Westwater Applauds EPA’s Action to Withdraw Rule Change for Reclamation
October 24 2018 - 08:00AM
Business Wire
Proposed rule change offered no new protection
for the environment
Westwater Resources, Inc. (“Westwater,” or the “Company”)
(Nasdaq: WWR), an energy materials development company, is
pleased to report that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
has withdrawn a rule change proposed in 2017 for groundwater
restoration that afforded no new protection for the environment,
but only promised to raise costs for the uranium industry if
enacted.
Westwater Resources is nearing the completion of reclamation at
two sites, and this EPA action is an important affirmation that
ongoing work to reclaim future operations will not be impacted by
poorly conceived rules that offer no positive impact on groundwater
quality and only succeed in increasing the costs of restoration.
Westwater remains committed to the safety of the environment and
the public at our operations, and compliance with sensible and
effective rules are key to this promise.
On Friday, October 19, 2018, the EPA said that its existing
rules (for groundwater restoration) were sufficient for the
protection of public health and safety from radiological and
non-radiological hazards associated with uranium and thorium ore
processing.
EPA's acting administrator Andrew Wheeler cast the proposed rule
change as "unnecessary and punishing" on uranium producers.
"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has regulated in-situ uranium
recovery for nearly 40 years. The agency has never found an
instance of ground water contamination that would be addressed by
this rule," Wheeler said in a statement.
The rule "failed to articulate a risk that justified the
rulemaking, ignored the need for a realistic cost-benefit analysis,
and underestimated compliance costs and impacts to small
businesses," National Mining Association President Hal Quinn
said.
Westwater Resources thanks the National Mining Association for
their able leadership in the effort to achieve this action.
About Westwater Resources
Westwater is focused on developing energy-related materials. The
Company’s battery-materials projects include the Coosa Graphite
Project — the most advanced natural flake graphite project in
the contiguous United States — and the associated Coosa Graphite
Mine located across 41,900 acres (~17,000 hectares) in east-central
Alabama. In addition, the Company maintains lithium mineral
properties in three prospective lithium brine basins in Nevada and
Utah. Westwater’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 hectares) of prospective in-situ recovery uranium projects.
In New Mexico, the Company controls mineral rights encompassing
approximately 188,700 acres (~76,000 hectares) 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., Westwater 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 demand for and price of uranium, the Company’s growth,
developments at the Company’s projects, 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, lithium and uranium; (d)
risks associated with our domestic operations; (e) operating
conditions at the Company’s projects; (f) government and tribal
regulation of the graphite industry, the lithium industry, the
uranium industry, and the power industry; (g) world-wide graphite,
lithium and uranium 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.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181024005123/en/
Westwater ResourcesChristopher M. Jones,
303-531-0480President & CEOorJeff Vigil, 303-531-0481VP Finance
& CFOInfo@WestwaterResources.netorInvestor
Relations Contact:Porter, LeVay and RoseMichael Porter,
212-564-4700Westwater@plrinvest.com
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