ITEM 1A RISK FACTORS
There are many important factors that have affected, and in the future could affect, our business, including, but not limited to the factors discussed below, which should be reviewed carefully together with other information contained in this report. Some of the factors are beyond our control and future trends are difficult to predict.
An investment in our securities involves risk. You should carefully consider the following risk factors and those discussed elsewhere in this report, in evaluating our Company, its business, its industry and prospects. The risks described below are not the only ones facing us. Additional risks not presently known to us, or that we currently deem immaterial, may also have a material adverse effect on us. The following risks could cause our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows to be materially and adversely affected. In that case, the market price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
BUSINESS AND OPERATING RISKS
You may lose all or part of your investment.
The shares of our common stock are highly speculative in nature, involve a high degree of risk and should be purchased only by persons who can afford to lose the entire amount invested in the common stock. Before purchasing any of the shares of common stock, you should carefully consider the risk factors contained herein relating to our business and prospects. If any of the risks presented herein actually occur, our business, financial condition or operating results could be materially adversely affected. In such case, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.
We need additional capital, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all, to continue as a going concern and for investing in our business and to finance acquisitions and other strategic transactions.
If we are unable to generate cash flows from our planned operating activities in our Metals Segment, then it is unlikely that the cash generated from our Strategic Investments Segment will suffice as a source of the liquidity necessary for anticipated working capital requirements. There is no assurance that the Company’s initiatives to improve its liquidity and financial position will be successful, including increasing and maintaining a sufficient quantity of authorized common stock available for raising equity capital. Accordingly, there would be substantial risk that the Company would be unable to continue as a going concern. In the event of insolvency, liquidation, reorganization, dissolution or other winding up of the Company, the Company’s creditors would be entitled to payment in full out of the Company’s assets before holders of common stock would be entitled to any payment, and the claims on such assets may exceed the value of such assets.
We have a limited operating history.
We have a limited operating history. The success of our Company is significantly dependent on the completion of uncertain future events, including the financing, development, permitting, construction, commissioning, start-up, and initiation of sustainable throughput of renewable electrification metals production facilities, the discovery and exploitation of mineralized materials on our properties, selling the rights to exploit those materials, and/or commercializing our other diversified production and processing activities. If our business plan is not successful and we are not able to operate profitably, then our securities may become worthless, and investors may lose all of their investment in our Company.
We may never earn significant revenues from our operations.
If we are unable to generate significant revenues from our planned production and processing activities in the future, then we will not be able to earn profits or continue operations. We have yet to generate positive operating income and there can be no assurance that we will ever operate profitably. There is no history upon which to base any assumption as to the likelihood that we will prove successful, and we can provide no assurance that we will generate significant revenues or ever achieve profitability. If we are unsuccessful, our business will fail, and investors may lose all of their investment in our Company.
We may be unable to manage our future growth.
Even if we can successfully implement our growth strategy, any failure to manage our growth effectively could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. We intend to expand operations significantly by 2030, which will require us to hire and train new employees; accurately forecast supply and demand, production and revenue; control expenses and investments in anticipation of expanded operations; establish new production facilities; and implement and enhance administrative infrastructure, systems and processes. Future growth may also be tied to acquisitions, and we cannot guarantee that we will be able to effectively acquire other businesses or integrate businesses that we acquire. Failure to efficiently manage any of the above could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.
We may not be able to successfully implement our growth strategy on a timely basis or at all.
Our future global growth, results of operations and financial condition depend upon our ability to successfully implement our growth strategy, which, in turn, is dependent upon a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control, including our ability to: economically extract and refine wasted and unused natural resources and meet customers’ business needs; complete the construction of future facilities at a reasonable cost and on a timely basis; invest and keep pace in technology, research and development efforts, and the expansion and defense of our intellectual property portfolio; secure and maintain required strategic supply arrangements; effectively compete in the markets in which we operate; and, attract and retain management or other employees with specialized knowledge and technical skills. There can be no assurance that we can successfully achieve any or all of the above initiatives in the manner or time period that we expect. Further, achieving these objectives will require investments that may result in both short-term and long-term costs without generating any current revenue and therefore may be dilutive to earnings. We cannot provide any assurance that we will realize, in full or in part, the anticipated benefits we expect to generate from our growth strategy. Failure to realize those benefits could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.
We are exposed to global health, economic, supply chain, and market risks that are beyond our control, which could adversely affect our financial results and capital requirements.
Uncertainties regarding the global economic and financial environment could lead to an extended national or global economic recession. A slowdown in economic activity caused by a recession would likely reduce demand for assets that we hold for sale and result in lower commodity prices for long periods of time. Costs of exploration, development and production have not yet adjusted to current economic conditions, or in proportion to the significant reduction in product prices. Competition and unforeseen limited sources of supplies needed for our planned developments could result in occasional shortages of supplies of certain products, equipment or materials. There is no guarantee we will be able to obtain certain products, equipment and/or materials as and when needed, without interruption, or on favorable terms, if at all. Such delays could affect our anticipated business operations and increase our expenses.
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The Renewable Fuel Standard, a federal law requiring the consumption of qualifying renewable fuels, could be repealed, curtailed or otherwise changed, which would have a material adverse effect on our revenues, operating margins and financial condition.
We and other participants in the biomass-based diesel industry rely on governmental programs requiring or incentivizing the consumption of biofuels. Biomass-based diesel has historically been more expensive to produce than petroleum-based diesel fuel and these governmental programs support a market for biomass-based diesel that might not otherwise exist. One of the most important of these programs is the RFS II, a federal law that requires that transportation fuels in the United States contain a minimum amount of renewable fuel. This program is administered by the EPA. The EPA's authority includes setting annual minimum aggregate levels of consumption in four renewable fuel categories, including the two primary categories in which we plan to compete, biomass-based diesel and advanced biofuel. The parties obligated to comply with this RVO, are petroleum refiners and petroleum fuel importers. The petroleum industry is strongly opposed to the RFS II and can be expected to continue to press for changes both in the RFS II itself and in the way that it is administered by the EPA. The U.S. Congress could repeal, curtail or otherwise change the RFS II program in a manner adverse to us. Similarly, the EPA could curtail or otherwise change its administration of the RFS II program in a manner adverse to us, including by not increasing or even decreasing the RVO, by waiving compliance with the RVO or otherwise. We cannot predict what changes, if any, will be instituted or the impact of any changes on our business, although adverse changes could seriously harm our revenues, earnings and financial condition.
Loss of or reductions in federal and state government tax incentives for renewable fuel production or consumption may have a material adverse effect on our revenues and operating margins.
Federal and state tax incentives have assisted the biomass-based diesel industry by making the price of biomass-based diesel more cost competitive with the price of petroleum-based diesel fuel to the end user. The most significant tax incentive program has been the federal biodiesel mixture excise tax credit, referred to as the BTC. Under the BTC, the first person to blend pure biomass-based diesel with petroleum-based diesel fuel receives a $1.00 per-gallon refundable tax credit. Unlike the RFS II program, the BTC has a direct effect on federal government spending and changes in federal budget policy could result in its elimination or in changes to its terms that are less beneficial to us. We cannot predict what action, if any, Congress may take with respect to the BTC in the future. There is no assurance that the BTC will be reinstated, that it will be reinstated on the same terms or, if reinstated, that its application will be retroactive, prospective or both. Any adverse changes in the BTC can be expected to harm our results of operations and financial condition. Several states have enacted tax incentives for the use of biodiesel. Modification, curtailment or elimination of such incentives could materially and adversely affect our revenues and profitability.
We intend to derive a significant portion of our revenues from sales of our renewable fuel in states with LCFS, however, adverse changes in the associated laws or reductions in the value of the applicable credits would harm our revenues and profits.
The LCFS is designed to reduce GHG emissions associated with transportation fuels used in California by ensuring that the total amount of fuel consumed meets declining targets for such emissions. The regulation quantifies lifecycle GHG emissions by assigning a CI score to each transportation fuel based on that fuel’s lifecycle assessment. Each petroleum fuel provider, generally the fuel’s producer or importer is required to ensure that the overall CI score for its fuel pool meets the annual CI target for a given year. This obligation is tracked through credits and deficits and credits can be traded. We expect to receive LCFS credits when we eventually sell qualified fuels in California and other applicable states and jurisdictions. If the value of our planned renewable fuels were to materially decrease as a result of over-supply or reduced demand for our fuels, or if our fuel is deemed not to qualify for LCFS credits, or if the LCFS or the manner in which it is administered or applied were otherwise changed in a manner adverse to us, then our revenues and profits could be seriously harmed.
A decline in the adoption rate of renewable energy or electrification, or a decline in the support by governments for renewable energy and electrification technologies, could materially harm our financial results and ability to grow our business.
The demand for our renewable energy, process solutions, related services, and technology licensing is driven in part by projected increases in the demand for renewable energy and electrification. A decline in the adoption of renewable energy and electrification could reduce the demand for our renewable energy, process solutions, related services, and technology licensing, which could have a negative impact on our operating results.
Our success will depend on acquiring, maintaining, and increasing feedstock supply commitments, as well as securing new customers and offtake agreements.
We must acquire and maintain feedstock supply commitments as well as new customers, including offtake agreements. Feedstock suppliers may change or delay supply contracts for any number of reasons, such as force majeure or government approval factors that are unrelated to our operations. Customers may fail to perform under their contracts for similar reasons. As a result, in order to maintain and expand our business, we must continue to develop and obtain new feedstock supply and customer contracts. However, it is difficult to predict whether and when we will secure such commitments and/or contracts due to competition for suppliers and customers and the lengthy process of negotiating supplier and customer agreements, which may be affected by factors that we do not control, such as market and economic conditions, financing arrangements, commodity prices, environmental issues and government approvals.
Our margins will be dependent on the spread between the market prices for our renewable energy and the costs for our feedstocks, which may be volatile and can cause our results of operations to fluctuate substantially.
Our business will be highly impacted by commodity price volatility, primarily in the markets for our intended renewable energy, including carbon neutral cellulosic ethanol, and lignocellulosic oil, gasoline, renewable diesel, jet fuel, and marine fuel, as well as lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, manganese, copper, aluminum, gold, silver, cadmium and other commodity-driven renewable energy materials. While our technologies target and benefit from low cost wasted and unused feedstocks, decreases in the prevailing prices for our renewable energy will have a negative impact on the amount of cash we are able to produce from our operating activities. Any such decreases may adversely affect our results of operations and financial position.
Our operations depend on the availability of sufficient water supplies.
Some of our planned operations will require significant quantities of water for extraction, processing and related support facilities, and some of our planned operations are in areas where water is scarce and competition among users for continuing access to water is significant. Continuous operation at such locations will be dependent on our ability to secure and maintain our water rights and claims, and the continuing physical availability of the water.
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Owning property and water rights and options on property and water rights carries inherent risks.
As a result of our ownership of real property and water rights, our business may be negatively affected by related risks beyond our control, including without limitation: adverse changes in national, regional and local economic conditions and outlook; economic downturns in the areas where the properties are located; adverse changes in local real estate market conditions such as an oversupply of properties, reduction in demand, intense competition for buyers and/or demographic changes; changes in business or consumer preferences that reduce the attractiveness of our properties; changes in zoning, regulatory restrictions or tax laws; and, changes in interest rates or availability of financing. These conditions could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations and cash flows, or the market price of our stock.
We do not have proven or probable reserves, and there is no assurance that the quantities of minerals and metals we produce will be sufficient to recover our investment and operating costs.
