Westwater Announces Significant Vanadium Discovery at Coosa Graphite Project

Westwater Resources, Inc. ("Westwater," or the "Company") (Nasdaq: WWR), an energy materials development company, is pleased to announce the discovery of significant levels of vanadium concentrations at several locales within the graphitic schists at the Company's Coosa Graphite Project, located in Coosa County, Alabama.

Christopher Jones, President and CEO of Westwater Resources, stated, "We are delighted to confirm the discovery of vanadium on our existing mineral leases in Alabama. The prospect of adding a vanadium credit to our already robust economics at the Coosa Graphite Project appreciably increases the value of our holdings. The Westwater team is designing an exploration program to more fully define the extent of the vanadium mineralization."

"Westwater holds two large graphite development projects that now also may contain significant levels of vanadium. Together with our lithium properties and uranium holdings in the American West, and further to the development to our Alabama-based graphite business, the potential income we can generate from vanadium could translate to a higher valuation for WWR in the future," concluded Mr. Jones.

Recent assay results for numerous samples collected from the graphitic schists in areas adjacent to the known graphite resource area of the Coosa Project have shown concentrations values of up to 0.4% V2O5 (which is equal to 8 pounds of V2O5 per short ton), as well as values ranging up to 0.26% V2O5 in the graphite deposit area itself. Westwater believes that these concentrations are significant and warrant integrated evaluation of graphite-vanadium resources of the Coosa Graphite Project. Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) is the most common form traded and currently sells for $33.10/lb. (98% V2O5 Flake, China as reported by www.vanadiumprice.com on November 26, 2018). This current price represents a multi-year high, with a rise of over 300% in the last 12 months.

The occurrences of elevated concentrations of vanadium in the Alabama Graphite belt have been known since the 1940s, as documented by the United States Bureau of Mines (USBM) Report of Investigations 4366 (December 1948). USBM documents anomalous vanadium results for samples from the now inactive Fixico graphite mine, located on one of the properties leased by Westwater and adjacent to the Coosa Graphite Project and from Westwater's Bama Mine in Chilton County, Alabama and from the Dean Prospect, situated on properties controlled by Westwater.

What is Vanadium?

Vanadium is a lightweight metal used in the construction industry, in high-strength steel alloys, and in large grid storage batteries. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), about 80,000 metric tonnes of vanadium (as V) per year were consumed worldwide in 2017, approximately 80% of which was utilized by the steel industry, where additions of the metal to conventional steel materials adds strength and corrosion resistance. Importantly for Westwater, demand for Vanadium Flow batteries is increasing as solar and wind power generators seek to make their installations more reliable electricity providers. Market research firm Roskill predicts that there will be a 45% increase in demand for vanadium, mostly in China.

Currently, about 85% of all vanadium is produced in South Africa, China and Russia. There is no significant production of vanadium currently in the United States.

Westwater believes that the principal vanadium mineral at the Coosa Graphite Project is roscoelite, a vanadium-bearing mica. This mineral has been a significant component of vanadium ore production in the United States, especially at the Rifle Creek and Placerville districts of Colorado and the Uravan Mineral Belt region of western Colorado and eastern Utah. Roscoelite ores were major sources of vanadium during World War I and the period of the mid-1930s to 1945 as well as a significant source of vanadium from the mines of the Uravan Mineral belt during the late 1940s into the early 1980s.

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