Comstock Inc. (NYSE: LODE) (“Comstock” and the “Company”), an
innovator of technologies that enable systemic decarbonization,
today announced its recent Q1 2023 operational highlights.
“Over the past three months, we monetized
non-strategic assets and positioned ourselves to meet or exceed our
$30 million target this year. We have also advanced our fuels,
metals, and mining lines of business, and GenMat, our strategic
investee, announced a customer demonstration of their physics-based
general artificial intelligence capabilities. We are excited that
all of this drives our commercializations,” said Corrado De
Gasperis, Comstock’s executive chairman and chief executive
officer.
Selected Strategic Highlights from the
First Quarter 2023
Comstock Fuels
“Our fuels team is unblocking the most
meaningful bottleneck in renewable fuel production with proven
breakthrough lignocellulosic fuel technology and patented
woody-biomass-based feedstock processing solutions,” stated David
Winsness, President of Comstock Fuels. “Our team recently
demonstrated commercial readiness with unprecedented yields
approaching 100 gallons of fuel per dry ton of feedstock on a
gasoline gallon equivalent basis.”
- Advanced our
grant award from the U.S. Department of Energy of Comstock’s
$2,000,000 grant application to build a pre-pilot scale system to
demonstrate one of Comstock’s unique new pathways to produce
renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel, gasoline, and marine
fuel from forestry residues and other forms of lignocellulosic
biomass at dramatically improved yield, efficiency, and cost in
comparison to known methods.
- Presented at the
2023 Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Conference, where David
Winsness, president of our fuels business, received a leadership
award for his bioeconomy contributions and was named to The 2023
Bioeconomy 500.
- Advanced our
current process such that we can now turn one tonne of woody
biomass into more than 45 GGE (gasoline gallon equivalent), of
cellulose derived fuels and more than 50 GGE of Bioleum™ derived
fuels.
“We are focused on commercialization. Execution
of one or more license agreements with operationally experienced,
technologically sophisticated, and well capitalized customers is a
top 2023 objective, with each license potentially creating more
than 20 years of recurring royalty revenue with material upfront
engineering fees,” stated De Gasperis.
Comstock Metals
“The world is focused on electrification to
reduce reliance on fossil fuels and carbon emissions,” said Dr.
Fortunato Villamagna, President of Comstock Metals. “Voluminous
amounts of photovoltaic materials are already being removed from
large solar fields, effectively creating an immediate and rapidly
growing market over the next five years. We are now engaged in
sourcing photovoltaics waste materials for processing and foresee a
rapid path forward to achieving positive cash flow in 2024, all
while creating the foundation for recycling lithium-ion batteries,
fuel cells and the broader population of electrification
products.”
- Appointed Dr.
Fortunato Villamagna as the President of Comstock Metals
Corporation, the entity that owns LINICO Corporation, the Company’s
lithium-ion battery metals recycling business.
- Presented on the
topic of manufacturing in the electrification supply chain at the
inaugural Nevada Clean Energy & Transportation Conference
hosted by Nevada Battery Coalition.
- Advanced the
strategic sale of its facility at 2500 Peru Drive, McCarran,
Nevada, for a gross price of $27.6 million.
- Commenced
pre-permitting activities of the Company’s proprietary processing
and recycling system in Nevada.
“Securing revenue generating supply commitments
in our expanded metals recycling business is a key objective for
2023,” added Mr. De Gasperis. “Sourcing photovoltaics now presents
us with a better, safer, and faster cash flowing plan.”
Comstock Mining
“With gold well over $2,000, we are keen to
expand the value of our precious metal resources by combining our
expansive mineral data repository with GenMat’s advanced
hyperspectral orbital imaging and generative artificial
intelligence solutions to enable faster and larger mineral
discovery, for a fraction of the cost of conventional exploration,”
continued Mr. De Gasperis.
- Presented
Comstock’s and GenMat’s capabilities at both the Vancouver Resource
Investment Conference, the world’s largest resource investment
conference dedicated to resource exploration and development and
the Prospectors and Developers Association Conference in Toronto,
Canada, one of the world largest mining conferences.
- Advanced
preparations for the 200-acre site for battery storage in Mound
House, Nevada.
