RENO, NV, Feb. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire – Itronics Inc. (OTC: ITRO) (“Itronics” or the “Company), the Cleantech “Zero Waste Energy Saving” Technology Company that produces GOLD’n GRO fertilizers and silver, today reported to its investors on current Company progress.
Outlook for 2024
Itronics plans to continue advancing its technology development projects, including the new Rock Kleen technology application possibilities in the United States and Australia, and expanding GOLD’n GRO fertilizer sales into the Nursery and other consumer-oriented markets.
Itronics is working on acquiring and installing a liquid fertilizer packaging line, and acquiring funding to expand equipment capacity at the Reno-Stead manufacturing facility. Marketing efforts will also be significantly enhanced. GOLD’n GRO sales are expected to grow in the California markets during the spring season, and subject to installation of a packaging line, they will expand through small package sales into new consumer-related markets. The Company believes the potential for sales growth is very substantial.
During the fourth quarter, Itronics’ leadership team worked with outside advisors to formulate a plan to create operational subsidiaries to conform with crowdfunding regulations and requirements to provide early-stage equity capital to these subsidiaries to establish or expand operations. Crowdfunding is an emerging avenue for raising equity capital for growth companies. According to public reports, crowdfunding is expected to top $15 billion in 2024. Itronics believes its subsidiaries, each based on their own unique Intellectual Property (IP) can generate interest from crowdfunding investors.
The Company plans to restart pilot scale circuit board refining operations in 2024. This timing is very opportunistic for Itronics due to forecasted increases in silver and gold prices for 2024 and future years. The Company plans to form a refining subsidiary and will license related IP and assets to the new subsidiary. The plan is to conform the operations to meet the requirements for a future crowdfunding campaign.
As a result of this important work with outside advisors, the Company has now developed and is implementing a plan that may enable Itronics to fund the completion of its audits in 2024. Under SEC rules, if our plan is successful, once the audited financials are completed and published, the Company’s shares would be eligible to trade again on the pink sheets.
Plan to Activate and Fund Auric Gold & Minerals, Inc.
Itronics owns a majority interest in Auric Gold & Minerals, Inc. (“Auric”) through its wholly owned Technical Services subsidiary Whitney & Whitney, Inc. Auric controls a large mineral land package consisting of 148 lode mining claims (almost 3,000 acres) called the Auric Fulstone Project in the Yerington Mining District near Yerington, Nevada. So far, two significant prospects have been identified: the “Golden Valley Prospect” and the “Silver Ridge Prospect”. There is also a mine tailings resource on the property that has been measured at 557,000 tons. Testing has shown these tailings to be recoverable using Rock Kleen Technology.
The United States Geological Survey considers the Yerington Mining District: “one of the giant copper porphyry-related metal camps in the world.” Itronics believes that Auric Fulstone is the only property in the district with the potential for substantial gold, silver, zinc, and lead to accompany copper. Because of this, Auric Fulstone is a true “polymetallic” gold and copper occurrence.
Geology, geophysical surveys, and geochemical studies indicate a high probability for the occurrence of one or more large copper deposits with associated gold, silver, zinc, and lead on the property. High values of these metals have been measured by surface sampling, indicating that mineralization at the two prospects starts at the surface. These are technically, new discoveries. The Golden Valley Prospect is interpreted as an epithermal gold deposit that overprints older copper mineralization accompanied by silver, zinc, and lead mineralization. A hole that was drilled by Exxon Minerals in the early 1970’s intercepted 80 feet of 0.4 percent copper at a 400-foot depth not far from the Golden Valley Prospect. The Company believes that the high gold, silver, zinc, and lead values associated with copper are only being found in the Auric Fulstone project area in the Yerington Mining District.
Auric plans to fund the project development by taking the necessary steps to obtain equity funds through crowdfunding. It has hired a securities counsel and is preparing a private placement memorandum to do a private placement to obtain capital to fund the crowdfunding process and provide working capital. A crowdfunding portal has been selected, and due diligence has been conducted to ensure that this can be done in compliance with SEC rules. Compliance with the crowdfunding requirements is expected to enable Auric to be eligible for trading on the pink sheets, which will provide liquidity for its shareholders.
