Itronics GOLD'n GRO Liquid Fertilizer Reduces Rust Damage, Improves Growth in Sunflowers; a $427 Million Crop in the United States.

Business Editors

RENO, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 5, 2001

Itronics Inc. (OTC BB: ITRO) today reported that its subsidiary, Itronics Metallurgical, Inc., demonstrated a reduction in rust damage to sunflowers and an improvement in growth from a GOLD'n GRO fertilizer field application trial.

"The test was conducted specifically to determine if GOLD'n GRO products would produce a growth response when applied to young sunflower plants. The reduction in sunflower rust damage was a significant, unexpected benefit," said Dr. John Whitney, Itronics President.

"In the trial, one GOLD'n GRO product was foliar applied to young sunflower plants. The field was infected with sunflower rust, the most common sunflower disease, which damages the leaves and reduces development of the stalk and seed head. The sunflower plants fertilized with the GOLD'n GRO product showed less rust damage to the leaves than the plants fertilized by the grower's standard practice. In addition to having less rust damage to the leaves, the plants were larger than the comparison plants within just a few weeks after fertilization," said Dr. Whitney.

Dr. Whitney stressed that only a small amount of GOLD'n GRO product, less than one gallon per acre, was used, making this a very economical program for sunflower growers.

According to U.S. Department of Agricultural Statistics, there are approximately 2.85 million acres of sunflowers grown nationally and the value of the crop is about $427 million, or $150 per acre. North Dakota grows about 50 percent of the sunflowers in the U.S. with more than 1.47 million acres under cultivation. Most of the remaining acreage is in South Dakota, Kansas, Minnesota and Nebraska.

Itronics Metallurgical sells its high performance GOLD'n GRO liquid fertilizer, which also can be used for lawns and plants, and its popular Silver Nevada Miner bars, a souvenir of the Silver State, through its shopping cart catalog at the Company's Web site http://www.itronics.com. Through a proprietary technology, Itronics Metallurgical extracts silver and other toxic metals from liquid photographic waste and manufactures environmentally beneficial liquid fertilizers from the remaining material. Its facility in Reno, Nevada is believed to be the only commercial plant in the world that can accomplish this.

Itronics Inc. is one of Nevada's leading process technology development companies and a world leader in photochemical recycling. Headquartered in Reno, Nevada, it specializes in recycling technology development, photobyproduct recycling, silver refining, and technical services for the mining and recycling industries. Dr. John Whitney, Itronics President, was selected as Nevada's Inventor of the Year for 2000 and is a member of the Inventor's Hall of Fame at the University of Nevada, Reno.

(The statements in this news release that are not historical facts or statements of current status are forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risk and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially.)

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