We do not have proven or probable reserves. Substantial expenditures are required to acquire existing gold properties with established reserves or to establish proven or probable reserves through drilling, analysis and engineering. Any sums expended for additional drilling, analysis and engineering may not establish proven or probable reserves on our properties. We drill in connection with our mineral exploration and mining activities and not with the purpose of establishing proven and probable reserves. While we estimate the amount of mineralized material we believe exists on our properties, our calculations are subject to uncertainty due to several factors, including the quantity and grade of the mineralized material, metal prices and recoverability of minerals in the mineral recovery process. There is a great degree of uncertainty attributable to the calculation of any mineralized material, particularly where there has not been significant drilling, mining and processing. Until the mineralized material located on our properties is actually mined and processed, the quantity and quality of the mineralized material must be considered as an estimate only. In addition, the estimated value of such mineralized material (regardless of the quantity) will vary depending on metal prices. Any material change in the estimated value of mineralized material may negatively affect the economic viability of our properties. In addition, there can be no assurance that we will achieve the same recoveries of metals contained in the mineralized material as in small-scale laboratory tests, or that we will be able to duplicate such results in larger scale tests under on-site conditions or during production. There can be no assurance that our exploration activities will result in the discovery of sufficient quantities of mineralized material to recover our investment and operating costs.
The cost of our exploration, development and acquisition activities is substantial, and there is no assurance that the quantities of minerals and metals we discover, acquire or recover will justify commercial operations or replace future reserves.
Mineral exploration, development and beneficiation, particularly for gold, silver and other strategic metals, is highly speculative in nature and frequently is nonproductive. There can be no assurance that our exploration, development and/or acquisition activities will be commercially successful. If gold mineralization is discovered, it may take a number of years from the initial phases of drilling until production is possible, during which time the economic feasibility of production may change. Substantial expenditures are required to acquire existing gold properties, to establish mineral reserves through drilling and analysis, to develop metallurgical processes to extract metal from the mineralized material and, in the case of new properties, to develop the processing facilities and infrastructure at any site chosen for mineral exploration. There can be no assurance that any gold reserves or mineralized material that may be discovered or acquired in the future, if any, will be in sufficient quantities or of adequate grade to justify commercial operations, or that the funds required for mineral production operation can be obtained on a timely or reasonable basis, if at all. Mining companies must continually replace mineralized material or reserves depleted by production. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in replacing any reserves or mineralized material acquired or established in the future.
Estimated costs and timing are uncertain, which may adversely affect our expected production and profitability.
The capital expenditures and time required to acquire, develop and explore our projects are considerable and changes in costs, construction schedules or both, can adversely affect project economics and expected production and profitability. There are a number of factors that can affect costs and construction schedules, including, among others:
availability of labor, energy, transportation, equipment, and infrastructure;
changes in input commodity prices and labor costs;
fluctuations in currency exchange rates;
availability and terms of financing;
changes in anticipated tonnage, grade and characteristics of the mineralized material to be mined and processed;
recovery rates of gold and other metals from mineralized or recyclable materials;
difficulty of estimating construction costs over a period of a year;
delays in completing any environmental review or in obtaining environmental or other government permits;
weather and severe climate impacts; and
potential delays related to health, social, political and community issues.
Resource and other material statements are estimates subject to uncertainty due to factors including market prices, and the inherent variability and recoverability of targeted natural resources in extraction and beneficiation processes.
Our reports of mineral resources, other mineralized material and grading are estimates and depend upon geological interpretation and statistical inferences or assumptions drawn from drilling and sampling analysis, which may prove to be unpredictable. There is a degree of uncertainty attributable to the estimation of mineral resources and corresponding grades. Until mineral resources and other mineralized materials are actually mined and processed, the quantity of mineralized material and grades must be considered as an estimate only. In addition, the quantity of mineral resources and other mineralized materials may vary depending on metal prices. Any material change in the quantity of mineral resources, other mineralized materials, mineralization, grade or Stripping ratio may affect the economic viability of our properties. In addition, we can provide no assurance that gold recoveries or other metal recoveries experienced in small-scale laboratory tests will be duplicated in larger scale tests under on-site conditions or during production.
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Market prices fluctuate and a downturn in our product's prices could negatively impact our operations and cash flow.
Our operations will be significantly affected by changes in the market price of metals and minerals that we are able to produce or extract. Commodity prices can fluctuate widely and may be affected by numerous factors, such as expectations for inflation, levels of interest rates, currency exchange rates, purchases and sales by governments and central banks, monetary policies employed by the world’s major central banks, fiscal policies employed by the world’s major industrialized economies, forward selling or other hedging activities, demand, global or regional political and economic crises, and production costs in other regions. The aggregate effect of these factors, all of which are beyond our control, is impossible for us to predict. If prices decline substantially, it could adversely affect the realizable value of our assets and, potentially, future results of operations and cash flow.
Risk management transactions could significantly increase our operating costs and may not be effective.
In an attempt to partially offset the effects of market price volatility, we may enter into contracts that establish market positions in feedstocks and offtakes, along with related commodities, such as heating oil and ultra-low sulfur diesel. The financial impact of such market positions depends on commodity prices at the time that we are required to perform our obligations under these contracts as well as the cumulative sum of the obligations we assume under these contracts. Risk management activities can themselves result in losses when a position is purchased in a declining market or a position is sold in a rising market. Risk management arrangements expose us to the risk of financial loss where the counterparty defaults on its contract or, in the case of exchange-traded or over-the-counter futures or options contracts, where there is a change in the expected differential between the underlying price in the contract and the actual prices paid or received by us. Changes in the value of these futures (derivative financial instruments) would result in risk management gains and losses that would be recognized in current income and may result in margin calls. If adverse changes in derivative instrument fair value were to occur, a significant amount of liquidity would be needed to fund margin calls. In addition, we may also vary the amount of risk management strategies we undertake, or we may choose not to engage in risk management transactions at all. Our results of operation may be negatively impacted if we are not able to manage our risk management strategy effectively.
In addition to changes in prevailing commodity prices, our results of operations could be significantly affected by the volume, mix, and composition of the various wasted and unused natural resource feedstocks that we are targeting, all of which are subject to variance.
Our revenues will depend on processing wasted and unused natural resources, and our revenues will be directly impacted by the chemistry of the feedstocks we acquire and process, particularly as market chemistries shift. Certain feedstock chemistries produce raw materials such as cobalt for which we receive higher prices than others. A decline in overall volume of feedstock processed, or a decline in volume of chemistries with higher priced content relative to other chemistries, could result in a significant decline in our revenues, which in turn would have a material impact on its results of operations.
If one or more of our facilities become inoperative, capacity constrained, or if operations are disrupted, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
Our revenue will be dependent on the continued operations of our planned future lignocellulosic fuels and electrification metals facilities, as well as other future facilities that we develop in the future. To the extent that we experience any operational risk including, among other things, fire and explosions, severe weather and natural disasters (such as floods and hurricanes), failures in water supply, major power failures, equipment failures (including any failure of information technology, air conditioning, and cooling and compressor systems), failures to comply with applicable regulations and standards, labor force and work stoppages, including those resulting from local or global pandemics or otherwise, or if current or future facilities become capacity constrained, we may be required to make capital expenditures even though we may not have sufficient available resources at such time. Additionally, there is no guarantee that the proceeds available from our insurance policies will be sufficient to cover such capital expenditures. Our insurance coverage and available resources may prove to be inadequate for events that may cause significant disruption to our operations. Any disruption in our production facilities could result in delivery delays, scheduling problems, increased costs or production interruption, which, in turn, may result in its customers deciding to send their feedstock to our competitors. We will be dependent on our current and future facilities, which will in the future require a high degree of capital expenditures. If one or more of our facilities becomes inoperative, capacity constrained, or if operations are disrupted, then our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
We may experience increased costs or losses resulting from the hazards and uncertainties associated with mining.
The exploration for natural resources and the development and production of mining operations are activities that involve a high level of uncertainty. These can be difficult to predict and are often affected by risks and hazards outside of our control. These factors include, but are not limited to:
environmental hazards, including discharge of metals, concentrates, pollutants or hazardous chemicals;
industrial accidents, including in connection with the operation of mining transportation equipment, milling equipment and/or conveyor systems, and accidents associated with the preparation and ignition of large-scale blasting operations, milling, processing and transportation of chemicals, explosives or other materials;
surface or underground fires or floods;
unexpected geological formations or conditions (whether in mineral or gaseous form);
ground and water conditions;
fall-of-ground accidents in underground operations;
failure of mining pit slopes and tailings dam walls;
seismic activity; and
other natural phenomena, such as lightning, rain, snowstorms, floods, or other inclement weather conditions.
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Our facilities and our customers' facilities will be subject to risks associated with fire, explosions, leaks, and natural disasters, which may disrupt our business and increase costs and liabilities.
Our current and planned operating activities are inherently hazardous. Operations in which we have direct or indirect interests will be subject to all the hazards and risks normally incidental to extraction and refining of wasted and unused natural resources into renewable energy, any of which could result in work stoppages, damage to property and possible environmental damage. The nature of these risks is such that liabilities might exceed any applicable liability insurance policy limits. It is also possible that the liabilities and hazards might not be insurable, or we could elect not to insure ourselves against such liabilities because of the high premium costs, in which event, we could incur significant costs that could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. Because some of our inputs and outputs will be combustible and/or flammable, a leak, fire or explosion may occur at a plant or customer’s facility which could result in damage to the plant and nearby properties, injury or death to employees and others, and interruption of operations. The operations at our facilities are also subject to the risk of natural disasters. An earthquake or other natural disaster could disrupt our ability to transport, store and deliver products to California. Changing weather patterns and climatic conditions, such as global warming, have added to the unpredictability and frequency of natural disasters and have created additional uncertainty. The Company's operations could be exposed to a number of physical risks from climate change, such as changes in rainfall rates, rising sea levels, reduced water availability, higher temperatures, fire and other extreme weather events. We are not able to accurately predict the materiality of any potential losses or costs associated with the physical effects of climate change. If we experience a fire or other serious incident at our facilities or if any of our facilities is affected by a natural disaster, we may incur significant additional costs, including, loss of profits due to unplanned temporary or permanent shutdowns of our facilities, loss of the ability to transport products or increased costs to do so, cleanup costs, liability for damages or injuries, legal and reconstruction expenses. The occurrence of significant additional costs would harm our results of operations and financial condition.
The dangers inherent in storage and transportation of our renewable energy could cause disruptions in our operations and could expose us to potentially significant losses, costs or liabilities.
We intend to store our renewable energy, including renewable fuels, in above ground storage tanks and transport fuel with third-party truck and rail carriers. Our operations are subject to significant hazards and risks inherent in transporting and storing fuel. These hazards and risks include, but are not limited to, accidents, fires, explosions, spills, discharges, and other releases, any of which could result in distribution difficulties and disruptions, environmental pollution, governmentally imposed fines or clean-up obligations, personal injury or wrongful death claims, and other damage to property. Any such event not covered by our insurance could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Increases in transportation costs or disruptions could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Our business will depend on transportation services. The costs of these transportation services are affected by the volatility in fuel prices or other factors, such as tank car availability and prices. If oil production from this area increases, the demand for rail cars will rise and will significantly increase rail car prices. We may not be able to pass along part or all of any of these price increases to customers. If we are unable to increase our prices as a result of increased fuel costs charged to us by transportation providers, our gross margins may be materially adversely affected. If any transportation providers fail to deliver raw materials to us in a timely manner, we may be unable to manufacture products on a timely basis. Shipments of products and raw materials may be delayed and any such delay or failure could harm our reputation, negatively affect our customer relationships and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Weather interruptions may affect, and delay proposed operations and impact our business plans.
Extreme weather events (such as increased frequency or intensity of storms or prolonged drought, flooded or frozen terrain) have the potential to disrupt operations at our projects. Extended disruptions to supply lines due to extreme weather could result in interruption of activities at the project sites, delay or increase the cost of construction of the projects, or otherwise adversely affect our business.
Disruptions in the supply of certain key inputs and components and other goods from our suppliers, including limited or single source suppliers, could have an adverse effect on the results of our business operations, and could damage our relationships with customers.
