StandoutStocks.com: StandoutStocks.com "Stocks that Standout" today are: AGXM, AVSO, BFRE, BKYI, CHCG, IDGG

Jul 28, 2008 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- IDGG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- StandoutStocks.com "Stocks that Standout" today are: Argentex Mining Corporation (TSX-V: ATX, OTCBB: AGXM), Avatech Solutions, Inc. (OTCBB: AVSO), BlueFire Ethanol Incorporated (PINKSHEETS: BFRE), BIO-key International, Inc. (OTCBB: BKYI), China 3C Group (OTCBB: CHCG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) and Indigo-Energy, Inc. (OTCBB: IDGG)

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Jul 28, 2008 -- Argentex Mining Corporation (TSX-V: ATX, OTCBB: AGXM) is pleased to announce that effective today, Monday, July 28, 2008, its common shares will begin trading on Canada's TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V) in addition to the company's existing listings in the U.S. and Germany. The company's shares will trade on the TSX-V under the symbol "ATX."

In 2004 Argentex acquired a large package of prospective exploration properties in the Patagonia region of Argentina. The Pinguino property quickly became the focus of the company's exploration efforts, which in early 2006 culminated in the discovery of a significant new polymetallic and precious metal occurrence. Since that initial discovery, numerous additional vein systems have been discovered, covering more than 60 kilometers (37 miles) in total strike length, using detailed geological mapping, soil geochemistry, magnetometry and IP geophysics. Diamond drill testing has been successfully carried out on more than eight major Pinguino veins identified to date, returning excellent intersections of mineralization.

"Argentex has made a significant new mineral discovery in the Patagonia region of Argentina. The impressive extent of mineralization at Pinguino together with the indium-enriched zinc-silver-lead chemistry make it a unique discovery in the region," said Ken Hicks, President of Argentex. "Indium is a high-value strategic metal used in flat-panel LCD-plasma displays and leading-edge solar cell technology and markets for both applications continue to grow at impressive rates. Our discovery at Pinguino continues to attract the interest of numerous major mining and smelting companies. We intend to continue expanding our exploration activities and advancing our engineering studies at Pinguino, a flagship project where we see great future potential."

Drilling at Pinguino has so far tested only a small portion of near-surface and deeper subsurface targets. Mineralization has been discovered in exposed surface trenches and drilled to a depth of 250 meters (820 feet) below surface. Results showed no change in the strength of sulphide composition with depth and the mineralizing system remains open at depth and along strike. Argentex has so far completed more than 20,000 meters (65,617 feet) of targeted diamond drilling during its 2007-2008 exploration season, for a total of more than 30,000 meters (98,425 feet) to date.

Pinguino displays two distinct styles of mineralization. The first is a northwest-trending structurally controlled epithermal precious metal vein system, with a low sulphide content and enriched in silver and gold. Pinguino also shows a second, distinct high-sulphide style, occasionally massive in sections and containing a suite of higher-temperature elements including tin and tungsten. Typically, massive sulphide mineralization is surrounded by a wide zone of disseminated sulphides. The host tuffs and continental sediments are some of the oldest and deepest rocks exposed in the Deseado Massif.

Within the last 12 months, Argentex has completed two rounds of financing to raise aggregate gross proceeds in excess of five million dollars. The company has used the net proceeds of these financings to advance exploration at Pinguino, to fund exploration of other Santa Cruz mineral properties and for general corporate purposes.

About Pinguino

Argentex's Pinguino property is located in Argentina's Patagonia region, within the Deseado Massif of Santa Cruz province. The zinc-silver-indium-lead-gold-copper discovery at Pinguino in 2006 marked a major exploration milestone for the company. This was the first discovery of its kind in the region, unique in that it contains both silver-gold and indium-enriched base-metal mineralization. Since 2006, exploration of base-metal-rich targets has expanded to encompass more than eight mineralized zones, including Marta Centro, Yvonne, Yvonne Sur, Yvonne Norte, Sonia, Kasia, Savary and Luna veins, within an area of approximately 8.0 square kilometers (3.0 square miles).

Indium, a significant component of Argentex's polymetallic discovery at Pinguino, is a high-value metal used in flat-panel (LCD, plasma) displays and in leading-edge thin-film solar cell technology.

Pinguino is easily accessible, situated approximately 400 meters (1,312 feet) above sea level in low-relief topography. An existing system of all-weather roads provides year-round access to the property.