GenMat is accelerating the commercialization of
disruptive AI generated materials with the help of
quantum-probabilistic software solutions that integrate proprietary
hyperspectral technology solutions that (a) increase certainty in
mineral discovery targets, (b) reduce costs of traditional drill
programs, with ground penetrating scans and analytics, and (c)
increase discernment for categorizing mineral resources and plans
on launching a hyperspectral imager into orbit for mineral imaging
later this year.
Artificial Intelligence
“Our goal is to build and commercialize
artificial general intelligence for physics with powerful,
science-based capabilities when compared to other known large
language and other conventional AI models,” stated Deep Prasad,
GenMat’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our AGI will enable the sensing,
simulation, and engineering of matter at speeds previously
unimaginable.”
- Developed and
launched a new, generative AI for physics to simulate critical
properties of known materials during calibration testing late last
year. Remarkably, GenMat also used its AI to simulate new material
characteristics.
- GenMat’s
physics-based generative AI models can be deployed today, for
commercial use on GenMat’s existing high-performance computing
platform, well before quantum computers become mainstream.
- In 2023, GenMat
will, among other things, elevate new material simulation to
commercial readiness by synthesizing and directly testing new AI
simulated materials in high value applications with early adopting
customers.
Corporate and Selected Financial
Results
“We are leveraging our entire platform,
including fuels, metals, generative AI and mining, to break new
ground and generate significant revenue growth, starting in 2023,”
said De Gasperis. “Our businesses operate as one system, with each
business having fully dedicated leaders, teams, and plans for 2023
revenue growth. We believe the value creation and impact on our
stakeholders from all of our business will be enormous. Our recent
and planned asset sales are now funding this growth.”
- For the three
months ended March 31, 2023, net loss was $5,681,742 or $(0.06) per
share, as compared to a net loss of $6,547,023 or $(0.09) per share
for the three months ended March 31, 2022.
- Total assets
were $104,991,305 as of March 31, 2023 compared to total assets of
$100,053,759 as of December 31, 2022.
- Debt was
$7,073,939 on March 31, 2023 compared to debt at December 31, 2022
of $7,917,333.
- Cash and cash
equivalents were $8,105,256 and $2,521,772 on March 31, 2023 and
December 31, 2022, respectively.
- Outstanding
common shares were 103,035,152 at March 31, 2023, and 102,707,603
at May 3, 2023.
Upcoming Events
Comstock is hosting its 2023 Annual Virtual
Shareholder Meeting online via webcast Thursday, May 25, 2023 at
9:00 AM, Pacific Time. Shareholders of record on March 31, 2023,
will be able to vote and submit questions online during the
meeting. Even if you plan to attend the Comstock Inc. 2023 Virtual
Shareholder Meeting online; however, we encourage you to vote your
shares by proxy as soon as practical at www.ProxyVote.com
If you would like to attend the Annual Virtual Shareholder
Meeting online, you must use your 16-digit control number from your
proxy card that was mailed to you. Please log in 15 minutes prior
to the start of the meeting at:
www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/LODE2023.
The Company is also planning much broader
activities during its Virtual Investor Day online June 28, 2023.
More details for this event will be made available soon on the
Company’s website Investors page.
Conference Call Details
Comstock will host a conference call today,
Wednesday, May 3, 2023, at 4:15 p.m. ET to report its First Quarter
2023 results and business update. We invite all investors and other
interested parties to register for the webinar at the link
below.
Date: Wednesday, May 3,
2023
Time: 4:15 pm ET
Register: Webinar
Registration
HAVE QUESTIONS? There will be
an allotted time following the live presentation for a Q&A
session. Unaddressed questions will be reviewed by management and
responded to accordingly. You may submit your question(s)
beforehand in the registration form (linked above) or by email at:
ir@comstockinc.com.
About Comstock
Comstock Inc. (NYSE: LODE) commercializes
technologies that enable systemic decarbonization by efficiently
converting under-utilized natural resources into renewable energy
products, and by leveraging physics based artificial intelligence
for more efficient and effective mineral and materials
discovery.