The production of our products in the future may require a wide variety of raw materials, key inputs and components and other. Such critical raw materials, key inputs and components and other goods may only be available from limited or single sources of supply. If the receipt of certain limited source or single source materials is delayed, our relationship with customers may be harmed if such delays cause us to miss our scheduled shipment deadlines. Our current or alternative sources may not be able to continue to meet all of our demands on a timely basis. If suppliers or subcontractors experience difficulties or fail to meet our manufacturing requirements, our business would be harmed until we are able to secure alternative sources, if any, on commercially reasonable terms. A prolonged inability to obtain certain raw materials, key components or other goods is possible and could have a significant adverse effect on our business operations, damage our relationships with customers, or even lead to permanent loss of customer orders.
We rely on contractors to conduct a significant portion of our operations and construction projects.
A significant portion of our operations and construction projects are currently conducted in whole or in part by contractors. As a result, our operations are subject to a number of risks, some of which are outside our control, including:
negotiating agreements with contractors on acceptable terms;
the inability to replace a contractor and its operating equipment in the event that either party terminates the agreement;
reduced control over those aspects of operations which are the responsibility of the contractor;
failure of a contractor to perform under its agreement;
interruption of operations or increased costs in the event that a contractor ceases its business due to insolvency or other unforeseen events;
failure of a contractor to comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, to the extent it is responsible for such compliance; and
problems of a contractor with managing its workforce, labor unrest or other employment issues.
In addition, we may incur liability to third parties as a result of the actions of our contractors. The occurrence of one or more of these risks could adversely affect our results of operations and financial position.
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We operate in highly competitive industries and expect that competition will increase.
We compete with other renewable fuels, electrification metals, clean technology engineering and licensing, and mineral exploration and mining companies in connection with the acquisition of properties and other assets, feedstock and offtake agreements, and clients, and the attraction and retention of human capital. Those competitors may have substantially greater financial resources than we do.
Our Fuels Segment will face competition from producers and suppliers of fossil fuels, and producers, marketers, traders, and distributors of renewable fuels. Our cellulosic ethanol products will compete with ethanol produced by the highly fragmented U.S. corn ethanol industry, including from plants owned by farmers, cooperatives, oil refiners and retail fuel operators that may continue to operate even when market conditions are not favorable due to the benefits realized from their other operations. In the United States and Canadian biomass-based diesel markets, we will compete with independent biomass-based diesel producers, as well as large, multi-product companies that have greater resources than we do. There are also major international agribusiness corporations and biodiesel producers with the financial, feedstock sourcing and marketing resources that make renewable fuel as part of their integrated agribusinesses. We will also compete with several large and well capitalized producers of renewable diesel. We also face the prospect that petroleum refiners will be increasingly competitive with us, either by converting oil refineries to produce renewable diesel or by co-processing renewable feedstock with crude oil. Several petroleum refiners in the U.S. have affected conversions of their facilities from crude oil to renewables in the past year. Some of the largest refiners have started co-processing renewable feedstocks or have announced plans to do so. If refinery conversions accelerate or if co-processing expands significantly, the competition we face could increase significantly. We also face competition in the biomass-based diesel RIN compliance market from producers of renewable diesel and in the advanced biofuel RIN compliance market from producers of other advanced biofuels, such as Brazilian sugarcane ethanol producers and producers of biogas used in transportation.
Our Metals Segment operates in the recycling industry, where it faces competition primarily from companies that focus on one type of recycling, some of which have more expertise in the recycling of that material than we do. We also compete against companies that have a substantial competitive advantage because of longer operating histories and larger budgets, as well as greater financial and other resources. National or global competitors could enter the market with more substantial financial and workforce resources, stronger existing customer relationships, and greater name recognition, or could choose to target medium to small companies in our markets. Competitors could focus their substantial resources on developing more efficient recovery solutions than us. Competition also places downward pressure on contract prices and profit margins, which presents significant challenges to maintaining growth rates and acceptable margins. Such factors would materially harm our operations, cash flows and profitability.
Technological advances could render some or all our plans obsolete and adversely affect our ability to compete.
Advances in the process of converting wasted and unused natural resources could allow our competitors to produce renewable energy faster and more efficiently and at a substantially lower cost. In addition, we will produce our renewable fuels to conform to or exceed standards established by the American Society for Testing and Materials, whose standards may be modified in response to new technologies from the industries involved with diesel fuel. New standards or production technologies may require us to make additional capital investments in, or modify, plant operations to meet these standards. We will be required to continually enhance and update our technology to maintain its efficacy and to avoid obsolescence. The costs of doing so may be substantial and may be higher than the costs that we anticipate for technology maintenance and development. If we are unable to adapt or incorporate technological advances into our operations, our production facilities could become less competitive or obsolete, or our ability to manage our business and to compete may be impaired. Further, it may be necessary for us to make significant expenditures to acquire any new technology, acquire licenses or other rights to technology and retrofit our plants in order to remain competitive. There is no assurance that we will be able to obtain such technologies, licenses or rights on favorable terms. Even if we can maintain technical effectiveness, our technology may not be the most efficient means of reaching our objectives, in which case we may incur higher operating costs than we would if our technology were more effective. The impact of technical shortcomings could have a material adverse effect on our prospects, business, financial condition, and results of operations. If we are unable to obtain, implement or finance new technologies, our production facilities could be less efficient, and our ability to produce biomass-based diesel on a competitive level may be harmed, negatively impacting our revenues and profitability.
Our business could be adversely affected if we are unable to protect our intellectual property, or others assert that our operations violate their intellectual property.
We rely on a combination of intellectual property rights, including patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets in the U.S. and in select foreign countries to protect our intellectual property. Effective patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret protection may be unavailable, limited or not obtained in some countries. Our success may depend on our ability to successfully prosecute and/or maintain and enforce patent and other intellectual property protection for our technologies. We have obtained or developed rights to patents and patent applications in the U.S. and on a case-by-case basis internationally, and may, in the future, seek rights from third parties to other patent applications or patented technology. There can be no assurance, however, that patents will be issued from the patent applications filed or to be filed or that the scope of any claims granted in any patent will provide us with proprietary protection. If the scope of the claim granted in a patent is not sufficient to afford us with protection against competitors with similar technology, our investment in the patented technology may provide us limited or no competitive advantage. Any failure to maintain patent or other intellectual property protection on our technologies could have a material adverse effect on our operations, cash flows and financial position. We also rely in part on trade secret protection to protect our knowhow, confidential and proprietary information, and processes. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. We have taken measures to protect our trade secrets and proprietary information, but these measures may not be effective. For example, we require new employees and consultants to execute confidentiality agreements upon the commencement of their employment or consulting arrangement with us. These agreements generally require that all confidential information developed by the individual or made known to the individual by us during the individual’s relationship with us be kept confidential and not disclosed to third parties. These agreements also generally provide that knowhow and inventions conceived by the individual in the course of rendering services to us are our exclusive property. Nevertheless, these agreements may be breached, expire, or may not be enforceable, and our proprietary information may be disclosed. Despite the existence of these agreements, third parties may independently develop equivalent proprietary information and techniques. It may be difficult to protect and enforce our intellectual property. Adverse judicial decision(s) in any legal action could limit our ability to assert our intellectual property rights, limit our ability to develop new products, limit the value of our technology or otherwise negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations. A competitor could seek to enforce intellectual property claims against us. Defending intellectual property claims asserted against us, regardless of merit, could be time-consuming, expensive to litigate or settle, divert management resources and attention, and force us to acquire intellectual property rights and licenses, which may involve substantial royalty payments. Further, a third-party claim, if successful, could secure a judgment that requires us to pay substantial damages limiting our operations.
The success of our business depends on our ability to continuously innovate and to manage transitions to new product innovations.
Technology requirements in our markets are constantly advancing. We must continually introduce new products that meet evolving customer needs. Our ability to grow depends on the successful development, introduction, and market acceptance of new or enhanced products that address our customers’ requirements. Developing new technology is a complex and uncertain process requiring us to accurately anticipate technological and market trends and meet those trends with the right products. Additionally, this requires that we manage the transition from older products to minimize disruption in customer ordering patterns, avoid excess inventory and ensure adequate supplies of new products. Failure to develop new products, failed market acceptance of new products or problems associated with new product transitions could harm our business.
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The success of our business depends on evolving, highly technical, and uncommonly qualified technical resources that are becoming increasingly important to us. We will face significant competition in seeking and acquiring qualified, competent technical and systemically oriented employees.
We have limited capabilities for new innovation, technical and product developments and do not have significant capabilities for research, development, business development, sales, marketing or distribution that think and operate systemically. For some of our program and product development candidates, we may not be able to attract or retain qualified, systemically-minded computational material engineers, software engineers, photocatalysis experts, quantum chemists, quantum information scientists, quantum physicists, including but not limited to condensed matter physicists, mathematical physicists and computational physicists and/or third-party quantum computing companies and technically sophisticated project managers for the development and potential commercialization of our products and solutions. The competition for highly technical and quantum professionals is intense. If we are unable to identify, hire and retain technical resources on a timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all, we may have to curtail the development of a product candidate, reduce or delay one or more of our other development programs, delay its potential commercialization or reduce the scope of any sales or marketing activities, or increase our expenditures and undertake development or commercialization activities at our own expense. If we elect to fund and undertake development or commercialization activities on our own, that is, without strategic partners, we may need to obtain additional expertise and additional capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all.
We may not be successful in developing our new products and services.
Our success will depend partially on our ability to introduce new products, services and technologies continually and on a timely basis and to continue to improve the performance, features and reliability of our products and services in response to both evolving demands of prospective customers and competitive products. There can be no assurance that any of our new or proposed products or services will maintain the market acceptance already established. Our failure to design, develop, test, market and introduce new and enhanced products, technologies and services successfully so as to achieve market acceptance could have a material adverse effect upon our business, operating results and financial condition. There can be no assurance that we will not experience difficulties that could delay or prevent the successful development, introduction or marketing of new or enhanced products and services, or that our new products and services will adequately satisfy the requirements of prospective customers and achieve significant acceptance by those customers. Because of certain market characteristics, including technological change, changing customer needs, frequent new product and service introductions and evolving industry standards, the continued introduction of new products and services is critical. Delays in the introduction of new products and services may result in customer dissatisfaction and may delay or cause a loss of revenue. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in developing new products or services or improving existing products and services that respond to technological changes or evolving industry standards. In addition, new or enhanced products and services introduced by us may contain undetected errors that require significant design modifications. This could result in a loss of customer confidence which could adversely affect the use of our products, which in turn, could have a material adverse effect upon our business, results of operations or financial condition.
If we fail to introduce new products in a timely manner, we may be unable to acquire and/or lose market share and be unable to achieve revenue growth targets.
Our research and development efforts may not lead to the successful introduction of products within the time frame that our customers demand. Our competitors may introduce new or improved products, processes or technologies that make our current or proposed products obsolete or less competitive. We may encounter delays or problems in connection with our research and development efforts. Product development delays may result from numerous factors, including:
changing product specifications and customer requirements;
inability to manufacture new products cost effectively;
difficulties in reallocating engineering resources and overcoming resource limitations;
changing market or competitive product requirements; and
unanticipated engineering complexities.
New products often take longer to develop, may have fewer features than originally considered desirable, and have higher costs than initially estimated. There may be difficulty in sourcing components for new products and delays in starting volume production. New products may also not be commercially successful. Any of these adverse developments could harm our business and our results of operations.
If we are unable to commercially release products that are accepted in the market or that generate significant revenues, our financial results will continue to suffer.
There can be no assurances that demand for our future products will meet, or even approach, our expectations. In addition, our pricing and marketing strategies may not be successful. Lack of customer demand, a change in marketing strategy and changes to our pricing models could dramatically alter our financial results. Unless we can release products and sell services that meet a significant market demand, we will not be able to improve our financial condition or the results of our future operations.
Product defects or problems with integrating our and other products may seriously harm our business and reputation.
