SIERRA BLANCA, TX--(Marketwired - Apr 6, 2015) - Texas Rare Earth Resources Corp. (OTCQX: TRER)
- Binding Five Year Agreement To Supply Up To 1,500,000 pounds U308 to AREVA
- Contract Price Indexed To Future U308 Spot Price
- Agreement Highlights Byproduct Value Potential of Round Top Heavy Rare Earth Deposit
Texas Rare Earth Resources Corp. (OTCQX: TRER), an exploration company targeting the heavy rare earths, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a uranium offtake agreement with a subsidiary of AREVA (OTC PINK: ARVCY), the world's largest nuclear and renewables energy company, headquartered in France.
According to the agreement, TRER will supply up to 300,000 pounds of natural uranium concentrates (U308) per year based upon a pricing formula indexed to U308 spot prices at the times of delivery. The Agreement is for a term of five years commencing in 2018 or as soon thereafter, contingent upon development and production at its Round Top project. Other terms and conditions of the Agreement reflect industry standards. According to Ux Consulting, a leading uranium industry data provider, the closing spot price of U308 on March 30, 2015 was $39.50 per pound.
Dan Gorski, President and CEO of TRER commented: "This offtake agreement with AREVA demonstrates industry confidence in the potential commercial viability of the development of our Round Top heavy rare earth project and the marketability of our byproducts. We intend to continue to monetize our remaining byproducts such as lithium, potassium and beryllium as we move forward in commercializing our entire resource base."
As reported in the 2013 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), TRER has approximately 96.4 million pounds in total of measured, indicated and inferred U308 oxide resources, out of which 56.3 million pounds are measured and indicated resources.
The state of Texas is the second largest producer of uranium in the United States. The Texas Railroad Commission reports ten uranium exploration permits issued in the state as of January 2015. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, as of the 4th quarter of 2014, Texas has an annual production capacity of 7.3 million pounds of uranium as represented by seven existing projects.
Jack Lifton, TRER board member and rare earth industry consultant noted: "This is, to the best of my knowledge, the first binding offtake contract for a valuable byproduct of a heavy rare earth project. We were able to attract a uranium industry market leader like AREVA because of the progress on our Round Top project metallurgy due to our application of the K-Tech continuous ion exchange/continuous ion chromatography (CIX/CIC) technology. This separation technology has been applied to the recovery of uranium from similar process leach solutions and is commonly used in the uranium extraction industry. This is a major step forward for Texas Rare Earth Resources."
About Texas Rare Earth Resources Corp.
Texas Rare Earth Resources Corp.'s primary focus is exploring and, if warranted, developing its Round Top rare earth minerals project located in Hudspeth County, Texas, 85 miles east of El Paso. The Company's common stock trades on the OTCQX U.S. tier under the symbol "TRER."
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the potential development of the Round Top project, delivery of Uranium if and when the Round Top project is developed and begins production, the potential commercial viability of the Round Top Project, monetization of other expected byproducts from the Round Top project, and resource estimates. When used in this press release, the words "potential," "indicate," "expect," "intend," "hopes," "believe," "may," "will," "if, "anticipate," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others, risks related to changes in future operating costs and working capital balance, risks related to mineral estimates, risks related to mining results not matching preliminary tests and risks related to the ability of the company to successfully monetize its non-rare earth resources, as well as those factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's latest annual report on Form 10-K, as filed on November 12, 2014, and other documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements.