Westwater Resources Announces Conference Call to Discuss Year-End 2020 Results & Business Update
Pilot Plant Program Now Operating in Germany and the USA
Westwater Resources Inc. (Nasdaq: WWR), a battery graphite development company, will hold a conference call to discuss its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2020, and the business outlook for the 2021 year. The conference call will be held on Tuesday, February 16, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time (9:00 a.m. Mountain Time).
DIAL-IN NUMBERS
1-800-319-4610 (US and Canada)
1-604-638-5340 (International)
Conference ID: Westwater Resources Conference Call
Hosting the call will be Christopher M. Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer of Westwater Resources, who will be joined by Jeffrey L. Vigil, Vice President-Finance and Chief Financial Officer, and Dain McCoig, Vice President of Operations. Mr. Jones will present an overview of the Company's business position, including an update on the Coosa Graphite Project and the status of the operation of its pilot plant. Mr. Vigil will review the financial results and the financial condition of the Company and Mr. McCoig will be available for questions as part of the call.
The conference call and presentation will also be available via a live webcast through the Company's website, www.westwaterresources.net.
On January 5, 2021, Westwater announced the sale of all of its uranium assets located in New Mexico and Texas to enCore Energy Corp. ("enCore") of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, a Toronto Venture Exchange-listed company (TSXV:EU). Total consideration accruing to Westwater from the deal was $1.8 million in enCore shares (2,571,598 shares), representing a 1.5% ownership of enCore, and two royalties from future production from the New Mexico uranium properties. enCore also assumed the asset retirement obligation on all remaining uranium reclamation activities associated with the assets in the amount of approximately $6.0 million. All performance bonds for the Texas uranium properties have been transferred to enCore and $0.7 million in restricted cash collateral was released to Westwater as a result of the transfer of the performance bonds. Westwater retained its uranium interests in the Republic of Turkey, which are subject to an ongoing international arbitration proceeding.
On December 7, 2020, Westwater provided an update on progress at its graphite pilot plant operations at Dorfner Anzaplan's facilities near Amberg, Germany, as well as at facilities in Frankfort, Germany, Chicago, Illinois and Buffalo, New York. This combined effort is expected to produce a total of more than 10 metric tonnes of three trademarked Westwater battery-grade graphite products: ULTRA-PMG™, ULTRA-CSPG™ and ULTRA-DEXDG™, which were previously produced at a bench scale.
"We continue to make tremendous progress at our pilot plant," said Chris Jones, CEO of Westwater Resources. "We are executing on our plans for the Coosa Graphite Project in Alabama, where we will, over the next two-and-a-half years, develop a U.S. domestic supply for natural graphite."
"As a result of the completion of the sale of our North American uranium assets, we have reduced Westwater's annual costs by approximately $4M," said Jeffrey L. Vigil, VP-Finance and Chief Financial Officer. "The sale of our uranium assets gives us more resources to drive progress at the Coosa Graphite Project and shores up our balance sheet for 2021 and beyond. Our goal was to complete the transaction in its entirely by year-end 2020, and we met the goal."
A replay of the call will be available on the company's website for a limited time and by phone using the details below:
REPLAY NUMBERS
+1 (855) 669-9658 (U.S. and Canada)
+1 (412) 317-0088 (International)
Replay Access Code 5927
About Westwater Resources
Westwater Resources (NASDAQ: WWR) is focused on developing battery-grade graphite products. 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 Deposit located across 41,900 acres (~17,000 hectares) in east-central Alabama. 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 the continuation of operations at the graphite pilot plant, future demand for and price of graphite, the Company's growth, developments at the Company's projects and the output expected therefrom, including relating to the pilot plant and production of battery-grade graphite products, and the Company's liquidity and cash demands, including future capital markets financing, 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 operate a pilot plant capable of producing battery-grade materials in quantities and on schedules consistent with the Coosa Graphite Project business plan; (b) the Company's ability to raise additional capital in the future including the ability to utilize existing financing facilities; (c) spot price and long-term contract price of graphite and vanadium; (d) risks associated with our operations and the operations of our partners such as Dorfner Anzaplan, including the impact of COVID-19 and its potential impacts to the capital markets; (e) government regulation of the graphite industry and the vanadium industry; (f) world-wide graphite and vanadium supply and demand; (g) 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 Alabama and Colorado; (h) any graphite or vanadium discoveries not being in high-enough concentration to make it economic to extract the metals; (i) currently pending or new litigation or arbitration; and (j) 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.
Contact
Investor Relations
Michael J. Porter, President
Porter, LeVay & Rose, Inc.
mike@plrinvest.com