NEWS - C:FORT Fortress Technologies Launches ESG conscious BC:FORT Fortress Technologies Launches ESG conscious Bitcoin Mining Venture with Great American Mining
TORONTO, April 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fortress Technologies Inc. (TSX-V: FORT) (“Fortress” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the launch of a new Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) conscious Bitcoin mining venture with Great American Mining (“GAM”), thereby increasing its existing Bitcoin production and positioning the company for further growth and investments in Bitcoin mining and greenhouse gas emissions reduction and offset markets.
Last spring, Fortress decided to allocate balance sheet capital to Bitcoin, recognizing the need to diversify its treasury assets. This move was made months before other more famous investors and publicly traded companies made a similar decision.
In the fall of 2020, Fortress initiated an internal project to seek out opportunities that could grow our Bitcoin mining operations. What concerned our board was the increasing resistance from society to the environmental footprint associated with the Bitcoin mining sector, and consequently we sought an alternative method while also pursuing other ESG related investment opportunities. We believed the future of institutional-backed Bitcoin mining would be environmentally conscious and initiated a rigorous research process into various existing and developmental applications.
Ultimately, our research led us to a specific company, Great American Mining (“GAM”), which was profitably mining Bitcoin by utilizing an environmentally conscious and greenhouse gas reducing approach. Great American Mining’s novel technology captures methane waste gas, a greenhouse gas emitted during the extraction of many hydrocarbon resources and many times more potent than CO2 emissions, and converts the stranded waste gas into a productive energy source for Bitcoin mining. Great American Mining’s operations thereby capture and reduce the emissions of this potent greenhouse gas, while also producing Bitcoin at a price per kWh well below the all-in rates for on-grid miners. We were impressed both with Great American Mining’s mission and execution, believing this innovation was precisely what was needed to advance Bitcoin mining into a more ESG compliant asset class for institutional investors. Consequently, we have partnered with the Great American Mining team to scale our overall hash power and Bitcoin mining operations utilizing GAM’s ongoing operating partnerships.
Great American Mining is unique in having a team with both the skill and experience to execute large scale deployments of the type we are envisaging, while also being co-led by a well respected and trusted thought leader in the Bitcoin sector, Marty Bent. While many have marveled at the prospect of environmentally conscious Bitcoin mining, Great American Mining has successfully executed and built out the gas conversion and electrical infrastructure along with active PDUs and software necessary to control a decentralized network of mining nodes throughout hydrocarbon rich fields. Furthermore, Great American Mining’s strategic focus on off-grid energy generation as part of the long-term viability of their business is another reason why we are excited to partner with them. Mining off-grid significantly decreases operational risk over time as demand for on-grid power purchase agreements from bitcoin miners and other energy consumers gets more competitive.
Furthermore, this presents an immense opportunity in scale for us to pursue, as all of the vented/flared gas in the US converted to electrical power would yield approximately 7.4 GW, which in turn represents about 50-70% of the total power converted by the Bitcoin network currently.
Operational Deployment Schedule
Fortress has advanced GAM an initial sum to purchase pre-ordered mining equipment and begin hashing as early as May. We intend to deploy as much as $15 million CAD with Great American Mining and believe we can increase our company’s hashpower from 19.5 PH/s to approximately 180 PH/s within 3-4 months.
“Through my experience as the co-founder of Bitfarms, one of the largest and most successful Bitcoin mining companies in the world, I have come to appreciate that institutional investors would like to deploy capital into Bitcoin but not at all costs. The single biggest hurdle for these investors appears to be the environmental footprint caused by conventional Bitcoin mining. I believe the future of Bitcoin mining will need to be environmentally conscious, seeking out stranded energy sources and repurposing waste and emitted gases to productively secure the Bitcoin Blockchain, and that both investors as well as the Bitcoin mining community will place a premium on companies who pursue this kind of forward-thinking activity. I believe the team at Great American Mining exhibits the right qualities having the execution capabilities as well as the passion to succeed. We are honored to be partnering with them in this venture. With this transaction, Fortress formally enters the field as a well-capitalized publicly traded company mining Bitcoin while doing well by nature. This theme of doing well by nature, improving the quality of our planet and our soil, and reducing the global carbon footprint indeed will become a mission statement for Fortress and part of our business activity going forward,” said Roy Sebag, Chairman of Fortress Technologies Inc.
About Fortress Technologies
Fortress Technologies Inc. (TSX-V: FORT) is a well-capitalized company focused on developing projects where access to growth capital is highly valued, which can also advance ESG and environmentally conscious business initiatives.
For further information, please contact:
Aydin Kilic
Chief Executive Officer
604 477 9997
ir@fortressblockchain.io