Itronics believes that the steps being taken will produce a significant increase in value to its shareholders through its Auric ownership. As part of the private placement offering, Whitney & Whitney, Inc. plans to sell some of its Auric shares to recover the working capital expended to get the Auric Fulstone Project to its current level of advancement.
2023 Accomplishments and Continuing Projects
- A confidential Intellectual Property (IP) Valuation report was completed in February 2023 by a leading technology advisory, asset management and IP valuation & lending services firm. In 2023, Itronics worked with the advisory firm to review potential projects that fit non-dilutive lender and investor financing parameters. While it was determined that a project utilizing the Rock Kleen technology could be suitable for such financing, the difficult financial market conditions resulting from high inflation and high interest rates hindered our ability to finance a project in 2023. The Companies will continue to work to put together a financing package in 2024.
- Company research identified an emerging international market for crushed rock sand. During 2023, several reports were published describing an emerging shortage of sand suitable for construction in several countries, including India and China. Sand from Western Canada is being imported into the San Francisco Bay Area and in California’s Los Angeles/San Diego areas. Many have asked, “Who would buy the crushed rock sand and clay products that the Rock Kleen tailings recovery projects will produce?” It is now clear that there are significant opportunities in major national and international markets for crushed rock construction sand and other mineral products that will be produced by Itronics’ Rock Kleen projects.
- Itronics established a relationship with an Australian Company for marketing Rock Kleen in the Australia and the Pacific Island nations in the fourth quarter of 2023. Currently, two potential Rock Kleen projects have been identified and additional projects are anticipated to be identified in 2024. Identifying the right opportunity and logistical requirements for establishing Rock Kleen operations in Australia has begun and is expected to continue in 2024.
- Itronics put together a budget for a Phase 2 Rock Kleen testing program at an operating gold mine site to process historic mine tailings present at the site using Rock Kleen technology in the first half of 2023. The budget was submitted to our Rock Kleen client’s management team and was approved for implementation in 2024. The continued work aims to optimize the Rock Kleen operating parameters and perform initial engineering towards the development of a commercial operating Rock Kleen processing plant at the site. Work will resume as soon as the authorized budget is received from the client.
- Itronics conducted a detailed review of cyanidation leaching practices for a heap leach gold mine that is restarting operations in the second half of 2023. During this review, it became apparent that Whitney & Whitney’s proprietary specialized cyanide agglomeration technology developed in the mid-1980’s, when combined with specialized knowledge related to improved fertilizer nutrient transfer in soils, could be beneficial for gold/silver heap leach operations dealing with high clay content ores. The combined knowledge (and new IP) can potentially improve the amount of gold and silver recoverable and the rate at which they are recovered. With gold prices at $2,000 per troy ounce, a gram of gold is worth $64.00. At this value, a fractional gram increase in gold recovery per ton of ore could be worth several dollars per ton. Many gold mines process several thousand tons per day. A small increase in gold recovery could add thousands of dollars per day in revenue for a mine. Because of this, gold/silver recovery improvements with high and rising gold/silver prices could be quite valuable to mines. Discussions were held with three companies in late 2023 that expressed interest in this technology. Itronics expects further discussions leading to one or more new projects with active gold/silver mining companies during 2024.
- Itronics developed and partially tested a processing flow sheet designed to convert alkaline battery black mass to commercial products for sale in 2023. The product categories include potassium chemicals, graphite powder suited for use in batteries, manganese chemicals and powder, and zinc chemicals and metal. The Company plans to continue to work on optimizing its process in 2024 and is pursuing the acquisition of a specialized piece of laboratory equipment that will make it possible to quickly move the work forward.
- Itronics completed the conversion of GOLD’n GRO fertilizers to a synthetic photoliquid base to replace the spent de-silvered photoliquid base previously used in the manufacture of the GOLD’n GRO fertilizers in the fourth quarter of 2023. From now on, Itronics will no longer depend on spent silver-bearing photo liquids as a raw material to manufacture GOLD’n GRO fertilizers. This constraint on growth has been permanently removed. Itronics plans to leverage the removal of this constraint to grow revenues by expanding GOLD’n GRO sales into new markets.
