THOMPSON FALLS, MT / ACCESSWIRE / January 12, 2022 / United States Antimony Corporation (USAC - the Company) is pleased to announce that December zeolite shipments from its Bear River Zeolite facility (BRZ, website Bear River Zeolite) totaled 1,837 tons ($482,683) bringing the 2021 annual total to 14,040 tons and $3,027,259.
The Company is pleased to see that the implemented improvements are starting to yield increases in production and profit. Further upgrades are underway and planned at BRZ for both the mill and the mine that will enhance operations. BRZ is a leader in supplying the highest quality zeolite. As the environmental and regulatory demands for remediation of contaminated air and water continue to increase, we expect continuing high demand for our products. Similarly, upgrades to all of USAC's facilities are in various stages of implementation.
USAC's President commented, "The Company's expertise in the processing and refining of antimony combined with the continuing plant improvements made possible with last year's financing have had a positive effect on sales and earnings. I also note that the Rotterdam average price for antimony has increased and appears stable at the highest prices in the past 9 years."
Operations Up-date -November & December
Safety and Environmental
All Company operations reported zero lost time or serious injury accidents during the November-December period.
There were zero environmental spills, discharges, or incidents during the period. A pro-active program of legacy slag clean-up at the Madero Smelter was initiated and is 60% complete.
Production
| Bear River Zeolite ("BRZ"): | November | December |
| Mined Tons | 1020 | 0 |
| Crushed Tons | 628 | 474 |
| Shipped Tons | 1290 | 1837 |
| Madero Smelter: | November | December |
| Crude antimony oxide produced: | 18,712 lbs. | 29,108 lbs. |
| Crude antimony metal produced: | 0 lbs. | 0 lbs. |
| Finished antimony metal produced: | 80,886 lbs. | 0 lbs. |
| Crude antimony metal shipped to Montana: | 42,500 lbs. | 0 lbs. |
| All crude antimony oxide was converted to antimony metal during the Nov/Dec period | ||
| Thompson Falls: | November | December |
| Antimony Trioxide Sold: | 44,100 lbs. | 200,968 lbs. |
| Antimony Trisulfide shipped: | 6,000 lbs. | 1,089 lbs. |
Operations Upgrades
BRZ: Repair and modification of the apron feeder to the jaw crusher and modifications of the feed bin to the cone crusher were completed during the period. The pouring of concrete foundations for both the new 50'x100' warehouse (for additional storage of product) and for a 40' x 60' shop (for servicing equipment) was completed. A new classification machine on Line-1 which will lessen down-time was ordered and will be arriving and installed in Q1 2022.
Madero: The Madero operations continued to produce crude antimony metal to lessen trucking costs (as compared to crude antimony trioxide) to Thompson Falls. For this period, about two truckloads of purified antimony ingots for shipment directly to customers was produced. As a part of the smelter infrastructure upgrade project, a program to clean-up and process approximately 2000 tons of legacy slag was started and is now 60% complete.
Thompson Falls: Modifications to two new tri-sulphide furnaces were made to increase efficiencies. The modifications to the furnaces were completed and the furnaces are now being re-assembled. These modifications were identified as necessary after assessing the performances of both furnaces while producing test batches of antimony trisulphide in early October.
One of our old short-rotary furnaces (SRF's) has been relined and the refractory fired-in in November. This furnace has been in production since then and the company intends to continue relining aging furnaces in Montana one by one as necessary. The company's increase in wage rates combined with its recruiting efforts has resulted in 4 additional laborers and increased our rate of production by about 57%.
Ambri Inc.: USAC has purchased a dual-deck classifier to upgrade the rate and quantity of production of antimony to supply to Ambri.
Los Juarez/Puerto Blanco: USAC has started processing 2000 tons of selected material mined at the Los Juarez property. The material is being run through the Puerto Blanco flotation mill to produce antimony concentrate also containing precious metals. This 2000 tons was selected from several mined jasperoid outcrops that have been open pitted at Los Juarez. This processing campaign will afford USAC much better statistical data of the head-grade and recovery. Modifications were made in this period to the cyanide leach circuit that eliminated a mechanical problem that had existed. USAC has been solicited by two additional mining/exploration companies in Mexico and are engaged in negotiations towards a potential partnership regarding the exploration of the Los Juarez property.
Forward Looking Statements:
This Press Release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are based upon current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events, including matters related to the Company's operations, pending contracts and future revenues, ability to execute on its increased production and installation schedules for planned capital expenditures and the size of forecasted deposits. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements and the assumptions upon which they are based are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations and assumptions will prove to have been correct. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as these statements are subject to numerous factors and uncertainties. In addition, other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are discussed in the Company's most recent filings, including Form 10-KSB with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
CONTACT:
United States Antimony Corp.
PO Box 643 47 Cox Gulch Rd.
Thompson Falls, Montana 59873-0643
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: 406 579 4097
SOURCE: United States Antimony Corp.