We plan to produce complex products that may contain latent defects or performance problems. This could happen to both existing and new products. Such defects or performance problems could be detrimental to our business and reputation. In addition, customers frequently integrate products that we plan to produce with products of other vendors’ products. When problems occur in a combined environment, it may be difficult to identify the source of the problem. These problems may cause us to incur significant warranty and repair costs, divert the attention of our engineering personnel from our product development efforts, and cause significant customer relationship issues.
We may encounter manufacturing or assembly problems for products, which would adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
To date, our strategic joint venture partners have only manufactured prototypes and a limited number of products. In addition, they are continually redesigning and enhancing products with technology on which are basing the design of new products we hope to market in the near future. The manufacture and assembly of such products involves complex and precise processes, some of which are totally dependent on other companies and consultants. There is no assurance that the strategic joint venture partners will not encounter any serious problems in the production of existing or new products. Any significant problems in manufacturing, assembling or testing products could delay the sales of products and have an adverse impact on our business and prospects. The willingness of manufacturers to make the product, or lack of availability of manufacturing capacity, may have an adverse impact on the availability of products and on the ability to sell products. Manufacturing difficulties will harm the ability to compete and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition and may hinder our ability to grow our business as we expect.
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Unfavorable economic conditions may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our operations and timelines may be affected by global economic markets and levels of consumer comfort and spending, including recessions, slow economic growth, economic and pricing instability, increase of interest rates and credit market volatility, all of which could impact demand in the worldwide transportation industries or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. Because the impact of current conditions on an ongoing basis is yet largely unknown, rapidly evolving, and varied across geographic regions, an ongoing assessment will be particularly critical to allow us to accurately project supply and demand and infrastructure requirements globally and allocate resources accordingly. If current global market conditions continue or worsen, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
Natural disasters, unusually adverse weather, epidemic or pandemic outbreaks, boycotts and geopolitical events could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.
The occurrence of one or more natural disasters, such as hurricanes and earthquakes, unusually adverse weather, epidemic or pandemic outbreaks, boycotts and geopolitical events, such as civil unrest and acts of terrorism, or similar disruptions could materially adversely affect our business, power supply, results of operations or financial condition. These events could result in physical damage to property, an increase in energy prices, temporary or permanent closure of one or more of our planned facilities, temporary lack of an adequate workforce in a market, temporary or long-term disruption in the supply of raw materials, construction delays at our planned facilities, temporary disruption in transport from overseas, or disruption to our information systems. We may incur expenses or delays relating to such events outside of our control, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition.
Illiquidity of investments and assets could impede our ability to respond to changes in economic and other conditions.
Our short-term plans include the sale of non-strategic and other investments and assets. The success of these plans depends on the market prices and demand for the purchase of such investments and assets. We may not be able to generate sufficient funds from the sale of these investments and assets to pay off our indebtedness we may incur or offset our other liquidity needs. Our ability to sell one or more of our investments or assets in response to changing economic, financial and investment conditions may be limited. We cannot predict whether we will be able to sell any of our investments or assets for the price or terms set by us, or whether any price or other terms offered by a prospective buyer would be acceptable to us.
We also cannot predict the length of time needed to find a willing buyer and to close the sale of investments or assets. The applicable markets are affected by many factors that are beyond our control. The nature of our properties, including our held- for-sale properties, may make it difficult for us to sell or develop those properties and could require considerable, additional capital to adapt the properties for sale or other productive uses, and could negatively affect our financial performance, including as a result of the following factors:
Time required to complete a sale or development may be greater than originally anticipated, thereby adversely affecting our cash flows and liquidity.
Our water rights or the availability of water through wells or municipal water providers may not be adequate to support potential development.
Water rights sales values are highly volatile.
We may encounter other delays because of a variety of factors that are beyond our control including natural disasters, material shortages, and regulatory requirements.
Our business requires substantial capital investment, and we may be unable to raise additional funding.
The construction and operation of potential future projects and various exploration projects will require significant funding. Our operating cash flow and other sources of funding may become insufficient to meet all of these requirements, depending on the timing and costs of development of these and other projects. As a result, new sources of capital may be needed to meet the funding requirements of these investments and fund our ongoing business activities. Our ability to raise and service significant new sources of capital will be a function of macroeconomic conditions, regulatory conditions, available authorized common stock, future commodity and other market prices, our operational performance, our current cash flow and debt position, among other factors. In the event of lower commodity and other market prices, unanticipated operating or financial challenges, or a further dislocation in the financial markets as experienced in recent years, our ability to pursue new business opportunities, invest in existing and new projects, fund our ongoing operations, and retire or service all of our outstanding debt could be significantly constrained.
Nevada law and our articles of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that could delay or discourage takeover attempts that stockholders may consider favorable.
Provisions in our articles of incorporation and bylaws may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management. These provisions include the following:
the right of the board to elect a director to fill a vacancy created by the expansion of the Board of Directors;
the requirement for advance notice for nominations for election to the Board of Directors or for proposing matters that can be acted upon at a stockholders’ meeting;
the ability of the Board of Directors to alter our bylaws without obtaining stockholder approval;
the ability of the Board of Directors to issue, without stockholder approval, up to 50,000,000 shares of preferred stock with rights set by the Board of Directors, which rights could be senior to those of common stock.
Nevada’s “acquisition of controlling interest” statutes (NRS 78.378 through 78.3793, inclusive) contain provisions governing the acquisition of a controlling interest in certain Nevada corporations. These “control share” laws provide generally that any person that acquires a “controlling interest” in certain Nevada corporations may be denied voting rights, unless a majority of the disinterested stockholders of the corporation elects to restore such voting rights. These laws would apply to us if we were to have 200 or more stockholders of record (at least 100 of whom have addresses in Nevada appearing on our stock ledger) and do business in the State of Nevada directly or through an affiliated corporation, unless our articles of incorporation or bylaws in effect on the tenth day after the acquisition of a controlling interest provide otherwise. These laws provide that a person acquires a “controlling interest” whenever a person acquires shares of a subject corporation that, but for the application of these provisions of the NRS, would enable that person to exercise (1) one fifth or more, but less than one third, (2) one third or more, but less than a majority or (3) a majority or more, of all of the voting power of the corporation in the election of directors. Once an acquirer crosses one of these thresholds, shares which it acquired in the transaction taking it over the threshold and within the 90 days immediately preceding the date when the acquiring person acquired or offered to acquire a controlling interest become “control shares” to which the voting restrictions described above apply. These laws may have a chilling effect on certain transactions if our articles of incorporation or bylaws are not amended to provide that these provisions do not apply to us or to an acquisition of a controlling interest, or if our disinterested stockholders do not confer voting rights in the control shares.
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In addition, because we are incorporated in Nevada, we are governed by Nevada Revised Statutes 78.411 to 78.444, inclusive. These provisions may also have an effect of delaying or making it more difficult to effect a change in control of the Company. A corporation affected by these provisions may not engage in a combination within two years after the interested stockholder acquires his, her or its shares unless the combination or purchase is approved by the Board of Directors before the interested stockholder acquired such shares. Generally, if approval is not obtained, then after the expiration of the two-year period, the business combination may be consummated with the approval of the Board of Directors before the person became an interested stockholder or a majority of the voting power held by disinterested stockholders, or if the consideration to be received per share by disinterested stockholders is at least equal to the highest of: (i) the highest price per share paid by the interested stockholder within the three years immediately preceding the date of the announcement of the combination or within three years immediately before, or in, the transaction in which he, she or it became an interested stockholder, whichever is higher; (ii) the market value per share on the date of announcement of the combination or the date the person became an interested stockholder, whichever is higher; or (iii) if higher for the holders of preferred stock, the highest liquidation value of the preferred stock, if any. Generally, these provisions define an “interested stockholder” as a person who is the beneficial owner, directly or indirectly of 10% or more of the voting power of the outstanding voting shares of a corporation, and define “combination” to include any merger or consolidation with an interested stockholder, or any sale, lease, exchange, mortgage, pledge, transfer or other disposition, in one transaction or a series of transactions with an interested stockholder of assets of the corporation: (i) having an aggregate market value equal to 5% or more of the aggregate market value of the assets of the corporation; (ii) having an aggregate market value equal to 5% or more of the aggregate market value of all outstanding shares of the corporation; or (iii) representing 10% or more of the earning power or net income of the corporation. These provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and under Nevada law could discourage potential takeover attempts and could reduce the price that investors might be willing to pay for shares of our common stock in the future and result in our market price being lower than it would without these provisions.
Our government grants are subject to uncertainty, which could harm our business and results of operations.
We have sought and may continue to seek to obtain government grants in the future to offset a portion of the costs of our research and development, commercialization, and other activities. We cannot be certain that we will be able to secure any such government grants in a timely fashion, or at all. Moreover, any of our existing grants or new grants that we may obtain may be terminated, modified, or recovered by the granting governmental body. If such grant funding is discontinued, our revenue and cash received from grants will decrease. If we do not receive grants we are counting on, our liquidity will be impacted, which will impact our ability to grow or maintain our business.
We may also be subject to additional regulations and audits by government agencies as part of routine audits of our activities funded by our government grants. As part of an audit, these agencies may review our performance, cost structures and compliance with applicable laws, regulations and standards. Funds available under grants must be applied by us toward the research and development programs specified by the granting agencies, rather than for all our programs generally. If any of our costs are found to be allocated improperly, the costs may not be reimbursed, and any costs already reimbursed may have to be refunded. Accordingly, an audit could result in an adjustment to our revenues and results of operations.
Governmental programs designed to incentivize the production and consumption of low-carbon fuels and carbon capture and utilization, may be implemented in a way that does not include products produced using our novel technology platform and process technologies or could be repealed, curtailed or otherwise changed, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We and other participants in the biomass-based and low-carbon fuel industry rely on governmental programs requiring or incentivizing the production and consumption of fuels with lower carbon intensity than conventional fossil fuels and carbon capture and utilization. Biomass-based and low-carbon fuel has historically been more expensive to produce than petroleum- based fuel and these governmental programs support a market for biomass-based and low-carbon fuel that might not otherwise exist.
Some of the most important, relevant and applicable of these programs to us are the Renewable Fuel Standard II (RFS “II”), the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (“CA LCFS”), and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “Inflation Reduction Act”). The RFS II is a federal law which requires that transportation fuels in the United States contain a minimum amount of renewable fuel, including the EPA setting annual minimum aggregate levels of consumption in four “nested” renewable fuel categories, including categories in which our fuel competes (including advanced biofuel, biomass-based diesel and cellulosic biofuel). The CA LCFS is another program that provides a strong incentive for production of renewable diesel and alternative jet fuel, and fuels produced through methods involving carbon capture and utilization. The Inflation Reduction Act is a federal law that makes available certain investment tax credits and production tax credits to promote clean energy development, including production of renewable diesel and alternative jet fuel, and fuels produced through methods involving carbon capture and utilization.
The United States Congress could repeal, curtail or otherwise change any of the above-mentioned programs in a manner adverse to us, such as by excluding products produced using our novel technology platform and process technologies. We cannot predict what changes, if any, will be instituted or the impact of any changes on our business, although adverse changes could seriously harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Lastly, while the efforts of other jurisdictions to mitigate climate change are expected to result in the adoption of similar programs like the RFS II or the CA LCFS, increasing stakeholder scrutiny of the GHG, reduction benefits attributable to low-carbon fuels production and consumption could dampen interest in the adoption of similar programs. While the products produced using our process technologies generally compare favorably with conventional low-carbon fuels, public sentiment against reliance upon low-carbon fuels or carbon capture and utilization as pathways to deep decarbonization could adversely affect our market opportunities.
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Our industrial waste management services subject us to potential environmental liability.
Our business of rendering services in connection with management of waste, including certain types of hazardous waste, subjects us to risks of liability for damages. Such liability could involve, without limitation, claims for clean-up costs, personal injury or damage to the environment in cases in which we are held responsible for the release of hazardous materials; and claims of employees, customers, or third parties for personal injury or property damage occurring in the course of our operations. We could also be deemed a responsible party for the cost of cleaning any property which may be contaminated by hazardous substances generated by us and disposed at such property or transported by us to a site selected by us, including properties we own or lease.
