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ITRONICS UPDATES 2009 OUTLOOK FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY GREEN SILVER SALES AND ITS STAGE 1 SILVER REFINERY EXPANSION
-- Silver Sales Expected to Double in 2009; Every Waste Stream From Photo Industry To Be Serviced --
RENO, Nevada, February 24, 2009 -- Itronics Inc. (OTCBB: ITRO; Frankfurt and Berlin Stock Exchanges: ITG) reported today that January silver sales by its wholly-owned subsidiary Itronics Metallurgical, Inc. were double the 2008 full first quarter as previously forecast. First quarter silver sales are now expected to be more than two and one-half times the 2008 first quarter.
?Full year silver sales are expected to double,? said Dr. John Whitney, Itronics President. ?With upcoming expansion, Itronics will be able to recycle each major waste stream generated by the photo industry, significantly broadening Itronics? service and revenue opportunities.?
In the fourth quarter of 2008 Itronics Metallurgical entered into an interim refining agreement that made it possible to sell some silver bearing intermediate products that had been accumulated over prior years. Sale of the bulk of these materials will be completed during the first quarter. The silver captured by Itronics is recovered from spent photo liquids, by a highly acclaimed environmentally ?Green? and environmentally beneficial process.
In early November 2008 Itronics announced plans for expansion of its silver refining capacity in two stages. The Company also disclosed that silver receipts in photographic liquids were exceeding its capacity to refine the recovered silver on an on-going basis, making the Stage 1 expansion a critical path item for continuing the Company?s growth. The interim refining agreement the Company entered into in December solves the capacity issue for 2009 while the Stage 1 expansion is being funded and completed.
The Company is currently seeking the necessary funds for the Stage 1 expansion, estimated at $500,000. Installation is expected to take about 8 months after funding is in place.
Stage 1 will increase the per melt capacity of the refining operation by 10 times with no increase in per melt cost. This produces a 90 percent reduction in the melt cost per ounce of silver produced. The increase in per melt capacity will be more than sufficient to accommodate intermediate term growth, and will also provide the capacity for acquisition of new silver-bearing sources to further expand growth.
The Stage 1 refinery expansion will produce two new fertilizer raw materials as byproducts. These raw materials are expected to improve GOLD?n GRO fertilizer quality and profitability.
The core of the Stage 1 processing circuit incorporates two leaching steps: (1) Itromet FeLix Process to remove iron and zinc, and (2) Itromet SuLix Process to remove sulfur. A third step (Itromet K-Thio Process) will be to establish pilot scale manufacturing of potassium thiosulfate, a high value potassium sulfur liquid fertilizer, and a new fertilizer for the Company.
The Itromet FeLix Process produces an iron zinc base liquid for use as a raw material in manufacturing the GOLD?n GRO fertilizers and will replace materials which are presently purchased from outside suppliers. This base liquid, which is a new product for the Company, is very clean and is expected to enhance the quality of the GOLD?n GRO fertilizers.
The Itromet K-Thio Process is expected to produce very clean potassium thiosulfate which will also be used as a raw material to make the GOLD?n GRO fertilizers. The Company presently purchases potassium thiosulfate to use as an ingredient in the fertilizers. The Company?s internal production is expected to modestly reduce the need for external purchases of this material in the intermediate term. Once this pilot process is operational, it will set the stage for future expansion based on sourcing of non-photographic raw materials.
Once Itromet FeLix and the Itromet SuLix Processes are operational, the stage will be set for expansion to use another category of photographic sourced silver-bearing raw materials. These processes can be used to recover iron and sulfur from steel wool recovery cartridges (sometimes called ?ion exchange cartridges?) for economical use in our fertilizers. These cartridges are used for on site silver recovery by some photo and X-ray processors. There is a large supply of silver recovery cartridges because they are the main method of photo-liquid de-silvering by operators that use on site treatment of the liquids before discharging them to the sewer. The Company estimates that more than 15 million ounces of silver are being recovered in the U.S. by these cartridges.
The Company plans to begin marketing this new processing capability as Phase II of its Stage 1 silver refinery expansion. Adding this raw material source will significantly increase the amount of silver for refining, and it will also significantly increase the amount of iron and sulfur bearing raw material available to make iron zinc base liquid and potassium thiosulfate for manufacturing GOLD?n GRO fertilizers.
Itronics is successfully implementing its 5 year plan to use internally developed environmentally green clean technology to produce solid profitable growth. This focused approach to the use of creative new clean technology has made the vertically integrated ?Beneficial Use Photochemical, Silver, and Water Recycling? technology and the GOLD?n GRO brand of environmentally friendly fertilizers a success. This breakthrough for the 140 year old Photographic Industry is revolutionary technology that creates a ?Green Consumer Option? for photo and x-ray processors that continue to use silver halide photo technologies to make prints and x-rays.
About Itronics
Headquartered in Reno, Nevada, Itronics Inc. is a "Creative Clean Technology" company. Itronics, through its subsidiary, Itronics Metallurgical, Inc. is the only company with a fully permitted ?Beneficial Use Photochemical, Silver, and Water Recycling? plant in the United States that converts spent photoliquids into pure silver and GOLD?n GRO liquid fertilizers. The Company is developing environmentally compatible mining technology, provides project planning and technical services to the gold mining industry, and operates the popular InsideMetals.com web site, http://www.insidemetals.com. which provides a value-added WORLD VIEW of Gold Producer Stocks, Mineral Producer Stocks, Junior Gold Stocks, and Junior Mineral Stocks.
Itronics has received numerous domestic and international awards that recognize its ability to successfully create and implement new environmentally clean recycling and fertilizer technologies. The Company?s environmentally friendly GOLD?n GRO liquid fertilizers, which are extensively used in agriculture, can be used for lawns and houseplants, and are available, along with liquid fertilizer injectors, at the Company's "e-store" catalog at http://goldngro.com . The popular Silver Nevada Miner bars are available at the Company's ?e-store? catalog at http://www.itromet.com ..
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("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.)
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