Itronics sees increase in per-melt yield of at least 50 percent

The company has completed the temporary installation of its e-scrap grinder and started testing the material in its refining furnaces.


Itronics Inc., a diversified zinc fertilizer and silver producing company based in Reno, Nevada, says it has completed temporary installation of its commercial e-scrap grinder and started testing the finely ground material in its refining furnaces. The furnaces are producing between 50 percent and 80 percent more bullion per melt, with variability based on differences in the metal content of the infeed material, the company adds.

“It is exciting to us to see that our theory of the grinding benefits is now being realized," says John Whitney, Itronics president. “We have increased silver production in the second quarter, but the increase in sales will be in the third and fourth quarters due to the long elapsed time between the production of the bullion and completion of bullion sales.”

The company’s technology uses silver to extract silver, copper and gold, along with the critical metals (as recently defined by the U.S. Department of the Interior) tin, antimony and palladium, from e-scrap.

Itronics says it is positioned to benefit significantly as silver bullion production is expanded and prices of copper, zinc, silver, gold and palladium increase.