MagneGas Corporation Provides Letter to Shareholders
TAMPA, Fla., April 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- MagneGas Corporation (NASDAQ: MNGA) (the "Company"), today provides a letter to shareholders to address the recent accident at its Tarpon Springs facility.
Dear Fellow Shareholders,
As previously announced, we unfortunately experienced a tragic accident at our Tarpon Springs facility on Thursday, April 16, in which one employee died and another was injured. Our deepest sympathy and heartfelt condolences go out to the families and friends who lost a loved one and to everyone else affected by this accident. Our top priority has always been and continues to be the health and safety of all our employees, who are of great importance to us and highly valued members of our MagneGas family.
We take this matter very seriously and are dedicating all of the necessary corporate resources to assist in the investigation of this incident. We have been working closely with the appropriate authorities to determine the cause and circumstances surrounding this accident. At this time, we can report that the accident occurred during the tank filling process. In addition to conducting our own thorough investigation, we will continue to work in full cooperation with the Tarpon Springs Fire Department and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to determine what caused this accident.
Until we complete this investigation we have temporarily suspended production of certain products. We plan to resume production of these products once we have isolated and fully addressed the cause of this accident. We also plan to take whatever steps are needed to help prevent another accident from occurring in the future. In the meantime, we have a reserve supply of MagneGas® on hand and plan to continue supplying our customers. In other instances, we can supply our customers with alternative gases for their near-term needs through our wholly owned subsidiary, Equipment Sales and Services, Inc. (ESSI), which is open for business as usual.
We have spoken with most of our MagneGas® metal cutting customers and partners and they have expressed their sympathies regarding the accident. They have assured us that they understand the situation and plan to continue working with MagneGas ®.
We believe that the strong support of our customers reflects our dedication to safety and the fact that we have independently demonstrated that MagneGas® is a stable gas. Unlike acetylene, which pools to the ground and could present a serious ignition hazard risk, MagneGas® is lighter than air and rises quickly in the event of a leak.
In terms of our financial strength, we believe that we are well-positioned to move forward in the wake of this tragedy. As of December 31, 2014, we had more than $5 million of cash on hand. We also have comprehensive coverage under our insurance policies. We will continue operating our other business lines, which comprise the majority of our revenues at the present time. These business lines include the sale of sterilization equipment and the sale of a variety of gases through ESSI.
We will also be hosting our first quarter 2015 conference call in the coming weeks. During that call we will provide our shareholders the opportunity to ask questions in a public forum. We look forward to sharing with you recent developments and the progress that we have made towards achieving our strategic objectives as respectfully as possible given the circumstances. We are committed to full transparency while fulfilling our mission of bringing MagneGas® to the global commercial market.
Following this tragic accident we held a team meeting, which was attended by the Chaplain of the Tarpon Spring Fire Department. He provided great comfort to us and led a prayer for our departed and injured, and discussed taking time to grieve.
These have been extremely difficult circumstances for us given our tight-knit culture. We have reflected on the contributions of these team members and the lives affected by this incident. We are so very fortunate to have such a tremendous and harmonious team at MagneGas. We have been there for each other and will continue to be there for each other as we heal and try to move forward. This is a very emotional time for us, but we owe it to everyone, including our departed and injured, to forge ahead with our company's vision so that their contributions are not in vain. At our team meeting I assured our team that we have an obligation to ourselves, our customers, and our shareholders to grieve and then respectfully raise our eyes once again to the horizon to continue on our path of development and success.
We have a great appreciation for and would like to say a special thanks to the State and local fire, rescue and police service for their support and assistance in this time of great need. Their professionalism and diligence in these tragic circumstances has provided us with an environment where the accident can be properly addressed while providing us with the space to grieve and find comfort in each other. Finally, in response to this tragedy we have given our employees a paid week to grieve. We have also immediately begun providing crisis counseling with the cooperation of the Tarpon Springs Florida Fire Department Chaplain.
We deeply appreciate the outpouring of support from our shareholders, our customers, and our community in the wake of this tragedy. This heartfelt support has made a huge difference for us as we reflect on our losses and aim to move forward. We plan to keep our stakeholders apprised of material developments as the investigation progresses and our company takes the steps necessary to achieve its goals and vision.
Sincerely,
Ermanno P. Santilli
Chief Executive Officer
About MagneGas Corporation
Founded in 2007, Tampa-based MagneGas Corporation (NASDAQ: MNGA) is a technology Company that counts among its inventions, a patented process that converts liquid waste into hydrogen based fuels. The Company currently sells MagneGas® into the metal working market as a replacement to acetylene. It is also selling equipment for the sterilization of bio-contaminated liquid waste for various industrial and agricultural markets. In addition, the Company is developing a variety of ancillary uses for MagneGas® fuels utilizing its high flame temperature for co-combustion of hydrocarbon fuels and other advanced applications. For more information on MagneGas®, please visit the Company's website at www.MagneGas.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined within Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements relate to future events, including our ability to raise capital, or to our future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects our current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. We assume no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.
For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Our public filings with the SEC are available from commercial document retrieval services and at the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.
SOURCE MagneGas Corporation
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