SALT LAKE CITY--(Business Wire)-- Oct 8, 2009
Thorium Energy, Inc. (TEI) www.thoriumenergy.com, a privately owned and operated
natural resource holding company, is pleased to announce that its deposits of
rare earth elements have been recognized by the United States Geological Survey
and listed (in some detail, for the first time) in the latest edition of the
USGS Commodity Mineral Survey of the Rare Earths released in September 2009.
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/rare_earths/myb1-2007-raree.pdf

Based on the new USGS report, Thorium Energy, Inc. is confirming that it owns
the mineral rights to one of the two largest resources and reserves of rare
earth elements in the United States.

The company`s data shows that its ore bodies contain enough accessible and
minable lanthanum, neodymium, dysprosium, terbium, and europium to make the
United States independent from reliance on foreign suppliers. The report notes
that Thorium Energy`s REE deposits show high levels of neodymium, which may be
the most critical rare earth metal to computer hard drives and to the emerging
"green industries" production of wind power and electric vehicles.

TEI`s deposits could supply the current and projected demand for the strategic
rare earth elements used by the United States military as well as for the
production of rechargeable batteries, permanent magnets, lasers, and fluid
cracking catalysts crucial to our domestic industries.

TEI has joined the United States Magnet Materials Association (USMMA), which
values TEI as the only American owner of a sizable deposit containing the heavy
rare earths, dysprosium and terbium. These elements are essential to manufacture
the magnets that can achieve the high operating temperatures required by modern
jet and rocket engines as well as the engines of high performance motor
vehicles.

In a recent interview Mr. Edward Cowle, CEO of TEI, stated that "Thorium Energy,
Inc. has not accepted any foreign investments and hopes to remain an
unencumbered domestic resource for the US Department of Defense." Mr. Cowle
believes that TEI may well be the only large rare earth venture in the United
States that is entirely owned, financed and operated by Americans.

Mr. Jack Lifton, prominent commentator on the market fundamentals and end uses
of the rare earths, has said that he believes that the Department of Defense,
the Defense National Stockpile Center DNSC and the DNSC`s parent, the Defense
Logistics Agency, among others, are all working with Congress to develop a
domestic supply chain for rare earths that are critical components of end use
products which the US military is dependent upon. Mr. Lifton believes that
legislation to advance this goal is being considered by several Members of
Congress.

Referring to the legislation, Mr. Lifton said: "In that case, American owned and
operated mines, metal processors, metal alloyers, magnet fabricators, and magnet
using device fabricators will become immediately competitive in the global
market due to the level playing field created by Congress. The Federal
Government has already recognized the value and importance of a domestic supply
chain for vehicle batteries made with lithium and has already acted to
ameliorate the situation. Recently introduced language in the FY10 National
Defense Authorization Act will require a complete review of the Department of
Defense's strategy for ensuring a long-term, secure supply of rare earth
materials. I strongly believe that the Congress will recognize and support the
creation of such value and supply chains to support domestic rare earth magnet,
battery, laser, and fluid cracking catalyst industries. Thorium Energy, Inc. is
the only domestic American rare earth mining development venture that fits into
that legislative agenda at the moment."

The USGS now recognizes Thorium Energy`s deposits in the Lemhi Pass district of
Idaho and Montana as one of only four proven substantial deposits of REEs in the
world outside of mainland China and Chinese control. TEI controls multiple
claims in this region and also holds the proprietary mineral rights to one of
the largest, privately controlled, thorium deposits in the world. Thorium
Energy, Inc. believes that company`s identified, economically extractable and
accessible deposits of high grade thorium ores are large enough to supply the
power needs of the entire U.S. for centuries through thorium-based nuclear
reactors.

Thorium Energy, Inc.
Ed Cowle, 1-914-713-3129
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or
Jack Lifton, 1-248-739-1729
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Copyright Business Wire 2009

PRESS RELEASE 

Thorium Energy, Inc. Announces Inclusion in the Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey  Last update: 2:54 p.m. EST Jan. 12, 2009 SALT LAKE CITY, Jan 12, 2009 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --

Thorium Energy, Inc., a Utah based company, is pleased to announce its inclusion in the recently updated U.S.G.S. Thorium Minerals Yearbook released in October 2008.  The publication reflects a sharp increase in United States reserves to 915,000 tons of thorium ore existing on properties currently held by Thorium Energy, Inc.

This compares to the previously published U.S.G.S. estimate of 160,000 tons for the entire United States as stated in the U.S.G.S. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2008.  This confirms that Thorium Energy, Inc.'s total Idaho and Montana thorium resources and reserves are the largest in the United States. Furthermore, the company is not aware of any larger, professionally documented reserves of high-grade thorium in the world.

According to the current U.S.G.S. statistics, the next highest estimates of thorium ore are for Australia with 300,000 tons and India with 290,000 tons.  Mining thorium in the Lemhi Pass is immediately feasible as the identified mining sites are close to roads, water, and power as well as to long established towns and cities in Idaho and Montana.

Thorium Energy, Inc. believes that its existing reserves could be as much as three times the 915,000 tons that have been geologically proven on its properties. However, already identified and economically extractable and accessible deposits of highly concentrated thorium are large enough to supply the power needs of the entire U.S. for centuries through thorium-fueled nuclear reactors.  

Thorium is an alternative to uranium when used to power nuclear reactors. Thorium has recently received global attention as a safer, greener fuel, which produces significantly less waste than uranium. Senators Harry Reid (D-NV) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) have recently introduced legislation that would pave the way for U.S. based thorium nuclear-fuel reactors.

In a press release dated October 2, 2008 titled "Senators Hatch and Reid Push for Thorium Nuclear Fuel Cycle," it states in part: "The Thorium Energy Independence and Security Act of 2008 would establish offices at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy to regulate domestic thorium nuclear power generation and oversee possible demonstrations of thorium nuclear fuel assemblies."  "Our nation has focused mostly on mixed oxide nuclear fuel cycles, and our regulatory structure reflects that," Hatch said. "With the growing interest in thorium nuclear power in the world and in the U.S., it's time we made sure our government has a regulatory infrastructure in place to accommodate this new generation of nuclear power."  

The October 2008 U.S.G.S. update states that, "The thorium and rare-earth deposits in the region were initially studied by the U.S. Geological Survey (Sharp and Cavender, 1962; Staatz, 1972, 1979) and others, including the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology, Idaho Energy Reserves Company (IERCO), a subsidiary of Idaho Power Company, the Idaho Geological Survey (Gillerman and others, 2003), Tenneco Oil Company, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and the U.S. Bureau of Mines. T

he Last Chance claims in Lemhi Pass, ID, are held by Thorium Energy, Inc....Total reserves of the Last Chance vein deposit are 915,000 tons of ore."