If we cannot maintain our government permits or cannot obtain any or certain required permits, we may not be able to continue or expand our operations.
Our business is subject to extensive, evolving, and increasingly stringent federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations. Such federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations govern our activities regarding the treatment, storage, recycling, disposal, and transportation of hazardous and non-hazardous waste. We must obtain and maintain permits, licenses and/or approvals to conduct these activities in compliance with such laws and regulations. Failure to obtain and maintain the required permits, licenses and/or approvals would have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial condition. If we are unable to maintain our currently held permits, licenses, and/or approvals or obtain any additional permits, licenses and/or approvals which may be required as we expand our operations, we may not be able to continue certain of our operations.
Changes in environmental regulations and enforcement policies could subject us to additional liability which could impair our ability to continue certain operations due to the regulated nature of our operations.
Because the environmental industry continues to develop rapidly, we cannot predict the extent to which our operations may be affected by future enforcement policies as applied to existing laws, by changes to current environmental laws and regulations, or by the enactment of new environmental laws and regulations. Any predictions regarding possible liability under such laws are complicated further by current environmental laws which provide that we could be liable, jointly and severally, for certain activities of third parties over whom we have limited or no control.
As our operations expand, we may be subject to increased exposure to litigation which could have a negative impact on our future financial results.
Our operations are regulated by numerous laws regarding procedures for waste treatment, storage, recycling, transportation and disposal activities, all of which may provide the basis for litigation against us. In recent years, the waste treatment industry has experienced a significant increase in so-called "toxic-tort" litigation as those injured by contamination seek to recover for personal injuries or property damage. We believe that as our operations and activities expand, there will be a similar increase in the potential for litigation alleging that we are responsible for contamination or pollution caused by our normal operations, negligence or other misconduct, or for accidents which occur in the course of our business activities. Such litigation, if significant and not adequately insured against, could impair our ability to fund our operations. Protracted litigation would likely cause us to spend significant amounts of our time, effort and money. This could prevent our management from focusing on our operations and expansion.
Our business and operations would suffer in the event of IT system failures or a cyber-attack.
Our business is dependent on proprietary technologies, processes and information that we have developed, much of which is stored on our computer systems. Our operations depend, in part, on how well we and our vendors protect networks, equipment, IT systems and software against damage from a number of threats, including, but not limited to natural disasters, intentional damage and destruction, fire, power loss, hacking, computer viruses, vandalism, theft, malware, ransomware and phishing attacks. Any of these and other events could result in IT system failures, delays, a material disruption of our business or increases in capital expenses. Our operations also depend on the timely maintenance, upgrade and replacement of networks, equipment and IT systems and software, as well as preemptive expenses to mitigate the risks of failures.
Furthermore, the importance of such information technology systems and networks and systems has increased due to many of our employees working remotely. Additionally, if one of our service providers were to fail and we were unable to find a suitable replacement in a timely manner, we could be unable to properly administer our outsourced functions.
As cyber threats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend significant additional resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures or to investigate and remediate any information security vulnerabilities. While we have implemented security resources to protect our data security and information technology systems, such measures may not prevent such events. Significant disruption to our IT system or breaches of data security could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may use artificial intelligence in our business, and challenges with properly managing its use could result in reputational harm, competitive harm, and legal liability, and adversely affect our results of operations.
We may incorporate artificial intelligence (“AI”) solutions into our platform, offerings, services and features, and these applications may become important in our operations over time. Our competitors or other third parties may incorporate AI into their products more quickly or more successfully than us, which could impair our ability to compete effectively and adversely affect our results of operations. Additionally, if the content, analyses, or recommendations that AI applications assist in producing are or are alleged to be deficient, inaccurate, or biased, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be adversely affected.
The use of AI may result in allegations or claims against us related to violation of third-party intellectual property rights, unauthorized access to or use of proprietary information, failure to comply with open-source software requirements, and/or failure to comply with actual or asserted legal or other obligations. For example, should any of the information provided to AI platforms be compromised, misappropriated, or otherwise improperly exposed, we may be required to notify affected individuals and organizations, incur additional compliance costs, investigate and remediate the situation, defend ourselves against legal claims or regulatory investigations, and/or sustain reputational harm. Any such cybersecurity incidents related to our use of AI applications could adversely affect our reputation and results of operations. Further, AI may produce inaccurate responses that could lead to errors in our decision-making, product development, or other business activities. Any of these outcomes could adversely affect our competitive position, results of operations, financial condition, and ability to achieve our strategic objectives. Lastly, AI presents emerging ethical issues and if our use of AI becomes controversial, we may experience brand or reputational harm, competitive harm, or legal liability. The rapid evolution of AI, including potential government regulation of AI, will require significant resources to develop, test and maintain our platform, offerings, services, and features to help us implement AI ethically in order to minimize unintended, harmful impact.
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Our plans to expand our revenue sources through commercializing our market-ready technologies and developing new technology with commercial applicability may not be successful and could materially adversely affect our long-term business, financial condition and operating results.
As part of our business strategy, we are seeking to expand our revenue sources through the continued development, commercialization and licensing of technology projects. Our technology development activities may experience delays, or the markets for our technology solutions may fail to materialize to the extent or at the rate we expect, each of which could reduce our opportunities for technology sales and licensing. In addition, there could be fewer applications for our technology and products than we expect. The development of technology markets also could be affected by general economic conditions, customer buying patterns, timeliness of equipment development, and the availability of capital for, and the high cost of, infrastructure improvements. Additionally, investing in technology development is costly and may require structural changes to the organization that could require additional costs, including without limitation legal and accounting fees. Furthermore, delays or failures to enter into additional partnering relationships to facilitate technology development efforts or delays or failures to enter into technology licensing agreements to secure integration of additional functionality could impair our ability to introduce into the market portions of our technology and resulting products, cause us to miss critical market windows, or decrease our ability to remain competitive. In addition, the commercialization of certain technologies could potentially lead to patent exhaustion or implied license issues that could limit our ability to derive licensing revenue from certain patents under our patent licensing program. In the event that any of these risks materialize, our long-term business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected.
We face risks from doing business in international markets.
A significant portion of our licensees, potential licensees and customers are international, and our licensees, potential licensees and customers sell their products to markets throughout the world. Accordingly, we could be subject to the effects of a variety of uncontrollable and changing factors, including, but not limited to: difficulty in protecting our intellectual property in foreign jurisdictions; enforcing contractual commitments in foreign jurisdictions or against foreign corporations; government regulations, tariffs and other applicable trade barriers; biased enforcement of foreign laws and regulations to promote industrial or economic policies at our expense; currency control regulations and variability in the value of the U.S. dollar against foreign currency; social, economic and political instability; natural disasters, acts of terrorism, widespread illness and war; potentially adverse tax consequences; and general delays in remittance of and difficulties collecting non-U.S. payments. In addition, we also are subject to risks specific to the individual countries in which we and our licensees, potential licensees and customers do business.
Our current and future licensing arrangements may not be successful and may make us susceptible to the actions of third parties over whom we have limited control.
We have entered into a select number of product licensing agreements with companies that plan to produce and sell products requiring specialized expertise. We have also entered into a number of select licensing agreements pursuant to which we have granted third parties certain rights to distribute and sell our products in certain geographical areas outside of the United States. In the future, we may enter into additional licensing arrangements. Although we take steps to carefully select our licensing partners, such arrangements may not be successful. Our licensing partners may fail to fulfill their obligations under their license agreements or have interests that differ from or conflict with our own, such as the timing of new store openings, the pricing of our products and the offering of competitive products. In addition, the risks applicable to the business of our licensing partners may be different than the risks applicable to our business, including risks associated with each such partner’s ability to:
obtain capital;
exercise operational and financial control over its business;
manage its labor relations;
maintain relationships with suppliers;
manage its credit and bankruptcy risks; and
maintain customer relationships.
Any of the foregoing risks, or the inability of any of our licensing partners to successfully market our products or otherwise conduct its business, may result in loss of revenue and competitive harm to our operations in regions or product categories where we have entered into such licensing arrangements.
We face risks to our business and proprietary confidential information due to the use of artificial intelligence systems.
Our employees utilize third-party AI tools and services—such as ChatGPT, Grok, Microsoft Copilot, and similar solutions—through the Company’s paid accounts with such tools and services to assist with coding, content creation, data analysis, and other business functions. The use of these AI-driven technologies presents inherent risks. These systems often rely on cloud-based platforms or large language models maintained by third-party vendors, over which we have limited visibility and control. As a result, information exchanged with these systems may not remain confidential, secure, or protected in the manner we intend, which poses risks to the protection of data, including the potential exposure of our proprietary confidential information to unauthorized recipients and the misuse of our or third-party intellectual property.
While we limit our employees’ use of these paid third-party AI tools and services as well as open-source AI tools in accordance with our internal guidelines and procedures, the internal governance of the use of these technologies can be challenging, and our employees and consultants may use these tools on an unauthorized basis and our partners may use these tools, which poses additional risks relating to the protection of data, including the potential exposure of our proprietary confidential information to unauthorized recipients and the misuse of our or third-party intellectual property. For example, employees may input proprietary, confidential, or otherwise sensitive data into AI tools, thereby exposing that information to potential unauthorized access, data harvesting, or exploitation. The policies and technical safeguards employed by AI service providers, including safeguards on paid accounts, may be insufficient to prevent data leakage or misuse.
Additionally, the evolving regulatory environment governing the use and disclosure of personal and sensitive data—coupled with ongoing cybersecurity threats—further exacerbates the risk that our data could be improperly accessed, stored, or disclosed.
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LEGAL, REGULATORY AND COMPLIANCE RISKS
Our operations are subject to strict environmental laws and regulations, including regulations and pending legislation governing issues involving climate change, which could result in added costs of operations and operational delays, and could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Our operations are subject to strict environmental regulations, which could result in additional costs and operational delays. All phases of our operations are subject to environmental regulation. Environmental legislation is evolving in the United States generally, and Nevada specifically, in a manner that may require stricter standards and enforcement, increased fines and penalties for non-compliance, more stringent environmental assessments of proposed projects, and a heightened degree of responsibility for companies and their officers, directors, and employees. There is no assurance that any future changes in environmental regulation will not negatively affect our projects. At the state level, mining operations in Nevada are regulated by the NDEP. Nevada state law requires our Nevada projects to hold Nevada water pollution control permits, which dictate operating controls and closure and post-closure requirements directed at protecting surface and ground water. In addition, we are required to hold Nevada reclamation permits required under Nevada law. These permits mandate concurrent and post- mining reclamation of mines and require the posting of reclamation bonds sufficient to guarantee the cost of mine reclamation. Other Nevada regulations govern operating and design standards for the construction and operation of any source of air contamination and landfill operations. Any changes to these laws and regulations could have a negative impact on our financial performance and results of operations by, for example, requiring changes to operating constraints, technical criteria, fees or surety requirements.
Failure to comply with governmental regulations, including EPA requirements relating to RFS II or new laws designed to deal with climate change, could result in the imposition of higher costs, penalties, fines, or restrictions on our operations and remedial liabilities.
