Reno firm finds gold in silver-drenched water

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."