Comstock Announces Full Year 2024 Results

VIRGINIA CITY, Nev., March 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Comstock Inc. (NYSE: LODE) ("Comstock," "our" and the "Company"), today announced its full year 2024 results, 2024 summary achievements, and our 2025 business outlook.

"As of today, we achieved all of our previously published 2024 objectives for both our metals and fuels segments, including fully commissioning, operating and establishing market leadership in photovoltaic recycling, that is now rapidly growing and expanding into full industry-scale, and fuels, who has executed multiple, future revenue generating commercial agreements for industry-scale development projects, including offtakes, supply of feedstocks and joint development agreements with operationally experienced, technologically sophisticated and well capitalized customers and partners," stated Corrado De Gasperis, the Company's Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "This remarkable progress has positioned a spin-off of Comstock Fuels, that would result in two high-growth public companies, a leading renewable metals and mining company headquartered in Nevada, and a leading renewable fuels company headquartered in Oklahoma."

Selected Segment Highlights from 2024 and early 2025

Comstock Metals

   -- Advanced zero-landfill photovoltaics recycling technology to TRL 7; 
 
   -- Designed, deployed and commissioned our first commercial photovoltaic 
      material recycling facility; 
 
   -- Commenced production of the demonstration scale production facility; 
 
   -- Demonstrated 100% recovery of all glass, metal, and mineral materials, 
      ensuring the zero-landfill solution; 
 
   -- Expanded our existing revenue generating supply commitments, including 
      industry leading customers; 
 
   -- Received approval for operating three shifts and expanded the dedicated 
      team to 13 full time employees; 
 
   -- Finalized the design and site selection for our first few 
      "industry-scale" facilities and commenced permitting; 
 
   -- Secured county permits for the first industry-scale expansion, including 
      a waste-panel storage solution; 
 
   -- Finalized and submitted state operating permits necessary for operating 
      the first industry-scale expansion; 
 
   -- Secured intake (tipping) revenue arrangements across the United States, 
      including industry leading customers; and 
 
   -- Secured offtake revenue arrangements for aluminum, glass and silver-rich 
      tailings. 

"Our 2024 Metals segment performance is second only to what we have positioned for 2025. We founded and built this zero-landfill solution from almost nothing in less than two years, proving the process, revenues and costs within a complex, highly regulated environment, positioning for exceptional revenue growth (deferred and realized) in 2025, even before we commission our industry-scale facility," said De Gasperis. "Business already secured in the first quarter of 2025 will be five to six times all of 2024. We have a practical view of engineering and operating a world-class silver mine, using solar panel waste as ore, that effectively never depletes, and just keeps producing. Our development and expansion plans are working to make that a reality."

Comstock Fuels

   -- Validated industry-leading yields of 140 Gasoline Gallon Equivalents 
      $(GGE)$ per ton from various feedstocks; 
 
   -- Completed preliminary engineering for our first commercial demonstration 
      scale, lignocellulosic production facility; 
 
   -- Executed international engineering, licensing and equity agreements for 
      five industry-scale biofuel refineries; 
 
   -- Identified, secured and integrated the world's leading intellectual 
      properties, technologies and solutions: 
 
          -- Executed an exclusive near-global license and joint research 
             agreement with RenFuel for esterification; 
 
          -- Executed an exclusive global license and cooperative research and 
             development agreement with the DoE's National Renewable Energy 
             Laboratory ("NREL") for breakthrough lignocellulosic conversions; 
 
          -- Executed an agreement with the intent to secure a nearly exclusive 
             global license for liquid fuels applications from, and 
             collaboration agreement with, Hexas Biomass Inc. for feedstocks; 
             and 
 
          -- Secured carbon capture and utilization license for further 
             increasing yields. 
 
   -- Secured $3 million in incentive awards from Oklahoma's Quick Action 
      Closing Fund and earned the first $1 million; 
   -- Secured $152 million in Qualified Private Activity Bonds from Oklahoma's 
      State Treasurer's Office; 
 
   -- Closed on a strategic Series A investment from subsidiaries of Marathon 
      Petroleum Corp. ("MPC"); and 
 
   -- Acquired MPC's Madison, WI, renewable fuel demonstration facility for 
      increased pilot production capabilities. 