The industries in which we operate are subject to extensive federal, state and local laws and regulations, and we could be held strictly liable for the removal or remediation of previously released materials or property contamination regardless of whether we were responsible for the release or contamination, and regardless of whether current or prior operations were conducted consistent with the accepted standards of practice. In addition, we and/or our customers will be subject to similar laws and regulations in Europe and Canada for the renewable energy we sell there. Compliance with these laws, regulations and obligations could require substantial capital expenditures. Changes in environmental laws and regulations occur frequently, and changes resulting in more stringent or costly waste handling, storage, transport, disposal or cleanup requirements could require us and/or our customers to make significant expenditures to attain and maintain compliance. Climate change continues to attract considerable attention globally. Numerous proposals have been made and could continue to be made at the international, national, regional, state and local levels of government to monitor and limit existing emissions of GHGs as well as to restrict or eliminate future emissions. As a result, our operations are subject to a series of regulatory, litigation and financial risks associated with the production and transportation of biofuel products and emission of GHGs. The potential effects of GHG emission limits on our business are subject to significant uncertainties based on, among other things, the timing of the implementation of any new requirements, the required levels of emission reductions, and the nature of any market-based or tax- based mechanisms adopted to facilitate reductions. Compliance with changes in laws and regulations relating to climate change could increase our costs of operating and could require us to make significant financial expenditures that cannot be predicted with certainty at this time. We are subject to various laws and regulations including RFS II, BTC, LCFS, and other jurisdictions. These regulations are highly complex and continuously evolving, requiring us to periodically update our systems to maintain compliance, which could require significant expenditures. The EPA has issued regulations to establish quality assurance requirements and regulations related to the generation and sale of RINs. Any violation of these regulations by us, could result in significant fines and harm our customers’ confidence in the RINs we issue, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Our ability to execute our strategic plans often depend upon our success in obtaining required governmental approvals that may be opposed by third parties.
We do not possess all of the governmental approvals necessary to conduct the full extent of the operations contemplated by our strategic plan. Those operations will be delayed, hindered or prevented to the extent that we are unable to obtain the necessary permits and approvals in a timely fashion or at all. This inability may occur due to a variety of factors, including opposition by third parties, such as members of the public or environmental groups. We expect that future permit and approval applications and issuances will meet with similar opposition. We may encounter delays and added costs if permits and approvals are challenged.
Closure, reclamation, and rehabilitation costs could be higher than expected, and our insurance and surety bonds for environmental-related issues could be limited.
Closure and reclamation work to return operating sites to the community can be extensive and costly. Estimated costs are provided for, and updated annually, over the life of each operation, but the provisions might prove to be inadequate due to changes in legislation, standards and the emergence of new, or increases in the cost of, reclamation techniques. In addition, the expected timing of expenditure could change significantly due to changes in the business environment that might vary the life of an operation. Our insurance and surety bonds against environmental risks are limited as to the maximum protection against potential liability for pollution or other hazards as a result of the disposal of waste products occurring from exploration and production. Further, there is no assurance that insurance carriers or surety bond providers will be able to meet their obligations under our arrangements with them. In the event that our environmental liabilities and costs exceed the coverage provided by our insurance carriers and surety bond providers, or such parties are unable to meet their obligations, we would have limited funds available to us to remedy such liabilities or costs, or for future operations. If we are unable to fund the cost of remedying an environmental problem, we also might be required to enter into an interim compliance measure pending completion of the required remedy.
We are subject to federal and state laws that require environmental assessments and the posting of bonds, which add significant costs to our operations and delays in our projects.
Mining companies must post a bond or other surety to guarantee the cost of post-mining reclamation. These requirements could add significant additional costs and delays to any mining project undertaken by us. Our mineral exploration operations are required to be covered by reclamation bonds deemed adequate by regulators to cover these risks. BLM requires that mining operations on lands subject to its regulation obtain an approved plan of operations subject to environmental impact evaluation under the National Environmental Policy Act. Any submission or significant modification to a plan of operations may also require the completion of an environmental assessment or Environmental Impact Statement prior to approval.
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Because certain of our land holdings are within the Carson River Mercury Superfund Site, our operations are subject to certain soil sampling and potential remediation requirements, which may result in added costs and delays; and we are also potentially subject to further costs as the result of on-going government investigation and future remediation decisions.
Substantially all of our land holdings are within the Carson River Mercury Superfund Site Study Area and portions are within the risk area boundaries identified by NDEP and the EPA. These risk areas have been defined due to the known or suspected presence of certain contaminants of concern, including mercury, arsenic and lead. To comply with the agencies’ requirements in these areas, the Company conducts soil sampling pursuant to a plan that has been approved by NDEP. This sampling is intended to demonstrate the absence of contamination before mining, processing or other operations in that area. If contamination above agency-established levels of concern is encountered, the Company intends to excavate and process such materials for metals recovery wherever feasible. If metals recovery is not feasible, the Company may avoid or defer excavating in that area, remove the materials for disposal, or cover the area with clean fill material. Through this sampling program and, if necessary, removal of contaminated materials, the Company intends to enable NDEP and EPA to better define the CRMS and the currently designated risk areas so as to eventually exclude our land holdings from such areas and from the Site itself to the maximum extent feasible. NDEP and EPA are continuing to study the ecological and human health risks that may be presented by contaminated sediments in certain portions of the Carson River watershed and downstream areas. The agencies’ studies indicate that these contaminants are primarily associated with historic mining tailings that have been redistributed into these waterways. The agencies have not adopted a remedial plan for these sediments nor have they decided whether remediation will be undertaken. Thus, there is no assurance that the Company will not be asked to undertake additional investigatory or remediation activities or to pay for such activities by the agencies, or that future changes in CRMS-related requirements will not negatively affect our operations.
We may be subject to litigation.
We may be subject to legal proceedings. Due to the nature of our business, we may be subject to a variety of regulatory investigations, claims, lawsuits and other proceedings in the ordinary course of our business. The results of these legal proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty due to the uncertainty inherent in litigation, including the effects of discovery of new evidence or advancement of new legal theories, the difficulty of predicting decisions of judges, and juries and the possibility that decisions may be reversed on appeal. There can be no assurances that these matters will not have a material adverse effect on our business.
Title claims against our properties could require us to compensate parties making such claims, if successful, and divert management ’ s time from operations.
There may be challenges to our title in the properties in which we hold material interests. If there are title defects with respect to any of our properties, we might be required to compensate other persons or perhaps reduce our interest in the affected property. The validity of unpatented mineral claims, which constitute most of our holdings in the United States, is often uncertain and may be contested by the federal government and other parties. The validity of an unpatented mineral claim, in terms of both its location and its maintenance, depends on strict compliance with a complex body of federal and state, statutory and decisional law. Although we have attempted to acquire satisfactory title to our properties, we have not obtained title opinions or title insurance with respect to the acquisition of the unpatented mineral claims. The investigation and resolution of title issues would divert management’s time from ongoing exploration programs.
Mine operators are increasingly required to consider and provide benefits to their local communities.
As a result of public concern about the real or perceived detrimental effects of economic globalization and global climate impacts, businesses generally, and corporations in natural resource industries, face increasing public scrutiny of their activities. These businesses are under pressure to demonstrate that, as they seek to generate satisfactory returns on investment to shareholders, other stakeholders, including employees, governments, and communities surrounding operations benefit and will continue to benefit from their commercial activities. Such pressures tend to be particularly focused on companies for which activities are perceived to have a high impact on their social and physical environment. The potential consequences of these pressures include reputational damage, legal suits, increasing social investment obligations and pressure to increase taxes and royalties payable to governments and communities.
RISKS RELATED TO INVESTMENTS IN OUR COMMON STOCK
The price of our common stock has and may continue to fluctuate significantly, which could negatively affect the Company and holders of our common stock.
The market price of our common stock is subject to volatility, has fluctuated, and may continue to fluctuate significantly due to, among other things, changes in market sentiment regarding our operations, financial results or business prospects, the mining, metals, recycling or environmental remediation industries generally, coordinated trading activities, large derivative positions or the macroeconomic outlook. The price of our common stock has been, and may continue to be, highly volatile in response to our recent transactions. Certain events or changes in the market or our industries generally are beyond our control. In addition to the other risk factors contained or incorporated by reference herein, factors that could impact our trading price include:
our actual or anticipated operating and financial results, including how those results vary from the expectations of management, securities analysts and investors;
changes in financial estimates or publication of research reports and recommendations by financial analysts or actions taken by rating agencies with respect to us or other industry participants;
failure to declare dividends on our common stock from time to time;
reports in the press or investment community relating to our reputation or the financial services industry;
developments in our business or operations or our industry sectors generally;
any future offerings by us of our common stock;
any coordinated trading activities or large derivative positions in our common stock, for example, a short squeeze, which occurs when a number of investors take a short position in a stock and have to buy the borrowed securities to close out the position at a time that other short sellers of the same security also want to close out their positions, resulting in surges in stock prices when demand is greater than supply;
legislative or regulatory changes affecting our industry generally or our business and operations specifically;
the operating and stock price performance of companies that investors consider to be comparable to us;
announcements of strategic developments, acquisitions, restructurings, dispositions, financings and other material events by us or our competitors;
expectations of (or actual) equity dilution, including the actual or expected dilution to various financial measures, including earnings per share, that may be caused by equity offerings;
actions by our current shareholders, including future sales of common stock by existing shareholders, including our directors and executive officers;
proposed or final regulatory changes or developments;
anticipated or pending regulatory investigations, proceedings, or litigation that may involve or affect us; and
other changes in U.S. or global financial markets, global economies and general market conditions, such as interest or foreign exchange rates, stock, commodity prices, credit or asset valuations or volatility.
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Our stock has historically been a penny stock with trading restricted by the SEC ’ s penny stock regulations, which may limit a stockholder ’ s ability to buy and sell our stock.
Our stock has historically been a penny stock. Rule 3a51-1 generally defines “penny stock” to be any equity security that has a market price (as defined) less than $5.00 per share or an exercise price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions. When our securities are covered by the penny stock rules, additional sales practice requirements are imposed on broker-dealers that sell to persons other than established customers and “accredited investors.” The term “accredited investor” refers generally to institutions with assets in excess of $5,000,000 or individuals with a net worth in excess of $1,000,000 (excluding one’s primary residence), or annual income exceeding $200,000 individually or $300,000 jointly with their spouse. The penny stock rules (including Rule 15g-9) require a broker-dealer, prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from the rules, to deliver a standardized risk disclosure document in a form prepared by the SEC, which provides information about penny stocks and the nature and level of risks in the penny stock market. The broker-dealer also must provide the customer with current bid and offer quotations for the penny stock, the compensation of the broker-dealer and its salesperson in the transaction, and monthly account statements showing the market value of each penny stock held in the customer’s account. The bid and offer quotations, and the broker-dealer and salesperson compensation information, must be given to the customer orally or in writing prior to effecting the transaction and must be given to the customer in writing before or with the customer’s confirmation. In addition, the penny stock rules require that, prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from these rules, the broker-dealer must make a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser and receive the purchaser’s written agreement to the transaction. These disclosure requirements may have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity in the secondary market for the stock that is subject to these penny stock rules. Consequently, these penny stock rules may affect the ability of broker-dealers to trade our securities. We believe that the penny stock rules discourage investor interest in and limit the marketability of our common stock. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") sales practice requirements may also limit a stockbroker’s ability to buy or sell our stock. In addition to the “penny stock” rules promulgated by the SEC, FINRA has adopted rules that require that in recommending an investment to a customer, a broker-dealer must have reasonable grounds for believing that the investment is suitable for that customer. Prior to recommending speculative low-priced securities to their non-institutional customers, broker- dealers must make reasonable efforts to obtain information about the customer’s financial status, tax status, investment objectives, and other information. Under interpretation of these rules, FINRA believes that there is a high probability that speculative low-priced securities will not be suitable for at least some customers. The FINRA requirements make it more difficult for broker-dealers to recommend that their customers buy our common stock, which may limit your ability to buy or sell our stock and have an adverse effect on the market for our shares.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our common stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We have relatively little research coverage by securities and industry analysts. If no additional industry analysts commence coverage of the Company, the trading price for our common stock could be negatively impacted. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrades our common stock, or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our common stock could decrease, which could cause our stock price and trading volume to decline.
We may be delisted if we are unable to maintain the listing standards of the NYSE American stock exchange.
