NEVADA AND THE WESTERN STATES — World Wide Minerals acquires uranium assets in Texas

Already active at its Dornod open-pit uranium mine in Mongolia, Toronto-based World Wide Minerals (WWS-T) is broadening its uranium asset base by acquiring projects a little closer to home.

The company has formed a joint venture, dubbed World Wide Uranium (Texas), to exploit in-situ-leachable (ISL) uranium deposits in southern Texas. The joint venture is 75% owned by a subsidiary of World Wide Minerals and 25% owned by privately held Everest Exploration of Corpus Christi, Tex.

World Wide’s new president, Wallace Mays, had a hand in establishing Everest in 1977 and served, in the early 1990s, as the firm’s vice-president of resource development. Mays’ only remaining formal connection to Everest is through the World Wide Uranium (Texas) joint venture.

Everest has developed such ISL mines as Hobson, Las Palmas, Mt. Lucas and Tex-1 in southern Texas and Highland in Wyoming.

World Wide will contribute US$6 million to the joint venture over three years; the funds will cover minerals-rights acquisition and development costs.

For its part, Everest is contributing everything but the money, including: the dormant, but fully permitted, Hobson uranium-processing plant in southern Texas; a satellite ion-exchange uranium recovery plant; freehold land; and a wastewater disposal well. These facilities are considered capable of recovering about 1 million lbs. U3O8 annually.

World Wide Uranium (Texas) says it intends to lease or otherwise acquire known uranium deposits in Texas and exploit them using low-cost ISL technology. By late 1998 or early 1999, the partners expect to begin drilling, with the goal of defining reserves sufficient to begin mining operations. They hope to be producing uranium in Texas within three years.

Mays says that World Wide chose to move into southern Texas because of the region’s known uranium mineralization and long production history, and because of the expertise of Everest’s personnel.

World Wide’s only other notable U.S. asset is its 100%-owned Easter Gold project, held through wholly owned subsidiary Libra Gold.

Easter Gold, situated about 100 miles northeast of Las Vegas, Nev., comprises a 41-claim property (subject to a 3% royalty) and an additional 123 contiguous claims, for a combined 2,513 acres.

The claims cover a zone of gold mineralization with a strike length of 7,000 ft., of which only 1,500 ft. has been drill-tested. Past drilling on the Main zone delineated a resource of 1.6 million tons grading 0.06 oz. gold per ton over a 1,200-ft. strike length and to a depth of 200 ft. The zone remains open at depth and mineralization has been intersected to a depth of 700 ft.

Libra Gold was created last December to hold World Wide’s gold assets.

Regarding its future, World Wide’s director of investor relations, Corinna de Beer, says World Wide is “looking to roll Libra, perhaps, into another company so we can fast-track the listing process.”