- Itronics upgraded the GOLD’n GRO website (www.goldngro.com) and added a section about DES (Deep Eutectic Solvent) chemistry, which is the chemical category that best fits the GOLD’n GRO fertilizers, Rock Kleen, and leaching technologies being developed by the Company.
- Itronics completed and published three GOLD’n GRO 8-8-8+4%S trials demonstrating enhanced root development. The trial reports have been published on the GOLD’n GRO website at www.goldngro.com, where they can be reviewed. A nursery that propagates trees and shrubs, and grows them for sale in pots, has demonstrated a reduction in “grow to sale time” from three to two years, up to a 95 percent reduction in labor required, and up to a 50 percent savings in fertilizer cost by replacing dry soluble fertilizers with GOLD’n GRO.
- Itronics Metallurgical, Inc. (IMI) completed a Phase II Subsurface Investigation Report for the Stead manufacturing facility in January 2023. The site was occupied by Itronics Metallurgical for operations in March 2000. The Phase II report indicated clean soil and water at the site after 22 years of operating activities. This clean bill of health made refinancing possible.
2023 Financing and Funding Plan Developments
- Itronics refinanced the Stead manufacturing facility and some related debt in February 2023. A new loan of $1.7 million on this property was obtained and a total of $2.7 million was restructured, including $0.6 million originally obtained as part of the proposed Wabuska property acquisition.
- Due to prevailing market financing conditions, Itronics opted to have a purchase option expire on the 48-acre Wabuska property, intended to house a Rock Kleen demonstration plant. Itronics does not plan to make another effort to obtain a suitable property until it becomes clear that necessary funding can be obtained.
- Throughout the year, the management team pursued obtaining the capital required to accelerate the Company’s growth and operating capacity. Work continued internally, completing the financials in preparation for the audit. However, as noted above, the financial markets were very difficult for small-cap companies in 2023, largely due to the negative impacts of high inflation and very high interest rates, making it impossible to obtain the funding needed to complete the audit at a reasonable price. These funding challenges were widespread and affected many funding categories in the United States and other countries in 2023.
“At Itronics Inc., we've continued to demonstrate our commitment to innovation and growth despite facing challenging market conditions,” said Dr. John Whitney, Itronics’ Founder and President. “Our Cleantech “Zero Waste Energy Saving” technology is making significant strides, particularly with our GOLD’n GRO fertilizers and our promising Rock Kleen technology. We are thrilled about the potential to revolutionize industries in the United States and globally, extending our reach into Australia and beyond.”
“Our plans to activate Auric Gold & Minerals, Inc. are particularly exciting, as we stand on the cusp of exploring substantial mineral wealth, which could redefine the future of the Yerington Mining District. Our commitment to sustainable practices and advancing our technology portfolio continues to drive our strategic decisions and operational advancements.”
“I want to thank our dedicated team, investors, and partners who have stood by us through these challenging times. Your unwavering support has been instrumental in our ongoing achievements and will be the cornerstone of our future successes. 2023 was a year of laying the groundwork and overcoming obstacles. Moving forward in 2024, I remain realistic about the challenges ahead, yet confident in our team's ability to address them. While our plans are not without hurdles, as inflation and challenging markets persist, our solid foundation, innovative technologies, and dedicated team prepare us well for the journey ahead. Thank you for your continued faith in our vision and commitment to Itronics,” concluded Dr. Whitney.
About Itronics
Headquartered in Reno, Nevada, Itronics Inc. is a “Zero Waste Energy Saving Technology” Company that produces GOLD’n GRO multi-nutrient liquid fertilizers, silver bullion, and silver-bearing glass. The Company’s environmentally friendly award winning GOLD’n GRO liquid fertilizers are used extensively in agriculture in California. Information about the fertilizers is available at www.goldngro.com.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE: http://www.itronics.com
GOLD’n GRO Fertilizer Information: www.goldngro.com
Contact us (775) 689-7696
("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:
Kyle Graham
888-795-6336