To learn more, please visit
www.comstock.inc.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release and any related calls or
discussions may include forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are
forward-looking statements. The words “believe,” “expect,”
“anticipate,” “estimate,” “project,” “plan,” “should,” “intend,”
“may,” “will,” “would,” “potential” and similar expressions
identify forward-looking statements but are not the exclusive means
of doing so. Forward-looking statements include statements about
matters such as: future market conditions; future explorations or
acquisitions; future changes in our research, development and
exploration activities; future financial, natural, and social
gains; future prices and sales of, and demand for, our products and
services; land entitlements and uses; permits; production capacity
and operations; operating and overhead costs; future capital
expenditures and their impact on us; operational and management
changes (including changes in the Board of Directors); changes in
business strategies, planning and tactics; future employment and
contributions of personnel, including consultants; future land and
asset sales; investments, acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic
alliances, business combinations, operational, tax, financial and
restructuring initiatives, including the nature, timing and
accounting for restructuring charges, derivative assets and
liabilities and the impact thereof; contingencies; litigation,
administrative or arbitration proceedings; environmental compliance
and changes in the regulatory environment; offerings, limitations
on sales or offering of equity or debt securities, including asset
sales and associated costs; business opportunities, growth rates,
future working capital, needs, revenues, variable costs, throughput
rates, operating expenses, debt levels, cash flows, margins, taxes
and earnings. These statements are based on assumptions and
assessments made by our management in light of their experience and
their perception of historical and current trends, current
conditions, possible future developments and other factors they
believe to be appropriate. Forward-looking statements are not
guarantees, representations or warranties and are subject to risks
and uncertainties, many of which are unforeseeable and beyond our
control and could cause actual results, developments, and business
decisions to differ materially from those contemplated by such
forward-looking statements. Some of those risks and uncertainties
include the risk factors set forth in our filings with the SEC and
the following: adverse effects of climate changes or natural
disasters; adverse effects of global or regional pandemic disease
spread or other crises; global economic and capital market
uncertainties; the speculative nature of gold or mineral
exploration, and lithium, nickel and cobalt recycling, including
risks of diminishing quantities or grades of qualified resources;
operational or technical difficulties in connection with
exploration, metal recycling, processing or mining activities;
costs, hazards and uncertainties associated with precious and other
metal based activities, including environmentally friendly and
economically enhancing clean mining and processing technologies,
precious metal exploration, resource development, economic
feasibility assessment and cash generating mineral production;
costs, hazards and uncertainties associated with metal recycling,
processing or mining activities; contests over our title to
properties; potential dilution to our stockholders from our stock
issuances, recapitalization and balance sheet restructuring
activities; potential inability to comply with applicable
government regulations or law; adoption of or changes in
legislation or regulations adversely affecting our businesses;
permitting constraints or delays; challenges to, or potential
inability to, achieve the benefits of business opportunities that
may be presented to, or pursued by, us, including those involving
battery technology and efficacy, quantum computing and generative
artificial intelligence supported advanced materials development,
development of cellulosic technology in bio-fuels and related
material production; commercialization of cellulosic technology in
bio-fuels and generative artificial intelligence development
services; ability to successfully identify, finance, complete and
integrate acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances,
business combinations, asset sales, and investments that we may be
party to in the future; changes in the United States or other
monetary or fiscal policies or regulations; interruptions in our
production capabilities due to capital constraints; equipment
failures; fluctuation of prices for gold or certain other
commodities (such as silver, zinc, lithium, nickel, cobalt,
cyanide, water, diesel, gasoline and alternative fuels and
electricity); changes in generally accepted accounting principles;
adverse effects of war, mass shooting, terrorism and geopolitical
events; potential inability to implement our business strategies;
potential inability to grow revenues; potential inability to
attract and retain key personnel; interruptions in delivery of
critical supplies, equipment and raw materials due to credit or
other limitations imposed by vendors; assertion of claims, lawsuits
and proceedings against us; potential inability to satisfy debt and
lease obligations; potential inability to maintain an effective
system of internal controls over financial reporting; potential
inability or failure to timely file periodic reports with the
Securities and Exchange Commission; potential inability to list our
securities on any securities exchange or market or maintain the
listing of our securities; and work stoppages or other labor
difficulties. Occurrence of such events or circumstances could have
a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition,
results of operations or cash flows, or the market price of our
securities. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking
statements by or attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf
are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors. Except
as may be required by securities or other law, we undertake no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events,
or otherwise.
Neither this press release nor any related calls
or discussions constitutes an offer to sell, the solicitation of an
offer to buy or a recommendation with respect to any securities of
the Company, the fund, or any other issuer.
Contact Information:
Investor Relations
RB Milestone Group
Tel (203) 487-2759
ir@comstockinc.com
Media
Zach Spencer
Comstock Inc.
Tel (775) 847-7532
questions@comstockinc.com
Source: Comstock Inc.
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