"We have created an unprecedented, extremely high yielding, extremely low-carbon (and often carbon negative), sustainable global biofuel system that integrates waste and farmed crops to fuels capable of delivering 200 million barrels (or over 8 billion gallons) of fuel per year, by 2035," said De Gasperis. "Our existing commercial process unlocks and converts wasted, unused, and purpose grown woody biomass into renewable fuels, effectively creating an endless oilwell that was hidden in plain sight."

Comstock Mining

   -- Monetized the northern district claims with over $2.4 million in cash 
      proceeds between leasing and sales; 
 
   -- Updated our internal preliminary mine and reclamation plan for the Dayton 
      Mine ("Dayton"); 
 
   -- Increased the magnitude of Dayton's estimated economic mineralized 
      material and planned free cash flows; 
 
   -- Developed actionable plans for expanding and upgrading the Dayton 
      resource into proven and probable reserves; and 
 
   -- Assessed productive post-mining land uses and identified prerequisites 
      for post-mining development. 

"The rapidly rising industrial silver demand and ongoing geopolitical concerns, compounded by decades of questionable monetary policy, created an unprecedented runup in gold and an even possibly greater set up for silver prices over the next several years. Our historic, world-class Nevada mining assets are positioned for expansion and monetization," said De Gasperis.

Corporate: Capitalizing and Positioning for Profitable Growth

Building on the 2024 momentum, our core objectives for 2025--2029 are not only achievable but poised to deliver tremendous value, including three industry-scale facilities for renewable metals, starting in Nevada, and multiple industry-scale commercial facilities, both our own, co-located and integrated with others and our licensees, for renewable fuels, starting with Oklahoma.

On February 24, 2025, the Company effected a one-for-ten (1:10) reverse stock split of its issued and outstanding shares of common stock. The total outstanding share count is 24,238,453. The reverse stock split did not impact the total stockholders' equity, the number of authorized shares of common stock, or the par value per share, however, it did effectively increase the Company's authorized capital capacity needed to enable its growth plans.

The growth profiles for both Fuels and Metals have developed beyond our original plans, and we have attracted some of the most sophisticated partners, for feedstocks, technologies, operations, governments, and refining and offtake, with many now evaluating direct investments, and in multiple cases exploring deeper integrations with us into an even bigger system, under our control. The Company's authorized share capacity is now more than sufficient for capitalizing on these opportunities.

"These are keenly strategic capital partners to us, enabling us to solidify our capital base, unlock our valuation and extend the functionality of our system, by directly integrating and facilitating the tremendous growth," said De Gasperis. "We are proceeding with several transformative transactions for 2025, designed to ensure we unlock and deliver the value that we have created and are continuously creating. This includes consummating the highly valuable Series A investments into Comstock Fuels and subsequently spinning off the new Bioleum$(TM)$-based enterprise into a stand-alone, well-capitalized public company."

Outlook for 2025

Our goal is to Accelerate the Commercialization of Hard Technologies for Energy Markets. We are pushing the boundaries of what is possible in technology and sustainability by leveraging our teams' unique skills, our diverse technology portfolio and our frontier research and development networks toward achieving breakthrough innovations that deliver meaningful positive impact across industries, economies, and communities. The primary focus for 2025 is the capitalization and commercialization of our renewable fuels and metals businesses and the corporate monetization of our legacy assets and investments.

The remaining Corporate objectives for 2025 include:

   -- Monetize our legacy real estate and non-strategic investments for over 
      $50 million; 
 
   -- Ensure adequate liquidity and capital resources sufficient to support the 
      next phases of growth; 
 
   -- Finalize, communicate, and implement plans to unlock maximum value from a 
      spin-off of Comstock Fuels. 

This ultimately results in two high-growth public companies: a renewable metals and mining company headquartered in Nevada, and a renewable fuels company headquartered in Oklahoma and with major operations already operating in Wisconsin.

Comstock Fuels

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

March 06, 2025 16:15 ET (21:15 GMT)