Recent Assays Show Vanadium Concentrations of
up to 0.4% V2O5
Current Market Prices in Vanadium Reflect
Greater Upside Potential for Coosa
Westwater Resources, Inc. (“Westwater,” or the “Company”)
(Nasdaq: WWR), an energy materials development company, is
pleased to announce the discovery of significant levels of vanadium
concentrations at several locales within the graphitic schists at
the Company’s Coosa Graphite Project, located in Coosa County,
Alabama.
Christopher Jones, President and CEO of Westwater Resources,
stated, “We are delighted to confirm the discovery of vanadium on
our existing mineral leases in Alabama. The prospect of adding a
vanadium credit to our already robust economics at the Coosa
Graphite Project appreciably increases the value of our holdings.
The Westwater team is designing an exploration program to more
fully define the extent of the vanadium mineralization.”
“Westwater holds two large graphite development projects that
now also may contain significant levels of vanadium. Together with
our lithium properties and uranium holdings in the American West,
and further to the development to our Alabama-based graphite
business, the potential income we can generate from vanadium could
translate to a higher valuation for WWR in the future,” concluded
Mr. Jones.
Recent assay results for numerous samples collected from the
graphitic schists in areas adjacent to the known graphite resource
area of the Coosa Project have shown concentrations values of up to
0.4% V2O5 (which is equal to 8 pounds of V2O5 per short ton), as
well as values ranging up to 0.26% V2O5 in the graphite deposit
area itself. Westwater believes that these concentrations are
significant and warrant integrated evaluation of graphite-vanadium
resources of the Coosa Graphite Project. Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5)
is the most common form traded and currently sells for $33.10/lb.
(98% V2O5 Flake, China as reported by www.vanadiumprice.com on
November 26, 2018). This current price represents a multi-year
high, with a rise of over 300% in the last 12 months.
The occurrences of elevated concentrations of vanadium in the
Alabama Graphite belt have been known since the 1940s, as
documented by the United States Bureau of Mines (USBM) Report of
Investigations 4366 (December 1948). USBM documents anomalous
vanadium results for samples from the now inactive Fixico graphite
mine, located on one of the properties leased by Westwater and
adjacent to the Coosa Graphite Project and from Westwater’s Bama
Mine in Chilton County, Alabama and from the Dean Prospect,
situated on properties controlled by Westwater.
What is Vanadium?
Vanadium is a lightweight metal used in the construction
industry, in high-strength steel alloys, and in large grid storage
batteries. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS),
about 80,000 metric tonnes of vanadium (as V) per year were
consumed worldwide in 2017, approximately 80% of which was utilized
by the steel industry, where additions of the metal to conventional
steel materials adds strength and corrosion resistance. Importantly
for Westwater, demand for Vanadium Flow batteries is increasing as
solar and wind power generators seek to make their installations
more reliable electricity providers. Market research firm Roskill
predicts that there will be a 45% increase in demand for vanadium,
mostly in China.
Currently, about 85% of all vanadium is produced in South
Africa, China and Russia. There is no significant production of
vanadium currently in the United States.
Westwater believes that the principal vanadium mineral at the
Coosa Graphite Project is roscoelite, a vanadium-bearing mica. This
mineral has been a significant component of vanadium ore production
in the United States, especially at the Rifle Creek and Placerville
districts of Colorado and the Uravan Mineral Belt region of western
Colorado and eastern Utah. Roscoelite ores were major sources of
vanadium during World War I and the period of the mid-1930s to 1945
as well as a significant source of vanadium from the mines of the
Uravan Mineral belt during the late 1940s into the early 1980s.
About Westwater Resources
WWR 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
potential extent of vanadium mineralization at the Coosa Graphite
Project, potential income from and the value of such potential
vanadium mineralization, the future demand for and price of
vanadium, 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, vanadium 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 vanadium industry, the uranium
industry, and the power industry; (g) world-wide graphite, lithium,
vanadium 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,
vanadium 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 Graphite Project.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181129005096/en/
Westwater Resources Contact:Christopher M. Jones,
President & CEOPhone: 303.531.0480Jeff Vigil, VP Finance &
CFOPhone: 303.531.0481Email:
Info@WestwaterResources.netorInvestor Relations
Contact:Michael PorterPorter, LeVay and RosePhone:
212.564.4700Email: Westwater@plrinvest.com
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