the e-scrap into the silver bullion, except
for a very small amount of silver and copper which remains in the
silver-copper glass produced by the process. In terms of
operations, the new process is a glass manufacturing operation that
produces silver bullion as a by-product. In terms of value,
the silver bullion is the main value and the glass is a byproduct
value. Presently the glass is being sold to copper smelters
which use
the glass as a flux. The smelters recover the residual silver and
copper and pay Itronics for a percentage of the silver, making this
a valuable commercial byproduct. With the sale of the silver
bullion and the silver-copper bearing glass, the breakthrough
e-scrap refining process is a "Zero Waste Energy Saving"
technology.
Transition to
the Future
Historically
Itronics has recovered silver from silver-bearing liquid
photographic waste, a waste-stream that is drastically shrinking
because of advancements in digital photographic technology. These
advancements have made this waste-stream all but obsolete. Knowing
this trend, and planning for the future, Itronics is currently in
the process of transitioning away from silver-bearing liquid
photographic waste. In its place, Itronics will manufacture a
proprietary formulation comprised of 100 percent virgin
ingredients; this new chemistry is based on more than 30 years of
experience with similar fluids manufactured from spent photographic
liquids. The transition to virgin chemistry has several key
benefits: 1) It has relieved existing GOLD'n GRO Fertilizer customers
concerns about future availability, and it ensures that supply of
Rock Kleen liquids will be adequate to
meet the needs of the silver/gold mining industry; 2) the chemistry
and formulation is based on a cleantech materials philosophy; 3) there
is virtually an unlimited supply; and 4) it improves the
environment.
Itronics is
planning to replace silver recovered from spent photographic
liquids with silver recovered by its Rock Kleen Technology, which is now in
development. The Rock Kleen Technology produces silver that
is in the same chemical form as the silver recovered from the spent
photographic liquids. Once operational, the Company expects
the Rock Kleen Technology projects to produce
increasing amounts of silver as new tailing processing operations
are established and that this silver availability will make large
scale commercial refining of e-scrap and large scale expansion
possible for the indefinite future. Rising silver and gold
prices are expected to significantly improve long term
profitability of the Rock Kleen tailings processing operations
and the breakthrough e-scrap refining as well.
Itronics U.S.
Critical Mineral Recovery Initiative
Itronics also
recovers tin, antimony, and palladium from discarded printed
circuit boards. Tin is traditionally used as 'solder' in the
manufacture of printed circuit boards. Antimony is a fire-retardant
mineral used to make circuit boards fireproof.
Palladium is a Platinum Group Metal (PGM) and is used in capacitors
found on
printed circuit boards.
According to the
U.S. Department of Interior, there is no mine production of tin in
the United States; all new tin required by the U.S. economy is
imported. Tin recovered in the U.S. is done by recycling tin scrap
from various sources, except for printed circuit boards. In order
of importance, the countries that supply tin to the United States
are Indonesia, Peru, Malaysia, Bolivia, and Brazil. Tin is also on
the list of 35 minerals deemed critical to the U.S. National
Security and the Economy, published by the U.S. Department of
Interior on May 18, 2018.
After furnace
refining by Itronics, 100 percent of the tin is recovered (in
significant amounts), and 100 percent of the palladium and antimony
are recovered, (currently in much smaller amounts); once Itronics'
plant moves from its pilot scale operation, economies-of-scale will
enable recovery of economically meaningful amounts of antimony and
palladium.
Tin,
Antimony,
Palladium; By
the
Numbers
-
Tin
- The leading
producers of tin is China (29.7%), Indonesia (26.5%), and Burma
(15%). There is no U.S. production. Looking at recovery as a
percentage of U.S. apparent consumption, 25%, or 12,300 tons, were
recovered from tin bearing scrap, except for
printed
circuit boards.
-
Antimony
- China leads the
world in reserves in seven critical minerals, which includes
antimony (32%). There is relatively little U.S. production; the
majority of U.S. supply is from secondary sources. The United
States has only about 4% of global reserves. Reserve leaders after
China are Russia (23%) and Bolivia (21%)
-
Palladium
- Palladium
production of 225,000 kg is split between two major producers –
South Africa (39%) and Russia (38%). There is currently a small
amount of U.S. production. The United States is 38% import reliant
on palladium.
U.S. Critical
Mineral Dependence
The United States'
foreign mineral dependence has increased significantly in recent
years. In 2018, the U.S. imported at least 50 percent of its supply
of 48 mineral commodities, including 100 percent of 18 of them.
U.S. mineral security has become a frontline issue as domestic
vulnerabilities to foreign supply restrictions are increasingly
recognized as a rising threat to the U.S. economy, competitiveness,
and national security. At stake is the United States' ability to
maintain a robust manufacturing sector and lead on the development
of emerging technologies. https://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2019/6/murkowski-welcomes-administration-strategy-on-critical-minerals.
Long-Term
Objective
The long-term
objective for Itronics is to become a leading producer of high
purity metals, including U.S. critical metals tin, palladium,
antimony (and manganese and potassium, using different proprietary
technologies) using the Company's breakthrough hydrometallurgy
and pyrometallurgy
technologies.
Additionally, as resources become scarcer over time, Itronics will
also be strategically positioned to benefit if the U.S. offered
incentives to increase domestic production of these critical
minerals. For many critical metals, little-to-no recycling takes
place in the United States because it is either economically or
technically not viable to do so. Because of this, the U.S. capacity
for secondary recovery of metals has not grown much between 1997
and 2016. Itronics directly addresses these issues by
removing both economic and technical barriers by using its energy
saving zero waste technologies, making recovery environmentally,
economically, and technically viable.
Itronics
breakthrough proprietary process allows the whole printed circuit
board to be utilized; precious metals, base metals and energy are
recovered, toxic chemicals are removed, and the outcome is 100
percent beneficial use resulting in environmental improvement. As
the amount of e-waste continues to grow globally, the need to
process electronic waste safely, with the environment in mind,
grows ever more important.
Itronics Inc. is an
emerging Clean Tech Materials Growth Company that produces
GOLD'n
GRO Multi-Nutrient
Fertilizers and Silver. The Company is also an emerging
"Critical Minerals" producer. The Company's growth forecast
centers upon its 10-year business plan designed to integrate its
Zero Waste Energy Saving Technologies and to grow annual sales from
$2 million in 2019 to $113 million in 2025.
About
Itronics
Headquartered in
Reno, Nevada, Itronics Inc. is a "Creative Clean Technology"
Company which produces GOLD'n GRO Multi-Nutrient liquid
fertilizers, silver bullion, and silver-bearing glass. The
Company's goal is to achieve profitable clean technology driven
organic growth in specialty GOLD'n GRO Multi-Nutrient fertilizers,
silver, copper, tin, zinc, and minerals. The Company's
technologies maximize the recovery and uses of metals and minerals
and by doing this maximize sustainability.
The Company's
environmentally friendly award winning GOLD'n GRO Multi-Nutrient 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 at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_lawn-garden?ie+UTF8&field-brandtextbin=GOLD%27n+GRO&node+2972638011.
Due to expanded
retail customer interest, GOLD'n GRO fertilizer may now be
purchased in Reno, Nevada at "Buy Nevada First Gift Shop", 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