Cryo-line Opens Henderson Facility
Canada-based Cryo-line Supplies held a grand opening for its first U.S. plant in Henderson on December 8. The 10,500-square-foot refrigeration management facility at 350 Sunpac Court will become the company’s main center in the United States for recovering and reclaiming refrigerants. Cryo-line has acquired the exclusive North American rights to “Blue Bottle Adsorption Technology,” which uses zeolite, a product designed by Union Carbide, to capture ozone-depleting substances such as CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs in a sealed, non-pressurized bottle. It also markets a system to capture vented gases from large industrial chillers. NTS Development Corporation helped bring Cryo-line to Southern Nevada.
Mineral Ridge Mine To Reopen
Mineral Ridge Mine in Esmeralda County, closed since December 1999, has been purchased by Golden Phoenix Minerals, Inc. of Reno. The facility’s total mineable gold reserve is estimated to exceed 217,000 ounces. In December, Golden Phoenix poured its first gold-silver doré bar, weighing 257 ounces with an approximate ratio of 55 percent gold and 45 percent silver. The company plans to reopen the mine in the first quarter of 2001 and estimates it will operate the mine for four to six years, mining 648,000 tons of ore annually, and producing approximately 40,000 ounces of gold each year.
Merit Studios Launches Wormhole Technology
Las Vegas-based Merit Studios, Inc. recently announced it has successfully negotiated a multi-million dollar contract to license its technology for video rental distribution via the Internet. “Wormhole Technology” will allow people to download movies within seconds onto their computer systems or movie boxes for televisions, according to company president Michael John. After logging on to a designated Web server to select a movie, the customer would pay by credit card and download the movie. The Wormhole Technology software then decompresses the received file into the original movie format without losing any of its content.
Financial Institutions Help Upgrade DMV
Nevada’s financial institutions have joined forces to raise $100,000 for the purchase of new software for the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The software, Electronic Lien and Title (ELT) Processing System, will help streamline procedures for processing automobile titles. The ELT software will allow vehicle titles to be transmitted electronically to and from the DMV and financial institutions that are processing loans for vehicle purchases. The campaign to bring electronic title processing to Nevada resulted from a legal ruling last March that forced the DMV to revamp its filing procedures for obtaining automobile titles, increasing the time and cost required to file forms with the DMV. Randy Baldwin, vice president of lending at Clark County Credit Union, is spearheading the fund-raising effort. He has obtained support from several credit unions and banks, and is working with legislators to change the language of state laws to allow the new system to be used.
Indiana Company to Buy Fitzgeralds in Las Vegas
Majestic Investor LLC, based in Gary, Ind., has agreed to buy Fitzgeralds hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas, which was in Chapter 363 bankruptcy. The $149 million cash deal also included properties in Tunica, Miss. and Black Hawk, Colo. owned by Fitzgeralds Gaming Corp. Majestic Investor LLC is a subsidiary of Majestic Star Casino, owned by African-American businessman Don Barden, who has interests in real estate, construction and cable television and also operates a casino in the Chicago area. Majestic is expected to retain the 950 employees at the Fitzgeralds. The deal could take as much as a year to close due to regulatory requirements in the three states involved.
Nevada Receives High Bond Rating
State Treasurer Brian Krolicki recently announced that Moody’s Investment Service has awarded Nevada an Aa2 rating, its second-highest, citing the state’s fast growth rate and above-average per-capita income as positive factors. Standard and Poor’s gave the state an AA rating. Only six states with AAA ratings ranked higher with Standard and Poor’s. In November, the state treasurer sold $117.1 million worth of bonds for state and local governments, including $100 million in highway improvement bonds. The sale also included $15.6 million in bonds earmarked for water and sewer projects in rural counties.
Las Vegas CPA Firm Joins Horwath International
Piercy, Bowler, Taylor & Kern (PBTK), a Las Vegas CPA and business consulting firm, has affiliated with Horwath International, the eighth-largest association of independent CPA firms, with 200 locations in 70 countries and a combined fee-volume in excess of $1.3 billion. PBTK, founded in 1990 by Ralph Piercy, Richard Bowler, Revelle Taylor and Michael Kern, employs 50 people at its Las Vegas headquarters. The firm specializes in hospitality and gaming services, and also serves clients in real estate and construction, local governments, non-profit organizations, and valuation and litigation support.
Diesel Substitute Introduced in Southern Nevada
River City Petroleum has partnered with World Energy Alternatives to introduce a pollution-cutting diesel substitute called biodiesel to Southern Nevada. Several agencies in Clark County have shown interest in using biodiesel blends for their vehicle fleets in order to meet federal and state emissions guidelines, according to company officials. In 1998, Congress passed legislation allowing federally-mandated fleets to use a mix of biodiesel and regular diesel to qualify for energy credits. World Energy Alternatives produces several varieties of biodiesel, including fuel made from soybean oil, vegetable oil and recycled restaurant oil. Biodiesel may be used in conventional diesel engines with little or no modifications. River City Petroleum and its sister company, Fredericksen Tank Lines, employ 165 people in their Las Vegas, Reno and Northern California offices.