ABOUT ARGENTEX:

Argentex Mining Corporation is a junior mining exploration company with significant holdings in the Patagonia region of Argentina. It owns 100% of the mineral rights to the Pinguino property and 100% mineral rights to more than 30 other mineral properties with over 377,490 acres (152,766 hectares) in the Santa Cruz and Rio Negro provinces of Argentina. Shares of Argentex common stock trade under the symbol AGXM on the OTCBB and, beginning July 28, 2008, trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol ATX.

Exploration on the Pinguino property is conducted under the supervision of Mr. Kenneth Hicks, P.Geo., Argentex's President, a "qualified person" as defined by Canada's NI 43-101. Mr. Hicks has read and approved the contents of this release.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Jul 28, 2008 -- Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) -- BlueFire Ethanol Incorporated (PINKSHEETS: BFRE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) (Irvine, California) has received its conditional use permit from Los Angeles County to proceed with construction on a first-of-its-kind cellulosic-based ethanol plant in Lancaster, California. The $30 million plant will utilize 170 tons per day of landfill waste from Waste Management's (NYSE:WMI) (Houston, Texas) Lancaster landfill to produce 3.2 million gallons per year of ethanol.

For details, view the entire article by subscribing to Industrial Info's Premium Industry News at http://www.industrialinfo.com/showNews.jsp?newsitemID=136005, or browse other breaking industrial news stories at www.industrialinfo.com.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.

Jul 28, 2008 -- Avatech Solutions, Inc. (OTCBB: AVSO), the nationwide technology expert for design, engineering, and facilities management, announced today that the company is experiencing greater demand for its professional services offering as an increased number of civil engineering firms adopt 3D dynamic modeling. Leading engineering companies like Marbach, Brady & Weaver, as well as Hanson Professional Services Inc. have selected Avatech Solutions to implement AutoCAD Civil 3D design technology.

Dynamic modeling presents a completely new design approach, which requires a review of CAD standards, an overhaul of current workflows, and intensive training. The benefits are many, because with model-centric technology at the core, design changes are automatically reflected across and entire project, helping to keep the whole team coordinated. Dynamic modeling also presents the opportunity to increase competitive advantage and slash engineering time while providing enhanced levels of service to clients.

More and more firms are turning to professional services teams to help them make the transition to a completely new way of working. Avatech specializes in getting companies up and running in the most cost-effective way possible to reduce downtime, while at the same time providing long-term value through careful planning.

"Our civil solutions professional services group offers customers a unique blend of business and industry acumen with in-depth technology expertise," said Bruce White, Executive Vice President of Sales for Avatech Solutions.

Marbach, Brady & Weaver, a pioneering Elkhart, Indiana-based civil engineering firm, contacted Avatech to implement this new technology, "We knew this would be a big change for us and so we are relying on Avatech for their expert assistance in training and implementation," said Chris Marbach, president at Marbach, Brady & Weaver.

Hanson Professional Services, an employee-owned, Engineering News Record 500 firm, also hired Avatech. "When we made the decision to standardize our aviation services on Civil 3D, we knew we wanted Avatech Solutions to lead the implementation," said Craig Reed, CADD Administrator at Hanson Professional Services. "They live up to their 'Altogether Smarter' tagline. We got the right expertise for the various types of design work we offer and are convinced that by choosing Avatech, we minimized down time and are able to provide our clients with improved engineering services."

Dynamic modeling technologies provide real-world drawing objects that maintain relationships with other objects within the model. When changes inevitably occur, they propagate throughout a drawing set. Gaining the ability to view complex 3D relationships between roadways, elevations, piping, and other systems enables engineers to instantly visualize and circumvent problems that simply were not evident in just two dimensions.

About Avatech Solutions

Avatech Solutions, Inc. (OTCBB: AVSO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) is America's leading professional services company for design and engineering technologies. Avatech advances the way organizations design, develop, and manage building, infrastructure, and manufacturing projects. Fortune 500 and Engineering News Record's Top 100 companies work with Avatech to gain a competitive advantage through technology consulting, implementation, training, and support services. One of the world's largest integrators of Autodesk software, Avatech designs systems that accelerate innovation while improving quality and profitability.

July 28, 2008 -- BIO-key International, Inc. (OTCBB: BKYI), a leader in wireless public safety and finger-based biometric identification solutions, announced today that it achieved profitability and strong revenue growth for its second quarter ended June 30, 2008.

