First American Uranium Reports on New Mexico's Past Uranium Mining and Potential at Red Basin Project

• New Mexico ranks second in US-based uranium reserves
  
• The Grants district produced more uranium for 30+ years than any other US district
• First American Uranium's Red Basin Uranium/Vanadium Property is located in the Grants district
  
  

Vancouver, British Columbia, Sept. 07, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First American Uranium Inc. (CSE: URM) (FSE: IOR) (OTCPK: FAUMF) (the “Company”) is pleased to provide information on past exploration and production of uranium in New Mexico, specifically in the region of the Company’s Red Basin Uranium/Vanadium Property located in the Grants district, which contains the state's most important uranium deposits. Over 340 million pounds of U3O8 were produced from these deposits in northwestern New Mexico from 1948 to 2002, accounting for 97% of the state's total production and exceeding 30% of America's total production [1].

“The Grants uranium district produced more uranium between 1951 and 1980 than any other district in the US,” said Shawn Balaghi, First American Uranium’s CEO. "We're fortunate to be situated in such a rich mineral belt and to be focused on building on the region's historical uranium production."

The New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources has reported that New Mexico ranks second in uranium reserves in the US, with 15 million tons of ore at 0.277% U3O8 (84 million lbs U3O8) [2]. New Mexico's annual uranium production increased steadily from 1948 to 1956, from 1957 to 1960, from 1965 to 1968, and from 1973 to 1979. The state attained peak production in 1978, with a record yearly production of 9,371 tons of U3O8 [3].

By 1989, all of New Mexico's conventional underground and open-pit uranium mines had closed due to market factors that no longer apply today:

• The Three Mile Island incident in 1979 fueled a then-growing public perception of nuclear power as being dangerous and costly, which led to nuclear power plants becoming unpopular. In contrast, today the majority of Americans (57%) favor more nuclear power plants to generate electricity in the US, up from 43% in 2020 [4].
  
• Demand for newly mined uranium dropped at the time due to overproduction of uranium in the 1970s and early 1980s and due to the dismantling of nuclear weapons by the US and Russia, which led to large stockpiles at the time.
  
• Large coal deposits were discovered throughout the US that appeared attractive at the time for meeting the nation’s energy needs. Today, coal's role in US electricity generation continues its steep decline, down from 51% in 2001 [5] to around 19.5% in 2022 [6].