Itronics Positioned to Benefit From Historic High and Rising Gold Prices - Seite 3

3.Itronics Rock Kleen Technology specifically increases gold and silver recovery from gold/silver mine tailings.  Testing on selected tailing materials has shown that recoveries of these residual precious metals can approach or exceed 90 percent. In comparison, conventional cyanide leaching technology may only recover between 20 and 30 percent. Increased silver and gold prices make this extra recovery percentage much more valuable, enhancing Rock Kleen Technology’s economics. When improved metal recoveries and value are combined with the potential ability to clean and sell the mineral components of the gold/silver mine tailings, the recovery economics become very attractive.

During 2023, numerous articles were published about an emerging global shortage of sand suitable for making concrete and other construction purposes. Gold and silver mining is a global activity, making it possible to match Rock Kleen tailings recovery operations to markets with construction sand shortages.  The rapidly rising gold price and the potential for a significant increase in silver prices are expected to improve the economic attractiveness of this new technology, which Itronics is the pioneer in.

4. High Strength Cyanide Agglomeration Technology (HiSCAT): Itronics’ proprietary specialized cyanide agglomeration technology developed by Whitney & Whitney, Inc. in the mid-1980s, when combined with the Company’s specialized knowledge related to improved fertilizer nutrient transfer in soils, can be beneficial for gold/silver heap leach operations dealing with high clay content ores. This combined knowledge, forming new Intellectual Property, can potentially increase the amount of gold and silver that can be recovered and significantly speed up recovery. This technology was successfully used in the mid-1980s at a Nevada gold mine with more than 90 percent clay-by-weight ore and has the potential to work even better than it did previously.

With the sheer tonnage of production at operating mines, any gold/silver recovery improvements on a per ton basis could be quite valuable to operating gold mines. When combined with rising gold and silver prices, these improvements could result in tens of thousands of dollars worth of additional revenue per day. Discussions about this were held with three companies in late 2023, underscoring the growing demand for improving recovery from high clay content ore. Itronics anticipates having further discussions in 2024, potentially leading to one or more new projects with active gold/silver mining companies. The anticipated market demand for this innovative technology is substantial, addressing the common challenges faced by gold cyanide heap leach mines with clay-rich ore deposits.