*****STRATEGIC OVERVIEW*****
The following comes from the company and offers a nice review of the big picture:
ITRONICS INC. : STRATEGIC OVERVIEW
The Company: Itronics Inc. is the world's only fully integrated photochemical recycling company. It provides photochemical waste collection services, recovers and refines silver from the photochemicals, manufactures and blends liquid fertilizers from the processed residual, and sells and distributes a line of liquid fertilizers developed for specific applications, such as golf and lawn turf maintenance programs, vegetables and wine grapes.
The Company's Vision: To become a multi-billion dollar corporation by utilizing its unique and proprietary technologies to become the world's leading recycler of used chemicals into the fertilizer and mining markets.
Current Status: Itronics has completed the Research and Development Stage and is now expanding to commercial levels.
Global Issues:
- Regulatory management of silver-bearing waste streams is becoming increasingly stringent due to extreme toxicity of silver to fish.
- Metal economists are predicting that silver will be in short supply for years to come.
- Itronic's proprietary technology recovers 100% of the silver contained in used photochemicals versus 90-95% for competitors.
- Federal regulations are mandating the establishment of "buy recycled" products throughout the United States.
-Itronics' proprietary technology returns the demetallized photochemical to beneficial use in fertilizer.
- Competitors incinerate or landfill their partially desilvered chemicals.
- Globally, the United States is preceding other countries in environmental regulation and management.
Market Issues:
- Silver Use: Use of silver in 1997 was 233 million ounces worldwide, having grown nearly 3% in that year. Amateur photography alone accounted for 71.4 million ounces and x-ray films accounted for 87.5 million ounces. Silver use in photographic film is increasing each year. Digital imaging is growing, but will be supplemental to conventional photography well into the future. Photobyproduct manufacturers expect conventional photography to continue for the indefinite future.
-Silver Recycling: About 100 million gallons of silver bearing photobyproducts are produced annually. Environmental regulations prohibit the discharge of photochemical wastes into sanitary sewer systems or directly into the environment, however, lack of technologic alternatives has made it necessary for regulatory authorities to continue to allow sewer discharge of used photochemicals.
- Photochemical Use: Photochemicals are standardized throughout the world. There are market opportunities in every country that is large enough to provide a sufficient supply of used photochemicals. As the world population increases and the level of income in less developed countries improves, "rest of world" markets will continue to grow at above average rates.
-Market for Used Photochemicals: There are two large potential markets for which products utilizing demetallized-reconditioned photochemicals can be developed. They are:
1 - Silver and gold extraction chemical for mining
2 - Fertilizer products: Itronics chose to develop fertilizers first because fertilizer development can be done on a smaller scale.
- Fertilizer products: Since silver is a toxic substance, Itronics' proprietary technology, which totally removes silver from the waste stream and returns chemicals to beneficial use in fertilizer, provides a significant competitive edge. Itronics provides photobyproduct solution pick-up services from photochemical waste generators (hospitals, e-ray laboratories, photographic developers, and the like), special distillation equipment that reduces the volume of photowaste by 90% and processing of the photochemicals to recover the silver and make the residual chemical solution into a liquid fertilizer with demonstrated superior properties. Gold'n Gro fertilizer is certifiably free of hazardous heavy metal and stands out in its ability to meet new environmental regulations, such as California's proposition 65.
- United States Fertilizer Market: This market is mature, but in a long-term growth phase. The urban fertilizer market is growing rapidly. The total market for fertilizers in the United States exceeds $6 billion. The urban market is in the range of $1 billion and growing. A major segment of the urban market is golf courses. Many new golf courses are being built each year to satisfy the recreational demands of the aging US population. The golf course market is being targeted for Itronics' Gold'n Gro fertilizers. Other high value markets such as ornamentals, professional specialty growers and wine grapes are being targeted.
- Recent Developments: Following ten years of research and development at a cost of more than $4.5 million to perfect the silver recovery process, and to develop and test a full line of liquid fertilizers, Itronics is proceeding into the first stages of commercial operation. A number of important milestones have been accomplished in recent months, signifying completion of the development phase:
-Gold'n Gro completes full 24 month test period as UC-Riverside and is rated Number 1 for the second consecutive year.
- Trademark registered for Gold'n Gro.
- Appointed Vice President of Sales for sales of photobyproduct recycling services.
- Acquired exclusive rights to sell "cold vaporization" vacuum distillation systems to reduce volume of photochemical waste solutions to improve transportation economics.
- Executed lease for the Stead manufacturing facility with an option to purchase the facility.
- Signed exclusive 5 year manufacturing and distribution agreement with Western Farm Services to manufacture and sell Gold'n Gro in six western states.
- Established a fertilizer sales department and appointed a seasoned fertilizer sales executive to support Western Farm Service's sales organization and introduce Gold'n Gro in northern Nevada. |
