Molten metal from e-waste and photographic chemicals is poured from Itronics' furnace in Stead.
Reno-based Itronics Inc. (OTC:ITRO), reported last week that it has entered into a strategic partnership with a Nevada based silver-gold mining company to test Itronics' KAM-Thio technology on silver-gold heap leach tailings and on virgin silver-gold ore from a silver-gold deposit the mining company is developing for production.
RESEARCH
The initial testing has three objectives, according to press release from the company. The first is to determine if KAM-Thio is able to recover any residual silver and gold from ore that has been processed using cyanide heap leaching technology. The cyanide leaching process recovered approximately 90 percent of the gold and about 60 percent of the silver that was in the ore.
The technical target for the testing is to determine if KAM-Thio can recover any of the 40 percent of silver remaining in the leach tailings. Tests will also evaluate whether any gold will be simultaneously recovered.
The second objective is to determine if KAM-Thio can recover silver and gold from virgin silver-gold ore, using ore samples obtained from a new silver-gold deposit that the mine company is developing.
The third objective of the leach tests is to determine how many pounds of KAM-Thio are required per ton of leach solution to solubilize silver and gold from the already leached tailings and from virgin ore.
If positive results are obtained from the leach tests, further tests will be conducted to optimize recoveries and to optimize the use of KAM-Thio. The optimization studies would be part of the feasibility analysis required to put the technology into commercial use at the mine company’s operations.
E-SCRAP
The company today also announced that it has made its first shipment of silver-copper bearing glass produced by its breakthrough e-scrap refining technology. The company also recently made its second shipment of silver bullion produced by the new e-scrap refining process.
“Finding a buyer for the silver-copper bearing glass is an important milestone achievement for the company. It means that the two products produced by the new e-scrap refining process are being sold, making this another operational ‘Zero Waste’ technology for Itronics. This is truly a technology breakthrough for us as we expand our operating ‘Zero Waste’ technology portfolio,” Itronics President Dr. John Whitney said. “Currently most of the circuit board scrap generated in the United States is exported to other countries for precious metal reclamation, providing us a significant market opportunity in Nevada and the Western United States.”
Sales proceeds from the silver-copper bearing glass shipment announced today and the bullion shipment are expected to be reported in the third and fourth quarter 2017 sales reports.
GREEN TECHNOLOGY
Itronics is a green technology development company. It's major commercial product is GOLD’n GRO zinc fertilizers, made in a proprietary process from photographic chemicals in which the silver is removed.
The e-scrap refining technology uses silver recovered from spent photographic liquids as a collector of the metals contained in the e-scrap. Significant value is added to each ounce of silver used for e-scrap refining. Itronics officials believes that it is the only company in the world to use this method of recovering the metals contained in the e-scrap.
Itronics is developing a portfolio of environmentally beneficial zero waste processing and mining technologies. Itronics has received numerous domestic and international awards that recognize its ability to successfully use chemical science and engineering to create and implement new environmentally green recycling and fertilizer technologies.
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