Westwater Successfully Produces Battery Ready Graphite
September 06 2018 - 8:00AM
Westwater Resources, Inc. (“Westwater,” or the “Company”)
(Nasdaq: WWR), an energy materials development company, is
pleased to announce that it has successfully produced more than 4
kilograms of its Purified Micronized Graphite (“PMG”). This
Made-in-the-USA product is used as a conductivity enhancement
material for rechargeable lithium ion batteries, non-rechargeable
lithium batteries, alkaline power cells and lead acid battery
applications.
Electrical performance testing by an independent
lab has confirmed that Westwater’s PMG performs as well as
expected. Samples of PMG are presently being tested by two
potential customers. Discussions with additional potential
customers are underway, with dozens of non-disclosure agreements in
place to facilitate further work should it be warranted.
“Our ability to produce battery grade graphite
products is confirmed with these lab scale tests,” said Christopher
Jones, President and CEO of Westwater Resources. “With the large
potential markets for PMG across the battery spectrum, and our
success at this stage of our development, we can affirm that we are
on schedule for commercial production in a little over two years as
our business plan describes. This includes constructing a
processing facility that purifies readily available graphite
concentrates to 99.95% pure carbon. The proposed construction is
planned for 2020 based upon pilot-plant operating data developed in
2019 and using industry standard processes.”
Mr. Jones added: “As the only US graphite
company targeting all major commercial battery types for our
products, we are truly unique in the domestic energy storage
market. It is this meaningful advantage that is leading us to
develop the Coosa Graphite mine in Alabama (planned for start-up
2026) on its 41,900 acre mineral-rights holdings that can serve as
a hedge against future feedstock costs. Furthermore, the Coosa
Graphite mine’s close proximity to the leading automobile
manufacturers adds additional strategic benefits in sourcing
product at minimal transportation costs.”
PMG, branded as “ULTRA-PMG”, is WWR’s first
advanced battery product and has been produced in sizes from 5 to
45 microns, making it compatible with a wide variety of battery
types given the electrical performance it has demonstrated. This is
the first of three battery ready graphite products WWR intends to
manufacture. More information on performance tests and our battery
graphite business can be found at www.WestwaterResources.net.
Westwater Resources is working to develop a
domestic battery graphite business as its first priority, as well
as explore for lithium in the western United States. WWR also holds
a portfolio of uranium production and exploration properties in
Texas and New Mexico.
About Westwater ResourcesWWR is
focused on developing energy-related materials. The Company’s
battery materials projects include the Coosa Graphite Project,
located across 41,900 acres (17,000 ha) in east-central Alabama,
and lithium mineral properties in three prospective lithium brine
basins in Nevada and Utah. WWR’s uranium projects are located in
Texas and New Mexico. 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 StatementThis 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
Company’s growth, developments at the Company’s projects, 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 Alabama
Graphite Corporation’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 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, and Nevada; (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; (m) currently pending or new
litigation or arbitration; and (n) 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.
|
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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