Reno-based Itronics Inc. (OTC:ITRO), a diversified zinc fertilizer and silver producing green technology development company, today announced that it has arranged financing for and purchased a commercial scale e-scrap grinder for grinding shredded circuit boards (e-scrap) to feed to its refining furnaces.
The grinder, which is being custom built is expected to be delivered to the company in January. The grinder will have approximately the same throughput capacity as the company’s shredder and is expected to significantly increase the capacity for producing ground circuit board scrap for refining while significantly reducing the cost.
Itronics' breakthrough technology uses silver to extract gold, silver, palladium, tin, and copper from e-scrap. The metals are then sold for reuse.
Itronics officials are currently implementing plans to convert one of the rooms in its factory that is presently being used for storage to a dedicated circuit board shredding and grinding room (e-scrap prep room). The room will have an air cleaning and ventilation system and a dedicated electrical system to support the machine and air cleaning operations.
They plan to complete the needed improvements, move the shredder from its current location and install it in the new location, install the grinder and start up the machines in the first quarter 2018. The shredding and grinding capacity of this new operation is expected to be sufficient to support a 50 to 100 times staged expansion of furnace refining capacity over the next 3 to 4 years.
Itronics is working on improving “per melt” production of the furnaces. So far in the fourth quarter it has increased per melt production by 35 percent. The company expects to expand per melt production by an additional 40 percent in the second quarter 2018 after the e-scrap grinder is installed and operational.
In 2017 the prices of copper, zinc, silver, gold, and palladium have increased sharply, in some cases, to multi-year highs. Many forecasters are predicting that gold and silver prices will significantly increase from current levels. Copper and tin are at multi-year highs. The company is now positioned to benefit significantly as silver bullion production is expanded and these metal prices continue to increase.
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