Our common stock is traded on the NYSE American. To maintain our listing on the NYSE American, we must meet certain financial and liquidity criteria. The market price of our common stock has been and may continue to be subject to significant fluctuation as a result of periodic variations in our revenues and results of operations. If we fail to meet any of the NYSE American’s listing standards, we may be delisted. In the event of delisting, trading of our common stock would most likely be conducted in the over-the-counter market on an electronic bulletin board established for unlisted securities, which could have a material adverse effect on the market liquidity and value of our common stock.
We do not expect to pay any cash dividends for the foreseeable future.
We currently expect to retain all available funds and future earnings, if any, for use in the operation and growth of our business and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to pay cash dividends will be at the discretion of our board, subject to compliance with applicable law, our organizational documents and any contractual provisions, including under agreements for indebtedness we may incur, that restrict or limit our ability to pay dividends, and will depend upon, among other factors, our results of operations, financial condition, earnings, capital requirements and other factors that our board deems relevant. Investors seeking cash dividends in the foreseeable future should not purchase our common stock.
We may issue additional common stock or other equity securities in the future that could dilute the ownership interest of existing stockholders.
We are currently authorized to issue 245,000,000 shares of common stock, of which 51,853,490 shares were issued and outstanding at December 31, 2025, and 50,000,000 shares of preferred stock, of which no Preferred Shares are outstanding at December 31, 2025. To maintain its capital at desired levels or to fund future growth, the board may decide from time to time to issue additional shares of common stock, or securities convertible into, exchangeable for or representing rights to acquire shares of common stock.
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RISKS RELATED TO STRATEGIC TRANSACTIONS
We have and may continue to pursue investments in other companies, acquisitions, divestitures, business combinations or other transactions with other companies, involving our properties or new properties, which could harm our operating results, may disrupt our business and could result in unanticipated accounting charges.
We have made, and could make in the future, investments in other companies, including privately-held companies in a development stage, including Green Li-ion and most recently RenFuel IP. Many of these equity investments in private companies are inherently risky because the companies’ businesses may never develop, and we may incur losses related to these investments.
The price of our common stock has been, and may continue to be, highly volatile in response to various investments. In addition, we may be required to write down the carrying value of these investments to reflect other-than-temporary declines in their value, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations. Acquisitions of other companies or new properties, divestitures, business combinations or transactions with other companies may create additional, material risks for our business that could cause our results to differ materially and adversely from our expected or projected results.
Negative consequences of such activities may include the effects of possible disruption to the exploration activities and mine planning, loss of value associated with our properties, mismanagement of project development, additional risk and liability, indemnification obligations, sales of assets at unfavorable prices, failure to sell non-core assets at all, poor execution of the plans for such transactions, permit requirements, debt incurred or capital stock issued to enter into such transactions, the impact of any such transactions on our financial results, negative stakeholder reaction to any such transaction and our ability to successfully integrate an acquired company’s operations with our operations. If the purchase price of any acquired businesses exceeds the current fair values of the net tangible assets of such acquired businesses, we would be required to record material amounts of goodwill or other intangible assets, which could result in significant impairment and amortization expense in future periods. These charges, in addition to the results of operations of such acquired businesses and potential restructuring costs associated with an acquisition, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We cannot forecast the number, timing or size of future transactions, or the effect that any such transactions might have on our operating or financial results. Furthermore, potential transactions, whether or not consummated, will divert our management’s attention and may require considerable cash outlays at the expense of our existing operations. In addition, to complete future transactions, we may issue equity securities, incur debt, assume contingent liabilities or have amortization expenses and write- downs of acquired assets, which could adversely affect our profitability.
We may undertake joint ventures, investments, joint projects and other strategic alliances and such undertakings, as well as our existing joint ventures, may be unsuccessful and may have an adverse effect on our business.
We have grown our business, in part, through strategic alliances and acquisitions, including through our shift to climate-smart mining and related development projects for the extraction of lithium and the development and commercialization of next generation technologies to reduce the carbon footprint. We continually evaluate and explore strategic opportunities as they arise, including product, technology, business or asset transactions. Such undertakings may not be successful or may take a substantially longer period than initially expected to become successful, and we may never recover our investments or achieve desired synergies or economies from these undertakings. This notwithstanding, we may in the future continue to seek to grow our operations in part by entering into joint ventures, or undertaking investments, joint projects or other strategic alliances with third parties in diversified precious and strategic metals production, renewable processing of natural resources, recycling and quantum computing based materials engineering. These activities involve challenges and risks in negotiation, execution, valuation and integration, and closing of the transactions could be delayed or prevented by regulatory approval requirements, including permitting issues, or other conditions. Any current or future agreements that we may enter into also could expose us to new operational, regulatory, market, litigation and geographical risks as well as risks associated with significant capital requirements, the diversion of management and financial resources, unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures, sharing of proprietary information, loss of control over day-to-day operations, non-performance by a counterparty, potential competition and conflicts of interest. In addition, we may not be successful in finding suitable targets on terms that are favorable to us, or at all. Even if successfully negotiated and closed, expected synergies from a joint venture, investment or other strategic alliance may not materialize, may not advance our business strategy, may fall short of expected return-on- investment targets or may not prove successful or effective for our business. We may also encounter difficulty integrating the operations, personnel and financial and operating systems of an acquired business into our current business. Given the specialized nature of our quantum computing and engineering based strategic partners, we may not succeed in attracting and retaining specialized technical support including quantum computing programming and material science competencies or maintaining access to the specialized scientific resources and infrastructures we require to continue to integrate, develop and grow our business. Our growth may be limited by insufficient financial resources and competition in the developing industries in which we invest. We may need to raise additional debt funding or sell additional equity securities to enter into such joint ventures or make such acquisitions. However, we may not be able to obtain such debt funding or sell equity securities on terms that are favorable to us, or at all. The raising of additional debt funding by us, if required and available, would result in increased debt service obligations and could result in additional operating and financing covenants, or liens on our assets, that would restrict our operations. The sale of additional equity securities, if required and available, could result in dilution to our stockholders.
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If we are unable to maintain existing or future strategic partnerships, or if these strategic partnerships are not successful, our business could be adversely affected.
Existing and future strategic partnerships that we may enter into pose a number of risks, including the following:
we may not be able to enter into critical strategic partnerships or enter them on favorable terms;
strategic partners have significant discretion in determining the effort and resources that they will apply to such a partnership, and they may not perform their obligations as agreed or expected;
strategic partners may not pursue development and commercialization of any product candidates that achieve regulatory approval or may elect not to continue or renew development or commercialization programs based on changes in the partners’ strategic focus or available funding, or external factors, such as an acquisition, that divert resources or create competing priorities;
strategic partners could independently develop, or develop with third parties, products that compete directly or indirectly with our product candidates if the strategic partners believe that competitive products are more likely to be successfully developed or can be commercialized under terms that are more economically attractive than our product candidates;
product candidates discovered in collaboration with us may be viewed by our strategic partners as competitive with their own product candidates or products, which may cause strategic partners to cease to devote resources to the commercialization of our product candidates;
a strategic partner with marketing and distribution rights to one or more of our product candidates that achieve regulatory approval may not commit sufficient resources to the marketing and distribution of such product candidates;
key personnel of strategic partners may be unable or unwilling to continue in their respective positions with such strategic partners, and if such strategic partners are unable to find suitable replacements, our business and financial results could be materially negatively affected;
disagreements with strategic partners, including disagreements over proprietary rights, ownership of intellectual property, contract interpretation or the preferred course of development, might cause delays or termination of the research, development or commercialization of product candidates, might lead to additional responsibilities for us with respect to product candidates, or might result in litigation or arbitration, any of which would be time-consuming and expensive;
strategic partners may not properly maintain or defend our intellectual property rights or may use our proprietary information in such a way as to invite litigation that could jeopardize or invalidate our intellectual property or proprietary information or expose us to potential litigation;
strategic partners may infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties, which may expose us to litigation and potential liability;
strategic partnerships may be terminated for the convenience of the partner and, if terminated, we could be required to raise additional capital to pursue further development or commercialization of the applicable product candidates; and
strategic partners may not enable or maintain our access to quantum computing infrastructures at all, or on reasonably affordable terms.
We have invested capital in high-risk mineral, metals and other natural resource projects where we have not conducted sufficient exploration, development and engineering studies.
We have invested capital and have otherwise been involved in various mineral properties and renewable metals projects in the Storey and Lyon Counties, Nevada, where we have not conducted sufficient exploration, development and/or engineering studies to minimize the risk of project failure. Our mineral projects involve high risks because we have not invested sufficiently in the characterization of mineralized material, geologic analysis, metallurgical testing, mine planning and economic analysis. Standard industry practice calls for a mining company to prepare a formal mine plan and mining production schedule and have these documents reviewed and validated by a third-party specialist. We have not had a formal mine plan and mining production schedule economically validated by a third-party specialist.
If we are unable to commercialize and release new products candidates that are accepted in the market or that generate significant revenues, our financial results will continue to suffer.
There can be no assurances that consumer or commercial demand for our future products will meet, or even approach, our expectations. In addition, our pricing and marketing strategies may not be successful. Lack of customer demand, a change in marketing strategy and changes to our pricing models could dramatically alter our financial results. Unless we are able to release new products candidates, license our technologies and/or sell services that meet a significant market demand, we will not be able to improve our financial condition or the results of our future operations.
The revenues and profits of our enterprise and certain of our strategic investments involve the creation of new industries and markets are generally dependent upon many variables. Our customer appeal depends upon factors which cannot be reliably ascertained in advance and over which we have no control, such as unpredictable customer needs and competitive products. As with any new business enterprise operating in a specialized and intensely competitive market, we are subject to many business risks which include, but are not limited to, unforeseen marketing difficulties, excessive research and development expenses, unsuccessful development projects, including, for example, those for new materials. This could include an inability to successfully simulate existing and new materials, synthesize those simulated materials and generating new materials and/or commercialize them profitably. This could also include unforeseen negative publicity, competition, product liability issues, manufacturing and logistical difficulties, and lack of operating experience. Many of the risks may be unforeseeable or beyond our control. There can be no assurance that we or our strategic investments or our businesses can or will successfully implement the respective business plans in a timely or effective manner, that we will be able to generate sufficient interest in our product candidates, or that we will be able to market and sell enough products and services to generate sufficient revenues to continue as a going concern.
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Our success in development in the artificial intelligence for materials development industry depends on our ability to operate without infringing the patents and other proprietary rights of third parties.
The success of our strategic partnerships in the artificial intelligence industry and the subsequent use of AI-based intellectual property in the mining, electrification and fuels fields of use will depend in part on our ability to operate without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties. Other entities may have or obtain patents or proprietary rights that could limit our ability to make, use, sell, or offer for sale our future approved products or impair our competitive position. Our research, development and commercialization activities with regard to AI-based intellectual property for mining, electrification, and fuels applications may be subject to claims that we infringe or otherwise violate patents or other intellectual property rights owned or controlled by third parties. Patents that we may ultimately be found to infringe could be issued to third parties. Third parties may have or obtain valid and enforceable patents or proprietary rights that could block us from developing AI-based property for mining, electrification, and fuels applications. If our intellectual property usage was to be found to infringe any such patents, and we were unable to invalidate those patents, or if licenses for them are not available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially harmed. Furthermore, even if a license is available, it may be non-exclusive, which could result in our competitors gaining access to the same intellectual property. Our failure to maintain a license for any technology that we require may also materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations, and we would be exposed to a threat of litigation. Our success may be harmed by potential uncertainty with respect to our ownership of technology, which can exist if there is a challenge to such ownership without regard to the merits of the challenge, and industry and market conditions generally. If we are unable to obtain, maintain and enforce patent and trade secret protection for quantum intellectual property for mining, batteries, and carbon capture applications and related technology, our business could be materially harmed. Additionally, our intellectual property rights or proprietary information may be jeopardized or invalidated if strategic partners do not properly maintain and defend such information. Conflicts with our strategic partners over proprietary rights, ownership of intellectual property, contract interpretation or the preferred course of development, might cause delays or termination of the research, development or commercialization of new developments, or might result in litigation or arbitration, any of which would be time-consuming and expensive.
