MRI Challenges Trace Minerals Research to Verify Source Vendors of Mineral Brine Products

Aug. 31, 2010 - PRLog -- To promote fair competition in the marketplace, Mineral Resources International, Inc. (“MRI”) has challenged Trace Minerals Research, L.C. (“TMR”) to identify and verify TMR’s source-vendors (and the percentage of total source contributed by each vendor) of all mineral brine used in TMR’s products since 2006, when MRI ceased supplying any products to TMR.

MRI recently transmitted an e-mail alert and news release regarding a study that attempted to verify provenance claims made by the only three companies—MRI, TMR, Salt Lake Minerals (“SLM”), and their affiliates—that are claiming to sell food-grade mineral supplements from Utah’s Great Salt Lake.

TMR responded to MRI’s news release regarding the study, by issuing two press releases—a release on July 26, 2010, announcing that TMR will be opening a new mineral brine harvesting operation on the Great Salt Lake, and a release on July 28, 2010, attempting to discredit both Dr. Roberts’ study and MRI—neither of which directly addressed the study’s conclusion that TMR has failed to verify a food-grade source for all concentrated mineral brine used by TMR during the most recent calendar year.

The study’s author, Dr. Roberts, an economics professor at the University of Utah, researched the study by interviewing executives of MRI, TMR and SLM; by procuring public records from the State of Utah; and by touring—or attempting to tour—the companies’ harvesting and processing operations.  Dr. Roberts was able to fully verify MRI’s provenance claims—that all of more than 50,000 gallons of concentrated mineral brine from the Great Salt Lake used annually in MRI’s products, was obtained from a source exclusively utilizing natural, solar-evaporation, food-grade processing procedures. Conversely, Dr. Roberts was not able to completely verify provenance claims made by TMR and SLM, regarding a food-grade source for the concentrated mineral brine used in their products.

The study can be found at: http://www.mineralresourcesint.com/RELEASES/Extracting_Mi...

From TMR’s inception in 1996 as a mineral supplement marketing company, until 2006—when MRI and TMR completely severed their relationship due to contract disputes—MRI had a contract to be TMR’s exclusive supplier of mineral brine products derived from Utah’s Great Salt Lake.  However, following termination of its relationship with MRI in 2006, TMR has obtained its mineral brine products exclusively from a source other than MRI.

TMR has advertised that “[t]oday, the TMR brand is an industry leading provider of ionic trace minerals.”  If that statement is accurate, it can be presumed that TMR uses a volume of processed mineral brine similar to that used by MRI—in excess of 50,000 gallons annually.

However, based on information obtained from TMR, SLM (a primary supplier of mineral brine products to TMR) and the State of Utah, Dr. Roberts was only able to verify the possibility of food-grade quality sourcing for up to 1,500 gallons of processed mineral brine used by TMR in its products during the most recent calendar year, with SLM being that source.  Although TMR has recently announced that it will soon be opening a new mineral brine harvesting operation on the shores of Utah’s Great Salt Lake, that operation is not yet fully functional, and therefore, could not have been a source of food-grade minerals used by TMR in its products during the most recent calendar year (and the last four years).  Accordingly, TMR’s announcement of a future extraction facility does not put to rest the issue of where TMR has been sourcing a significant portion of its mineral brine products since 2006.

TMR also attempted to discredit MRI in its press release of July 28, 2010, by stating that MRI has continued to attack TMR through “frivolous legal actions.”  Contrary to TMR’s unsubstantiated assertion, no judge has ever ruled that either of the two legal actions asserted by MRI against TMR were “frivolous.”  In fact, in response to the lawsuit filed by MRI in August of 2008, which alleged false advertising by TMR concerning its “Endure” product, and which demanded TMR to publish corrective advertising concerning that product, TMR posted the following statement on its official TMR website, as apparent “corrective advertising” concerning its “Endure” product.

Quote from TMR’s web site:

“TMR has never intentionally misrepresented the contents of ENDURE.  When TMR discovered that a manufacturing error resulted in minerals [sic] levels lower than those listed on the label, a recall was immediately issued and replacement products were sent to affected customers.” (Source: Trace Minerals Research, L.C., October 2008, “TMR Responds to MRI’s Allegations of Trademark Infringement and Unfair Competition,” posted on TMR’s website at http://www.traceminerals.com. Retrieved August 9, 2010.)

MRI believes that revealing the truth through scholarly studies has always been and remains to be an important means of ethical market competition. The public needs access to reasonable means of verifying or discrediting claims made by marketers in order to make reasonably informed decisions about which products to consume to support their health.

MRI encourages retailers, consumers, and others to please read the study and to contact MRI to discuss their concerns and questions at (800) 731-7866.

For a tour of MRI and the Anderson family’s harvesting operation, go to: http://www.mineralresourcesint.com or YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UklQftZiGJg



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Mineral Resources International, Inc. (www.mineralresourcesint.com) specializes in developing, manufacturing, and distributing noteworthy nutritional supplements integrating naturally occurring minerals and trace minerals from Utah’s Great Salt Lake.