They said it couldn't be done, but Itronics Inc. continues to prove its naysayers
wrong.
The Reno-based company last week said that sales of its Gold 'n Gro fertilizer
jumped 316 percent in the first eight months of the year and should rise 100 percent
in the third quarter ending Sept. 30. In the last reported quarter the second quarter
ended June 30 sales of its 10-product fertilizer line grew 330 percent, from
$43,439 in 2001 to $187,030 in 2002.
That's in a down market where overall sales of agricultural fertilizer products
from chemical industry bigwigs like Dow Chemical have dropped by 75 percent,
said John Whitney, Itronics president. "It is amazing actually," he said.
That's good news for Itronics because sales of its innovative fertilizer, which is
made and sold through its Itronics Metallurgical division, is making up for a drop in
sales in some of its other divisions. Total revenues in the second quarter rose 37
percent, from $273,439 in 2001 to $374,313 this year. The company's photoproduct
recycling business grew 15 percent, to $63,197, while its silver and gold business
decreased 32 percent to $38,164 and its mining technical services revenues dropped
28 percent to $85,922.
Itronics started life in 1986 when the
cities of Reno and Sparks asked Whitney
& Whitney, now the company's mining
consultancy, to help it clean up the
Truckee River, which contained dangerous
levels of silver. At that time, dentists, hospitals,
photo development shops and other
businesses that developed X-rays and photos
were allowed to dump the photo
development chemicals into the sewer system.
The result was a river full of silver,
which is used to develop film.
So Whitney developed a process and plant to recycle the water so that virtually all
of the silver was removed. That started the company's silver and gold business, which
includes Silver Nevada Miner bars sold as souvenirs.
The remaining water, though, still contained chemicals used in photo development,
which gave Whitney and his father, a retired farmer, an idea.With a little ingenuity,
the water could be turned into fertilizer for all kinds of plants and crops, from
lawns to wine grapes.
That's when Itronics' doubters chimed in.
"They said the chemistry was too complicated and no one believed you could
remove enough of the metals," said Whitney.
Itronics has proved its detractors wrong, but it's been a hard - and expensive - row
to hoe. It's taken 15 years - and $15 million - to perfect its fertilizer. The company
continues to operate at a loss, but Whitney expects to break even next year.
Itronics now has a $3 million, 35,000-square-foot plant in Stead, where it develops
and manufactures it Gold 'n Gro fertilizer. The company has four patents on the
technology and was applying for 12 more when Whitney decided to pull the plug on
the patent process.
"We decided that we couldn't afford the cost of defending those patents, which we
figured would have run about $1 million a year," he said.
Itronics licenses the manufacturing of six of its products to Western Farm Service,
its distributor. "It's a business concept like Coca-Cola," said Whitney. "We make the
syrup and they're licensed to do our recipe. It protects the basic technology."
Western Farm Service sells the fertilizer into specialty agriculture markets, including
vineyards and California's vegetable and fruit growers. Other Gold 'n Gro lines
are sold retail for use on lawns and houseplants.
Through its Whitney & Whitney division, the company is working on several
mining projects, including Mineral Ridge in Silver Peak (see story, page 10) and copper
and gold mines west of Yerington.
And last month it delivered five vacuum water recovery units to the U.S.
Department of Defense, which the company said will more than double its photochemical
services revenues in the upcoming third quarter. Again, though, Itronics ran
into some skeptics, this time in Washington. Said Whitney: "They found it hard to
believe that we don't waste anything."
