Green technology fertilizer maker Itronics Inc., Reno, Nev., said on May 1 that it has acquired an exclusive six-month option to purchase a manufacturing facility in Wabuska, Nev. The option can also be extended another six months.
Itronics is a green recycler and produces Gold’n Gro specialty liquid fertilizers, silver bullion, and silver-bearing glass.
The company said it does not have enough room at its Reno manufacturing facility to set up and operate complete prototype processing circuits to develop engineering data to support construction of commercial scale operating units for its new technologies. It said the Wabuska location provides adequate space to expand and continue developing these technologies to large commercial scale.
“This is a long-term strategic site acquisition for commercial expansion of Itronics’ unique portfolio of ‘Zero Waste Technologies,’” said Dr. John Whitney, Itronics president. Those include new hydrometallurgical processes for leaching iron (FeLix Process), zinc (ZinLix Process), and sulfur (SuLix Process) for use in the production of Gold’n Gro micronutrient fertilizers, and high silver content concentrates for e-scrap refining.
Itronics said a high priority is to perform the pilot scale testing using the ZinLix process to convert zinc flue dust to provide a low-cost source of zinc for Gold’n Gro zinc micronutrient fertilizer manufacturing, the ability to ship these fertilizers in bulk by rail throughout the United States, and the production of zinc and byproduct metals, including silver and gold.
Itronics said the site is already zoned for fertilizer manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, and foundry operations, and that special use permits will be required for specific operations. The facility, which is on 48 acres, has five buildings with 54,000 square feet under roof, six dry product silos, and two vertical liquid tanks, and is adjacent to a rail siding. Zinc flue dusts can be delivered in rail hopper cars and stored in the product silos. The silos are fully equipped, including a conveyor system to transport the zinc flue dust powder into one of the existing buildings on site.
“The Wabuska site is strategically located and is already configured and zoned for uses that are a perfect fit for expansion of Itronics breakthrough ‘Zero Waste’ technologies at commercial scale,” said Dr. Whitney. “We are pleased that the seller has been willing to work with Itronics to make this $1.6 million purchase option possible.”
The purchase option also includes more than eight acre feet of water rights. There are two water wells on the site, along with a lined fresh water pond, and a lined process water pond for which the permits are active. Site infrastructure includes electric power and natural gas.
The site, about 75 miles southeast of Reno, is about 12 miles north of Yerington, Nev., on the north side of the Yerington copper mining district, with its large undeveloped copper deposits. It is also about 10 miles east of Itronics’ Fulstone copper, zinc, silver, gold, iron, and industrial mineral exploration property.
Itronics plans to use the option period to complete validation of water rights, special use permit requirements, and other regulatory issues that will need to be assumed with purchase of the property. It will also begin detailed planning for occupying the property within a period that will be defined in part by special use permit requirements and the elapsed time required to obtain such permits.