General Moly Announces Hanlong to Accelerate Funding of First $40 Million Equity Tranche
General Moly (NYSE Amex:GMO)(TSX:GMO) announced that the Company has
executed an amendment to the previously announced agreement with Sichuan
Hanlong Group (Hanlong) setting the closing of Hanlong's $40 million
purchase of the first tranche of equity in General Moly, representing a
12.5% fully diluted stake and approximately 12 million shares, on
December 20, 2010.
The parties have agreed that the publication of the Mt. Hope project's
Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is no longer be a condition
precedent to Hanlong's first tranche equity investment. Timely
publication of the DEIS does, however, remain a requirement of the
entire agreement and, in conjunction with this amendment, the required
date for DEIS publication has been extended to May 31, 2011 from
February 28, 2011, although the Company does not currently estimate the
additional time to be required.
The Preliminary Draft Environmental Impact Statement (PDEIS) was
completed and provided to Cooperating Agencies on August 18. These
Agencies, in addition to the Company and the EPA, provided comments on
the PDEIS to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on September 23. The
BLM and its independent EIS contractor are currently in the process of
reviewing and incorporating the comments into a Draft EIS (DEIS). Once
the DEIS is complete, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will advance
the DEIS through the Notice of Availability (NOA) process, which is the
procedural step to publishing the document in the Federal Register. The
Company continues to expect the DEIS to be published later this year,
but the time requirement for the BLM to assess comments and to revise
the PDEIS, which the Company does not control, could push DEIS
publication into early 2011. Following publication of the DEIS, the
general public will review and comment on the DEIS and these comments
will be considered by the BLM in preparing a Final EIS prior to the
issuance of the Record of Decision (ROD), which the Company continues to
anticipate receiving in mid-2011.
Bruce D. Hansen, Chief Executive Officer of General Moly, said, 'We view
Hanlong as a long term strategic investor and key supporter of General
Moly and look forward to having Hanlong as our largest shareholder in
December. We further appreciate the confidence demonstrated by Hanlong
in accelerating their initial investment as they continue to see us
making steady progress towards the permitting and development of the
world class Mt. Hope mine.'
General Moly is a U.S.-based molybdenum mineral development, exploration
and mining company listed on the NYSE Amex (formerly the American Stock
Exchange) and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol GMO. Our
primary asset, our interest in the Mt. Hope project located in central
Nevada, is considered one of the world's largest and highest grade
molybdenum deposits. Combined with our second molybdenum property, the
Liberty project that is also located in central Nevada, our goal is to
become the largest primary molybdenum producer by the middle of the
decade. For more information on the Company, please visit our website at http://www.generalmoly.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements herein that are not historical facts are 'forward-looking
statements? within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, as
amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended and are intended to be covered by the safe harbor created by
such sections. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those projected, anticipated, expected, or implied by the Company.
These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, metals
price and production volatility, global economic conditions, currency
fluctuations, increased production costs and variances in ore grade or
recovery rates from those assumed in mining plans, exploration risks and
results, political, operational and project development risks, including
the Company′s ability to obtain required permits to commence production
and its ability to raise required financing, adverse governmental
regulation and judicial outcomes. The closing of the Hanlong transaction
and obtaining bank financing are subject to a number of conditions
precedent that may not be fulfilled. For a detailed discussion of risks
and other factors that may impact these forward looking statements,
please refer to the Risk Factors and other discussion contained in the
Company′s quarterly and annual periodic reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K,
on file with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update
forward-looking statements.
General Moly
Investors
Seth Foreman, 303-928-8591
sforeman@generalmoly.com
or
Business
Development
Greg McClain, 303-928-8601
gmcclain@generalmoly.com
or
info@generalmoly.com
http://www.generalmoly.com