Westwater Applauds Federal FY 2021 Budget Proposal for Uranium
February 10 2020 - 05:28PM
Business Wire
$150 million set aside for new Uranium
Reserve
Westwater Resources, Inc. (Nasdaq: WWR), an energy
materials development company, is pleased to support the Federal
Fiscal Year 2021 budget proposal to set aside $150 million to
establish a domestic Uranium Reserve.
Christopher M. Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer,
said, “We believe this is an important development for the U.S.
uranium industry that provides a real-time opportunity for
Westwater. The Federal FY2021 budget, announced today, provides for
a mechanism to build a strategic stockpile of uranium to secure our
nation’s defensive needs. $150 million has been allocated for that
new Uranium Reserve which addresses immediate challenges to the
production of domestic uranium. Westwater stands ready to
participate using our large uranium resource portfolio and two
fully licensed facilities and wellfields in Texas.
“We also support the continued efforts of the Administration and
the Nuclear Fuel Working Group to continue to evaluate issues
related to the uranium supply chain and fuel supply,” concluded Mr.
Jones.
Westwater Resources’ Uranium Portfolio
Westwater’s holdings in New Mexico encompass approximately
188,700 acres and include:
- The Cebolleta and Juan Tafoya properties immediately west of
Albuquerque;
- Nose Rock, Ambrosia Lake and West Largo properties located in
the prolific Grants Mineral Belt where much of the uranium produced
in the United States over four decades was sourced; and
- Parts of the Santa Fe Railroad minerals rights checkerboard
between Grants and Gallup, New Mexico.
Westwater’s holdings in Texas encompass approximately 11,000
acres and include:
- Two processing plants with unlimited licenses to produce
uranium; and
- Wellfields in place as well as permits in hand to develop added
capacity.
Westwater believes that the uranium business in the United
States is producing at what may be an all-time low level, and one
that is not capable of satisfying domestic demand for nuclear
power. With uranium designated by the Federal Government as a
Critical Mineral, this low production level is at odds with the
security of the United States – something that is clearly stated in
the Government’s position paper. Westwater Resources looks forward
to further bulletins from the Administration over coming months as
they apply to the uranium business and how the Nuclear Fuel Working
group intends to recommend implementation of the program for
purchases of uranium for the Uranium Reserve. Westwater stands
ready to implement production restart plans as soon as prices
support.
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 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
developments and future production from the Company’s uranium
portfolio and the ultimate adoption of funds for the Uranium
Reserve 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 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.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200210005835/en/
Westwater Resources Contact: Christopher M. Jones,
President & CEO Phone: 303.531.0480 Jeff Vigil, VP Finance
& CFO Phone: 303.531.0481 Email:
Info@WestwaterResources.net
Investor Relations Contact: Michael Porter Porter, LeVay
and Rose Phone: 212.564.4700 Email: Westwater@plrinvest.com
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