CENTENNIAL, Colo., Oct. 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Uranium Resources, Inc. (URI or the Company) (Nasdaq:URRE) (ASX:URI), announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Lithium Holdings Nevada LLC recently completed the staking of 392 new mining claims at the Company’s Columbus Basin Project, located in the Columbus Salt Marsh area of Esmeralda County, Nevada. The new mining claims, which encompass an area of approximately 7,840 acres (3,172 hectares), have expanded the Company’s property holdings in the project area to a total of about 10,880 acres (4,402 hectares) in a prospective basin for lithium brines.
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Christopher M. Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer, said “We are expanding our existing property holdings by over 2.5 times in the Columbus Basin Project area. This expansion, when combined with our recent acquisition of the Sal Rica Claims in western Utah, creates two distinct opportunities for advancement of our lithium brine exploration and development business. We will continue to leverage our extensive ISR uranium expertise to increase our lithium brine portfolio. We are optimistic about the opportunities ahead for URI.”
When it was first acquired, the Columbus Basin Project was previously referred to as the Nina Project. See the Company’s news release of August 23, 2016. In light of this expansion of the lithium holdings in Nevada, that Company now refers to those collective holdings as the Columbus Basin Project.
About URI’s Columbus Basin Project
The Columbus Basin Project is located in western Nevada, approximately 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of the town of Tonopah, Nevada, 140 miles (227 kilometers) southeast of the city of Reno and 137 miles (221 kilometers) southeast of Tesla Motors’ “Gigafactory”. Access to the project area is excellent, with two paved federal highways, US-6 and US-95 crossing the southern and eastern sides of the project area. Suitable electrical power is present in the northern part of the project area. The Columbus Basin Project is approximately 27 miles (43 kilometers) northwest of the Clayton Valley/Silver Peak lithium brine operation of Albemarle Corporation, the only lithium brine production facility in the United States.
The Columbus Salt Marsh is a closed drainage basin that covers an area of approximately 370 square miles (960 square kilometers) with a geologic setting that is dominated by lake and basin-fill sediments that have been past sources of borate and salt production. The basin is bounded on its south and east sides by Tertiary-age volcanic rocks, including some that are considered to be potential source rocks for lithium.
The new claims staked by URI cover portions of two significant “gravity lows”, one of which was identified during a geophysical survey completed during a geothermal energy exploration program in 2009. “Gravity lows” in sedimentary basins, such as the Columbus Salt Marsh, are often associated with areas of deeper sediment deposition coinciding with geologic structure in the underlying bedrock. Such geophysical anomalies, in addition to their close proximity to potential lithium source rocks, nearby geothermal circulation, and evaporative processes found on the existing playa, fulfill the major characteristics favorable for lithium brine development. See the 2013 report of the US Geological Survey entitled, “A Preliminary Deposit Model for Lithium Brines.”
The Company will commence with a grid geochemical sampling program of surface sediments across the entire Columbus Basin Project in October. The objective of the program is to characterize the near-surface geochemical environment and to follow up on the results of our previous reconnaissance-scale sampling. The results obtained from the program will be utilized to plan detailed near-term geophysical surveys. URI has and will continue to integrate multiple data sources to develop drill targets at the Columbus Basin Project for a 2017 drill program.
About the Lithium Market
Lithium is a critical component for the manufacture of batteries for electrical storage and used in a wide range of devices ranging from cell phones to automobiles. The battery market is expected to grow 500% over the next 10 years, with lithium batteries accounting for 35% of this growth. At the same time, the transportation market alone is expected to experience a 23% compounded annual growth rate during this period.
Lithium enriched brines are proven to be less expensive to explore for, develop and operate than other sources of lithium, such as lithium rich pegmatites and hectorite clays. This, coupled with a small environmental footprint and minimal carbon emissions, makes brines an attractive method for producing lithium. With large battery plants such as Tesla’s “Gigafactory” near Reno, Nevada and Faraday Motor Works’ proposed large facility near Las Vegas, Nevada – URI’s Columbus Basin Project is at the epicenter of lithium brine development, production and consumption in the United States.
About Uranium Resources (URI)
URI is focused on developing energy-related metals. In addition to both the Columbia Basin and Sal Rica lithium projects, URI remains focused on advancing the Temrezli in-situ recovery (ISR) uranium project in Central Turkey. URI controls extensive exploration properties under nine exploration and operating licenses covering approximately 32,000 acres (over 13,000 ha) with numerous exploration targets, including the potential satellite Sefaatli Project, which is 30 miles (48 km) southwest of the Temrezli Project. In Texas, the Company has two licensed and currently idled processing facilities and approximately 11,000 acres (4,400 ha) of prospective ISR uranium projects. In New Mexico, the Company controls mineral rights encompassing approximately 190,000 acres (76,900 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, URI also owns an extensive uranium information database of historic drill hole logs, assay certificates, maps and technical reports for the Western United States.
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 the Company expects or anticipates will occur in the future, including but not limited to statements relating to the Company’s expected burn rate and developments at the Company’s projects 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 raise additional capital in the future; (b) spot price and long-term contract price of lithium and uranium; (c) risks associated with our foreign operations, (d) operating conditions at the Company's projects; (e) government and tribal regulation of the uranium industry, the lithium industry, and the power industry; (f) world-wide uranium and lithium supply and demand, including the supply and demand for lithium based batteries; (g) maintaining sufficient financial assurance in the form of sufficiently collateralized surety instruments; (h) unanticipated geological, processing, regulatory and legal or other problems the Company may encounter in the jurisdictions where the Company operates, including in Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and Turkey; (i) the ability of the Company to enter into and successfully close acquisitions or other material transactions, including closing the proposed transactions with Laramide; (j) the results of the Company’s lithium brine exploration activities at the Sal Rica and Columbus Basin projects, and (k) 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.
Competent Person’s Statement
Technical information in this press release is based on data reviewed by Dean T. Wilton, who is Chief Geologist and Vice President of Uranium Resources, Inc. Mr. Wilton is a “Qualified Person” as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101, and a “Competent Person” as defined in the 2012 Edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves” (JORC Code). He is a Certified Professional Geologist (CPG-7659), as designated by the American Institute of Professional Geologists, and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (MAIG #6384). Mr. Wilton has appropriate experience that is relevant to the evaluation of the style of mineral deposits relating to this document. Mr. Wilton consents to the inclusion in this release of the matters based on their information in the form and context in which they appear.
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