Idaho Strategic withdraws proposal to acquire Westwater Resources

Idaho Strategic Resources (IDR) announced that it has withdrawn its business combination proposal to acquire Westwater Resources (WWR) for $1.36 per share due to the Board of Directors of Westwater’s continued unwillingness to constructively engage in discussions around a potential combination. The proposal to build a new domestic critical minerals company represented a share price premium of approximately 73% to the last unaffected trading day for both companies prior to the business combination proposal announcement on December 22. "We are disappointed that the Westwater Board has refused to even discuss the potential combination of our two companies and ignored our proposal that would deliver immediate and long-term value to all Westwater shareholders," said John Swallow, Idaho Strategic President and CEO. "Instead of engaging in constructive dialogue, the Westwater Board let this unique and value-generative opportunity to potentially create a company with a clean share structure, a low float, high insider ownership, a significant cash position and several tier 1 critical minerals projects within the United States go unexplored." Swallow continued, "After careful assessment with our advisors, we determined that given the lack of meaningful engagement from Westwater, Idaho Strategic’s best path forward at this time is to execute on our own ‘production-based’ strategy while delivering long-term value for our stakeholders. Our gold operations are hitting stride and the dynamic nature of the REE industry seems to be changing almost daily. With our positioning in the REE industry and actual mining and development experience, our ability to drive results even through periods of increased inflation and global uncertainty, in addition to providing exposure to a decarbonized future is relevant now more than ever. We will continue our disciplined approach to M&A, while monitoring the situation at WWR, and explore value enhancing opportunities just as our shareholders have come to expect."