Total revenue from continuing operations for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 was $3.6 million, an increase of 40.9% from the $2.5 million reported for the quarter ended March 31, 2008. The increase in revenues during the second quarter of 2008 was primarily driven by strong and record growth in BIO-key's Biometrics business. For the quarter ended June 30, 2008, Biometric revenues were $1.2 million compared to $353,000 in the previous quarter. Revenues from BIO-key's Law Enforcement business also show solid growth, increasing by 7.8% in the second quarter of 2008 to $2.4 million compared to $2.2 million in the previous quarter.

In commenting on the quarter's performance, Tom Colatosti, BIO-key Chairman said, "These financial results are a milestone event for the company. Indeed, within our emerging industry, few of our peers can match our achievement of GAAP profitability. Our results reflect the efficacy of our strategy, the superiority of our technology, the rising market interest in biometrics and mobile solutions and the commitment of our people."

"We are very pleased to report our first quarter of corporate profitability as well as record quarterly revenues generated by our biometric business," said Michael DePasquale, BIO-key's Chief Executive Officer. "Many of the initiatives that we deployed over the last few quarters, from partnership agreements with leading technology suppliers and wireless carriers to expense management, have enabled us achieve our major operating objective -- profitable growth. With the achievement of this objective, management is now focused on capitalizing on this momentum to achieve sustainable and growing profitability and revenue. We believe the marketing and technology strategies we have developed and our growing pipeline of businesses have us on the right track to deliver continued operating growth."

BIO-key's gross margin for the second quarter of 2008 was 88.2% compared to 82.6% for the previous quarter. The increase in gross margin was primarily attributable to an increase in the mix of biometric revenues reflecting the software license model of the biometrics business. Operating expenses from continuing operations for the second quarter of 2008 decreased by 5.8% to $2.9 million compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2008, reflecting a continued emphasis on cost containment as the company grows.

BIO-key's net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 was $168,000 compared to a net loss of ($915,000) for the quarter ended March 31, 2008.

Highlights: -- $2MM contract for biometric software from a global technology company -- $335,000 contract with the Baltimore Police Department (an existing customer), for additional MobileCop software -- Contracts with the City of Erlanger, Kentucky, Police Department for MobileCop(R) software and the Kettering, Ohio Police Department for MobileOffice(TM) software -- RIM, Sprint and BIO-key sponsored webinar conducted by Government Technology Publications on "Mobile Data Solutions For Today's Police Force," breaking prior attendance records -- U.S. Patent & Trademark Office patent issued (No. 7,359,553) covering BIO-key's image enhancement and data extraction core algorithm components -- Successful completion of Bangladesh voter list, registering over 80 million voters in preparation for upcoming national election

Six Months Consolidated Results

Total revenue from continuing operations for the six months ended June 30, 2008 increased 18.2% to $6.1 million from the corresponding period in 2007. Gross margin for the six months ended June 30, 2008 increased to 85.9% compared to 81.8% for the corresponding period in 2007. Gross profit increased by 24.1% to $5.3 million compared to $4.2 million in the corresponding period in 2007. Operating expenses from continuing operations for the six months ended June 30, 2008 decreased 20.8% to $5.9 million. BIO-key's operating loss for the six months ended June 30, 2008 improved by $2.6 million to ($0.6 million) from ($3.2 million) for the corresponding period in 2007.

BIO-key's net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2008 was ($0.7 million) compared to net income of $0.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2007. Net income in 2007 included a gain of $4.1 million as a result of the sale of the Company's Fire/EMS Services division to ZOLL Data Systems.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Consolidated cash and cash equivalents at June 30, 2008 was $600,000.

"Achieving profitability is only the first of several operating objectives that BIO-key's management team is focused on delivering to shareholders," stated DePasquale. "We also remain focused on strengthening our balance sheet through non-dilutive strategies. We believe that BIO-key is better positioned than ever to grow, gain market share and create long-term shareholder value."

Conference Call Details

BIO-key has scheduled a call for Monday, July 28th at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss 2008 second quarter financial results. Dialing 303-205-0033 and asking for the BIO-key call at least 10 minutes prior to the start time can access the conference call live. The conference call will also be broadcast live over the Internet by logging onto http://www.bio-key.com. A telephonic replay of the conference call will be available through August 4, 2008 and may be accessed by dialing 303-590-3000 and using the pass code 11117487#. Additionally, an archive of the webcast will be available shortly after completion of the call on the Company's website (http://www.bio-key.com) for a period of three months.

