Republic of Turkey Revokes Temrezli and Sefaatli Licenses and Offers Compensation
June 22 2018 - 8:45AM
Westwater Resources, Inc. (“Westwater,” or the
“Company”) (Nasdaq:WWR), an energy materials development
company, announced today that it received notification from the
Generate Directorate of Mining Affairs, a department of the Turkish
Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, that the mining and
exploration licenses for WWR’s Temrezli and Sefaatli projects have
been revoked and potential compensation has been proffered.
Westwater is investigating the legality of this action and what
remedies, including compensation, might be available to the
Company. The Company has 60 days to respond under
Turkish law.
Christopher M. Jones, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Westwater Resources, said, “We are
investigating this action in order to protect our investment in the
projects in view of applicable Turkish and international law.
We plan to work with the relevant authorities to define a proper
path forward over the coming weeks. The Republic of Turkey
has been a supporter of both the Temrezli and Sefaatli projects for
quite some time, and we therefore can expect a fair result.”
WWR and its predecessor companies have been
working for years to develop the Temrezli and Sefaatli projects in
central Turkey, and while currently low uranium prices have delayed
construction, higher prices forecasted in the intermediate term
make these projects important investments.
About Westwater Resources
WWR is focused on developing energy-related materials. The
Company’s battery materials projects include the Coosa Graphite
Project and the associated Coosa Graphite Mine located across
41,900 acres in east-central Alabama. In addition, the
Company maintains lithium mineral properties in three prospective
lithium brine basins in Nevada and Utah. WWR’s uranium
projects are located in Texas, New Mexico and the Republic of
Turkey. In Texas, the Company has two licensed and currently
idled uranium processing facilities and approximately 11,000 acres
(4,400 ha) of prospective in-situ recovery uranium projects.
In New Mexico, the Company controls mineral rights
encompassing approximately 188,700 acres (76,394 ha) in the
prolific Grants Mineral Belt, which is one of the largest
concentrations of sandstone-hosted uranium deposits in the world.
Incorporated in 1977 as Uranium Resources, Inc., WWR also
owns an extensive uranium information database of historic drill
hole logs, assay certificates, maps and technical reports for the
Western United States. For more information, visit
www.westwaterresources.net.
Cautionary Statement
This news release contains forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are subject to
risks, uncertainties and assumptions and are identified by words
such as “expects,” “estimates,” “projects,” “anticipates,”
“believes,” “could,” and other similar words. All statements
addressing events or developments that WWR expects or anticipates
will occur in the future, including but not limited to statements
relating to the future of the Company’s projects in Turkey and
proceedings with the Turkish government, the Company’s growth,
developments at the Company’s projects, including future
exploration costs and results, intent and timing of new and
existing programs and testing, the potential improvements contained
in WWR’s initial optimization study of the Coosa Graphite Project,
the future production of graphite, including on a pilot scale, and
future sales of graphite, including as a first mover for key
components of electrical storage devices, and the Company’s
liquidity and cash demands, including future capital markets
financing and disposition activities, are forward-looking
statements. Because they are forward-looking, they
should be evaluated in light of important risk factors and
uncertainties. These risk factors and uncertainties include,
but are not limited to, (a) the Company’s ability to successfully
integrate AGC’s business into its own, and the risk that additional
analysis of the Coosa Graphite Project may result in revisions to
the findings of WWR’s initial optimization study; (b) the Company’s
ability to raise additional capital in the future; (c) spot price
and long-term contract price of graphite, uranium and lithium; (d)
risks associated with our foreign and domestic operations; (e)
operating conditions at the Company’s projects; (f) government and
tribal regulation of the graphite industry, uranium industry, the
lithium industry, and the power industry; (g) world-wide graphite,
uranium and lithium supply and demand, including the supply and
demand for lithium-based batteries; (h) maintaining sufficient
financial assurance in the form of sufficiently collateralized
surety instruments; (i) unanticipated geological, processing,
regulatory and legal or other problems the Company may encounter in
the jurisdictions where the Company operates or intends to operate,
including in Alabama, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and Republic
of Turkey; (j) the ability of the Company to enter into and
successfully close acquisitions or other material transactions, (k)
the results of the Company’s lithium brine exploration activities
at the Columbus Basin, Railroad Valley, and Sal Rica projects, and
the possibility that future exploration results may be materially
less promising than initial exploration result; (I) any graphite,
lithium or uranium discoveries not being in high enough
concentration to make it economic to extract the metals; and (m)
other factors which are more fully described in the Company’s
Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and
other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Should
one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should
any of the Company’s underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual
results may vary materially from those currently anticipated. In
addition, undue reliance should not be placed on the Company’s
forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company
disclaims any obligation to update or publicly announce any
revisions to any of the forward-looking statements contained in
this news release. The results of the initial optimization study
are preliminary in nature and subject to revision following WWR’s
further analysis of the Coosa project.
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Westwater Resources Contact: |
Investor Relations Contact: |
Christopher M. Jones, President & CEO |
Michael Porter |
Phone: 303.531.0480 |
Porter, LeVay and Rose |
Jeff Vigil, VP Finance & CFO |
Phone: 212.564.4700 |
Phone: 303.531.0481 |
|
Email: Info@WestwaterResources.net |
Email: Westwater@plrinvest.com |
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