Our strategic partnerships rely on the availability of third-party intellectual property, which may not be accessible to us on reasonable terms or at all.
Some of our strategic partnerships and future development of products include or will include third-party intellectual property, which may require licenses for our use. We believe that such licenses can be obtained on reasonable terms; however, there can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain or maintain the necessary licenses for new or current products on acceptable terms or at all. Our failure to obtain or maintain such licenses may limit our ability to develop materials, meet the goals of our strategic partnerships, or grow our business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and financial results. The quantum computing industry is quickly developing, and as such, is and will remain dynamic and competitive for the foreseeable future. As this industry continues to grow and mature, there may be an influx of new products, technological advances, and new concepts that can dramatically transform the industry and our business. There is a broad variety of entities that are known to be engaged in research and development relating to quantum computing, which range in size from diversified global companies with significant research and development resources to smaller privately funded startups whose narrower product focuses may let them be more effective in deploying resources towards a specific industry demand. We believe competition in this market segment will intensify. Our success in the market segment will depend on our ability to deploy our quantum intellectual property effectively and profitably into mining, battery or carbon capture fields of use. Our competitors could use their financial, technical, product development and marketing resources to market or develop products or services that are more effective or less costly than any or all of our products or services. Our ability to evolve and adapt rapidly over an extended period of time will be critical in remaining competitive.
We rely on third parties for certain cloud-based software platforms, which impact our financial, operational and research activities. If any of these third parties fail to provide timely, accurate and ongoing service or if the technology systems and infrastructure suffer outages that we are unable to mitigate, our business may be adversely affected.
We currently rely upon third parties to provide certain information technology, quantum computing systems and infrastructure, and other storage and connectivity on internal or “cloud-based” platforms. Any of these systems and infrastructure are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, vandalism, sabotage, terrorist attacks, floods, fires, power outages, telecommunications failures, and computer viruses or other deliberate attempts to harm the systems. The occurrence of a natural or intentional disaster, any decision to close a facility we are using without adequate notice, or particularly an unanticipated problem at a cloud-based virtual server facility, could result in harmful interruptions in our service, resulting in adverse effects to our business. The failure of any of these third parties to provide accurate and timely service may adversely impact our business operations. In addition, if such third-party service providers were to cease operations, temporarily or permanently, face financial distress or other business disruption, increase their fees or if our relationships with these providers deteriorate, we could suffer increased costs until an equivalent provider could be found, if at all, or we could develop internal capabilities, if ever. In addition, if we are unsuccessful in choosing or finding high-quality partners, if we fail to negotiate cost-effective relationships with them, or if we ineffectively manage these relationships, it could have an adverse impact on our business and financial performance.
GENERAL RISK FACTORS
Our business depends on a limited number of key personnel, the loss of whom could negatively affect us.
Our officers and employees are important to our success. If any of them becomes unable or unwilling to continue in their respective positions, and we are unable to find suitable replacements, our business and financial results could be materially negatively affected. The loss of the services of one or more of our key personnel could have a material adverse effect on our operating results. Our future success depends upon our ability to attract and retain highly skilled personnel, including personnel with advanced manufacturing expertise, quantum physicists, chemists, and data and material engineers, necessary to develop our business and grow our strategic partnerships. Given the scarcity of professionals with the scientific knowledge that we require and the competition for qualified personnel, we may not succeed in attracting or retaining the personnel we require to meet the goals of our strategic partnerships or our operations. In addition, there could be a material adverse effect on us should the turnover rates for engineers and other key personnel increase significantly or if we are unable to continue to attract qualified personnel.
Our business may be adversely affected by information technology disruptions, including materials-based AI.
Cybersecurity incidents are increasing in frequency, evolving in nature and include, but are not limited to, installation of malicious software, unauthorized access to data, and other electronic security breaches that could lead to disruptions in systems, unauthorized release of confidential or otherwise protected information and the corruption of data. We believe that we have implemented appropriate measures to mitigate potential risks. However, given the unpredictability of the timing, nature and scope of information technology disruptions, we could be subject to manipulation or improper use of our systems and networks or financial losses from remedial actions, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
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The Company may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on its financial condition, results of operations and share price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
The Company may be forced to later write down or write off assets, restructure its operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in losses. Unexpected risks may arise, and previously known risks may materialize. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on the Company’s liquidity, the fact that the Company may report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about the Company or its securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause the Company to be unable to obtain future financing on favorable terms or at all.
Diversity in application of accounting literature in our industries may impact our reported financial results.
The mining industry has limited industry-specific accounting literature and, as a result, we understand diversity in practice exists in the interpretation and application of such literature to mining-specific issues. As diversity in mining industry accounting is addressed, we may need to restate our reported results if the resulting interpretations differ from our current accounting practices. See Note 1 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.
Our ability to execute our strategic plan depends on many factors, some of which are beyond our control.
Our strategic plan is focused on high-value, cash-generating, precious metal-based activities, including, but not limited to, environmentally friendly and economically enhancing clean mining and processing technologies, precious-metal exploration, resource development, economic feasibility assessments and cash-generating mineral production. Many of the factors that impact our ability to execute our strategic plan, such as the advancement of certain technologies, legal and regulatory obstacles and general economic conditions, are beyond our control. Changes in value or a lack of demand for the sale of non-core assets would negatively affect the Company’s financial condition and performance. Our inability to identify successful joint venture candidates and to complete joint ventures or strategic alliances as planned or to realize expected synergies and strategic benefits could impact our financial condition and performance. Our inability to deploy capital to maximize shareholder value could impact our financial performance. We cannot give assurance that we will be able to execute any or all of our strategic plan. Failure to execute any or all of our strategic plan could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
Our lease payment obligations could adversely affect our operations, financial condition, cash flow, and operating flexibility.
Our outstanding lease payment obligations, and the covenants contained in the documents governing such obligations could have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial condition. The size and terms of certain of our lease agreements may limit our ability to obtain financing to fund future working capital, acquisitions, capital expenditures, engineering and product development costs, and other general corporate requirements. Other consequences for our operations could include:
impairing our ability to obtain additional financing in the future for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, general corporate purposes or other purposes;
requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to lease payments and related occupancy costs, thereby reducing the availability of cash for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, general corporate purposes or other purposes;
limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we operate; and
placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have proportionately lower fixed lease commitments.
Our ability to make required minimum rent and other amounts due under our leases will depend on our future performance and the other cash requirements of our business. Our performance is subject to general economic, political, financial, competitive, and other factors that are beyond our control in addition to challenges that are unique to the Company. We cannot provide any assurance that our business will generate sufficient cash flow from operations or that additional financing or other sources of liquidity will be available in an amount sufficient to enable us to meet lease obligations.
Our lease agreements contain certain restrictive covenants and customary events of default. One or more of these restrictive covenants may limit our ability to execute our preferred business strategy, take advantage of business opportunities, or react to changing industry conditions.
Upon an event of default, if not waived by our lessors, our lessors may exercise contractual and statutory remedies, including terminating one or more leases; seeking to recover some or all remaining rent and other amounts (subject to mitigation, offsets, and present‑value discounting where applicable); drawing on letters of credit or security deposits; enforcing landlord liens; or requiring us to vacate premises, which may cause cross-defaults under our other obligations. If our current lessors pursue these remedies, we may not have sufficient capital available at that time to pay the amounts due on a timely basis, and there is no guarantee that we would be able to repay, refinance, or restructure the payments on such lease obligations. Further, the lessors could exercise remedies against certain of our assets, including drawing on letters of credit or security deposits, enforcing statutory or contractual landlord liens, terminating our leases, or requiring us to vacate premises, which could have a material adverse effect on our Company.
The estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources is imprecise and depends on subjective factors.
Estimated mineral reserves and mineral resources may not be realized in actual production. Our results of operations and financial position may be adversely affected by inaccurate estimates. The mineral reserve and mineral resource figures presented in our public filings are made by independent mining consultants with whom we contact. Mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates are a function of geological and engineering analyses that require us to make assumptions about production costs, recoveries and gold and silver market prices. Mineral reserve and mineral resource estimation is an imprecise and subjective process. The accuracy of such estimates is a function of the quality of available data and of engineering and geological interpretation, judgment and experience. Assumptions about gold and silver market prices are subject to great uncertainty as those prices fluctuate widely. Declines in the market prices of gold or silver may render mineral reserves and mineral resources containing relatively lower grades of mineralization uneconomic to exploit, and we may be required to reduce mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates, discontinue development at one or more of our properties or write down assets as impaired. New or updated geotechnical or geological information may also impact anticipated metal recovery rates. Any of these adjustments may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
Mineral resources do not have demonstrated economic value.
Mineral resources are subject to further exploration and development, are subject to additional risks, and no assurance can be made that they will eventually convert into future reserves. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part of any of the Inferred Resources exists or is economically or legally mineable.
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ITEM 1C CYBERSECURITY
Risk Management and Strategy
As part of our operational risk management strategy, led by our chief financial officer, we have implemented processes to assess, identify, and manage material risks facing the Company, including from cybersecurity threats. Components of this strategy includes the use of industry standard traffic monitoring tools, training users to detect, report, and prevent unusual behavior, and working with reputable service providers capable of ensuring their ability to operate with strategies equal to or better than our own. The implementation and management of these processes are integrated with the Company’s overall operational risk management processes that seeks to limit our exposure to unnecessary risks across our operations. For cybersecurity threat management and mitigation, the Company engages with expert consultants and third-party services providers for the design and implementation of these industry standard strategies to identify any potential threats or vulnerabilities in our system. We have developed a cyber crisis response plan which provides a documented framework for handling high severity security incidents and facilitates coordination across multiple parts of the Company. Our incident response team constantly monitors threat intelligence feeds, handles vulnerability management and responds to incidents.
To date, risks from cybersecurity threats have not previously materially affected us, and we currently do not expect that the risks from cybersecurity threats are reasonably likely to materially affect us, including our business strategy, results of operations or financial condition. The sophistication of cyber threats continues to increase, and the preventative actions we take to reduce the risk of cyber incidents and protect our systems and information may be insufficient. Accordingly, no matter how well designed or implemented our controls are, we will not be able to anticipate all security breaches of these types, including security threats that may result from third parties improperly employing AI technologies, and we may not be able to implement effective preventive measures against such security breaches in a timely manner. See Item 1A: Risk Factors above for additional information on risk related to cyber-attacks.
Governance
Role of the Board
The Audit and Finance Committee of the Board of Directors is responsible for the primary oversight of our information security programs, including relating to cybersecurity, and are integrated into the Company’s Cybersecurity Incident response process. Our chief financial officer is responsible for reporting to the Audit and Finance Committee on our incident response plan, which includes an evaluation of cyber risks and threats, and notifies the Audit and Finance Committee of a cybersecurity threat. In the event of an incident, the Audit and Finance Committee reviews and approves the material incident disclosure plan and recommendation for determination of materiality using the guidelines approved by the Audit and Finance Committee. The Board of Directors and Audit and Finance Committee receive regular updates throughout the year on cybersecurity.
Role of the Management
Our chief financial officer, together with our chief accounting officer, is responsible for the day-to-day management of our cybersecurity risks. We have an incident response framework in place. We use this incident response framework as part of the process we employ to keep our management and Board of Directors informed about and monitor the prevention, detection, mitigation, and remediation of cybersecurity incidents. The framework is a set of coordinated procedures and tasks that our incident response team, under the direction of the chief financial officer, executes with the goal of ensuring timely and accurate resolution of cybersecurity incidents. The chief financial officer activates the incident response plan to assess and mitigate a cybersecurity incident. In the event of an incident, the chief financial officer and chief accounting officer consult with cybersecurity consultants and other involved parties to identify the undesirable effects of the cybersecurity incident and develop a material incident disclosure plan for review and approval by the Audit and Finance Committee.
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