Texas Rare Earth Resources Releases an NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment on its Round Top Project
Texas Rare Earth Resources Corp. (the Company) (OTCQX: TRER), a rare
earths mineral exploration and development company, announced today the
release of its preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the Company′s
flagship Round Top rare earth minerals project in Hudspeth County,
Texas. The PEA has been posted on the Company′s website, filed in Canada
on SEDAR, and furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
on a Form 8-K. The following are highlights of the PEA results, as
previously reported by the Company in its press release dated June 15,
2012:
PEA Highlights
Annual after-tax cash flow of $482 million at full production,
life-of-mine (LOM) cash flow of $10.3 billion
After-tax net present value (NPV) of $1.2 billion at a 10% discount
rate
After-tax internal rate-of-return (IRR) of 19% with an after-tax
payback of capital of 4.3 years
80,000 tonnes-per-day processed, open-pit operation
Annual total REO (TREO) sales of 10,800 tonnes
26-year mine life
Project capital costs of $2.0 billion, including a 25% contingency
Simple mineralogy, predominantly yttrofluorite, hosted in a unique
metaluminous rhyolite rock; REEs uniformly distributed throughout the
rhyolite and initial metallurgical testing and characterization
indicates conventional technology can be used to concentrate the REE
minerals
Metallurgical recovery of 72% (base case)
97% of revenues forecasted from the sale of critical rare earth oxides
(CREOs)
Rare earth oxide basket price of $110.31/kg
Estimated average operating costs of $48/kg of TREOs sold
The results of the PEA disclosed in this press release are preliminary
in nature and include inferred mineral resources* that are considered
speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to
them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves and
there is no certainty that the results of the PEA will be realized.
Mineral resources* that are not mineral reserves have no demonstrated
economic viability.
The scientific and technical information contained in this press release
is based on the PEA, which was prepared by Gustavson Associates, LLC,
based in Lakewood, Colorado. Mr. Anthony Garcia, the Company′s Senior
Vice President of Project Development and Engineering and a qualified
person (as defined in NI 43-101), reviewed and approved the scientific
and technical information provided in this press release.
For additional information on the Round Top project and the PEA, see the
Company′s technical report entitled 'NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic
Assessment, Round Top Project, Sierra Blanca, Texas,? dated June 22,
2012.
About Texas Rare Earth Resources
Texas Rare Earth Resources Corp.'s primary focus is exploring and
developing its Round Top rare earth minerals project. The Round Top
project is located in Hudspeth County, Texas, 85 miles east of El Paso,
Texas. The Company′s common stock trades on the OTCQX U.S. Premier tier
under the symbol 'TRER.?
For more information on Texas Rare Earth Resources Corp., visit
its website at trer.com.
*Cautionary Note to Investors
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission ('SEC?) limits
disclosure for U.S. reporting purposes to mineral deposits that a
company can economically and legally extract or produce. This press
release and the PEA use the terms 'mineral resource,? 'measured mineral
resource,' 'indicated mineral resource,? and 'inferred mineral
resource.? We advise U.S. investors that while these terms are defined
in accordance with Canadian National Instrument NI 43-101 and the
Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ('CIM?) - CIM
Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves,
adopted by the CIM Council, as amended (the 'CIM Standards?), such terms
are not recognized by the SEC and are normally not permitted to be used
in reports and registration statements filed with the SEC. The SEC
normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not
constitute SEC Industry Guide 7 compliant 'reserves? as in-place tonnage
and grade without reference to unit measures. 'Inferred resources? have
a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and great
uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. Our Round Top
project currently does not contain any known proven or probable ore
reserves under SEC Guide 7 reporting standards. U.S. investors are urged
to consider closely the disclosure in our latest reports and
registration statements filed with the SEC. You can review and obtain
copies of these filings at http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.
U.S. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any defined resource
would ever be converted into SEC compliant reserves.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release and the PEA 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, and forward-looking
information under Canadian securities laws. Mineral resource estimates,
mineralogy, results of the PEA (including LOM, cash flows, NPV, IRR,
process facility capacity, total sales, capital costs, percentage of
revenues from CREO′s, recovery rates, metallurgical recovery rates,
low-acid consumption, REOs prices, and operating and other costs), size
of the deposit, economics of the Round Top project, occurrence of CREOs,
mineralogy, use of low-cost conventional processing methods, ratio of
heavy rare earth elements, consistency of rare earth element grades
within the rhyolite, infrastructure assumptions, conclusions from leach
testing and related recovery and extraction rates, and ability to
separate uranium from host rock are forward-looking statements. The
material factors and assumptions used to develop forward-looking
statements contained in this press release include the following:
exploration and assay results, results of the PEA; mineral resource
estimates; terms and conditions of agreements with contractors
(including Gustavson); assumptions concerning REEs prices; cut-off
grade; power costs, processing recovery rates; mine plans and production
scheduling; process and infrastructure design and implementation;
accuracy of the estimation of operating and capital costs; applicable
tax rates; open-pit design, accuracy of mineral resource estimates and
resource modeling; reliability of sampling and assay data;
representativeness of mineralization; accuracy of metallurgical
testwork; and, board approved plans. 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, uncertainty of mineralized material and mineral
resource estimates, risks relating to completing metallurgical testing
at the Round Top project, risks related to project development
determinations, risks related to fluctuations in the price of rare earth
minerals, the inherently hazardous nature of mining-related activities,
potential effects on the Company′s operations of environmental
regulations, risks due to legal proceedings, risks related to
uncertainty of being able to raise capital on favorable terms or at all,
as well as those factors discussed under the heading 'Risk Factors? in
the Company′s quarterly report on Form 10-Q as filed on April 16, 2012,
and the Company′s latest annual report on Form 10-K as filed on November
22, 2011 and other documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission. Although the Company has attempted to identify important
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that
cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Except as
required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update
any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events, or otherwise.
Texas Rare Earth Resources
Nadine Wakely, 303-597-8737
Director,
Investor Relations
nwakely@trer.com