About BIO-key

BIO-key International, Inc., headquartered in Wall, New Jersey, develops and delivers advanced identification solutions and information services to law enforcement departments, public safety agencies, government and private sector customers. BIO-key's mobile wireless technology provides first responders with critical, reliable, real-time data and images from local, state and national databases. BIO-key's high performance, scalable, cost-effective and easy-to-deploy biometric finger identification technology accurately identifies and authenticates users of wireless and enterprise data to improve security, convenience and privacy and to reduce identity theft. Over 750 police departments in North America use BIO-key solutions, making BIO-key the leading supplier of mobile and wireless solutions for law enforcement.

July 28, 2008 -- China 3C Group (OTCBB: CHCG), a leading retailer and distributor of consumer and business products in China, announced today that the Company has signed a product distribution agreement with Juda Group, a well-known manufacturer of consumer electronics goods in China.

Under this agreement, China 3C will begin selling all of Juda Group's consumer electronics products as well as provide after-sales service support for these products at all China 3C stores located in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Revenues generated from Juda Group's products will benefit China 3C's Sanhe subsidiary.

Juda Group is based in southern China. Its products include DVD players, high definition DVD players, home theater systems and stereo equipment. It has been the recipient of multiple prestigious industry awards related to trustworthy consumer products and ''Famous Chinese brands'' products. The Company has over 5,000 employees and operates from a 48,000 square meter facility.

Mr. Zhuang Bingwu, CEO of Juda Group, said, ''We are delighted to establish this relationship with China 3C Group. This agreement marks our first entry into the eastern China market and we are honored to align ourselves with a retailer that has significant distribution capability and a strong 'store-in-store' presence in the Huadong region."

Mr. Wang Zhenggang, CEO of China 3C, commented, ''Our cooperation with the Juda Group further diversifies our product offering and provides greater options to our basic customers. We are also pleased that this agreement provides after-sales service support, which is a new initiative that can strengthen our manufacturing relationships and develop additional higher margin revenue opportunities for our business.''

About China 3C

China 3C is a leading wholesale distributor and retailer operating over 1000 retail outlets in Eastern China. The Company specializes in selling 3C products which include: cell phones and accessories, fax machines and printers, consumer electronics, computer and computer-related products and small home appliances. Among China 3C's primary attributes is its efficient distribution network and rapid logistics system.

Jul 28, 2008 -- Indigo-Energy, Inc. (OTCBB: IDGG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) is pleased to announce that the Company has signed a Loan Agreement with BJ Petro, Inc., a Nevada corporation. BJ Petro has agreed to provide Indigo-Energy, Inc. with funds totaling $686,400,000, which the Company plans to utilize to complete the purchase of and commence the subsequent development of approximately 135,000 acres located in southern Illinois, southwestern Indiana and western Kentucky.

"With this funding package in place, we are highly optimistic about our company's future. Invested in the execution of our strategic plan, these funds will enable our development of state-of-the-art natural gas and oil production facilities, including the construction of regional pipelines and related infrastructure, within key areas throughout the Illinois Basin. We thank our shareholders for their patience throughout our recent months of funding efforts and believe this investment will allow us to return value to our investors," stated Steve Durdin, CEO and President of Indigo-Energy, Inc.

The agreement provides that Indigo-Energy will receive the initial phase of funding within 30 business days following its posting of a Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC) to BJ Petro in the amount of $10 million, which Indigo-Energy expects to deliver by the end of this week. The term of the funding agreement with BJ Petro is 15 years.

The Illinois Basin is a geologic region of approximately 60,000 square miles stretching across three states, with increasing interest for its potential oil and natural gas reserves. Indigo-Energy expects the natural gas and oil resources to be utilized in the United States to contribute to a nationwide effort to reduce the dependency on foreign sources of fuel.

As part of its fiduciary responsibility, the Company and its Board of Directors will continue to pursue additional strategic alternatives that may be in the best interest of its shareholders. Such alternatives include the previously announced funding plan with International Financial Corporation, LLC; a transaction separate from today's announced funding proposal.

To view the complete details of Indigo Energy, Inc.'s most recent 8-K filing with the SEC, please go to the following link: http://biz.yahoo.com/e/080723/idgg.ob8-k.html.

About Indigo-Energy, Inc.:

Indigo-Energy Inc. is an independent Nevada energy company, engaged in the drilling, development, production and acquisition of certain oil and gas reserves located in the Upper Devonian sand formations in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. This involves drilling of developmental oil and gas wells at the different program sites on proven reserves. It also includes the purchase of producing oil and gas wells, and existing oil and gas leasehold interests.

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