General Moly (GMO) Announces Hanlong’s Receipt of Key Chinese Governmental Approval

LAKEWOOD, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– General Moly (NYSE Amex: GMO)(TSX:GMO.to – News) announced that the Company has been informed by Sichuan Hanlong Group (Hanlong) that it has received formal approval from the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to invest in General Moly as a component of an overall structure to fully finance General Moly’s 80%-owned share of the Mt. Hope project.

Bruce D. Hansen, Chief Executive Officer of General Moly, said, “The NDRC approval represents another key milestone reached in the overall finance and development plan for our world-class Mt. Hope molybdenum project. The NDRC approval is by far the most important Chinese approval and signifies that the transaction is in alignment with China’s strategy. We anticipate the receipt of a Certificate of Overseas Investment as approval from the Ministry of Commerce and filing of that Certificate with the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) to be forthcoming, within the next few days. We have agreed with Hanlong that formal approval from SAFE is not practical nor required at this time, as funds will not be required to be transferred until later in the year.”

Once completed, and following the publication of the Mt. Hope project’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), the Company will close on the initial 12.5% fully-diluted share sale to Hanlong for $40 million. General Moly continues to anticipate both publication of the DEIS and Hanlong’s equity investment to occur prior to year end. The Company will resume engineering and procurement upon receipt of these funds. The DEIS publication in the Federal Register will begin the public review period and signifies the final stages of federal permitting.

Under the agreement with Hanlong, Hanlong will increase its interest in General Moly to 25% on a fully-diluted basis, through an additional $40 million equity investment, following General Moly’s receipt of its Record of Decision (ROD) and Hanlong’s delivery of a $665 million Hanlong-guaranteed loan to be sourced from a Prime Chinese Bank. General Moly currently anticipates ROD receipt by mid-2011 and anticipates loan availability and initiation of construction within three months of permit receipt. General Moly has already initiated discussions with several Prime Chinese Banks, including the Import Export Bank of China.

WATER RIGHTS UPDATE

The Nevada State Engineer’s office has set a hearing for December 6th to the 10th to review the Company’s water applications. The Company now anticipates the State Engineer’s office to issue its ruling approximately three months following the conclusion of the hearings.

General Moly is a U.S.-based molybdenum mineral development, exploration and mining company listed on the NYSE Amex (formerly the American Stock Exchange) and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol GMO. Our primary asset, our interest in the Mt. Hope project located in central Nevada, is considered one of the world’s largest and highest grade molybdenum deposits. Combined with our second molybdenum property, the Liberty project that is also located in central Nevada, our goal is to become the largest primary molybdenum producer by the middle of the decade. For more information on the Company, please visit our website at http://www.generalmoly.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements herein that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and are intended to be covered by the safe harbor created by such sections. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated, expected, or implied by the Company. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, metals price and production volatility, global economic conditions, currency fluctuations, increased production costs and variances in ore grade or recovery rates from those assumed in mining plans, exploration risks and results, political, operational and project development risks, including the Company’s ability to obtain required permits to commence production and its ability to raise required financing, adverse governmental regulation and judicial outcomes. The closing of the Hanlong transaction and obtaining bank financing are subject to a number of conditions precedent that may not be fulfilled. For a detailed discussion of risks and other factors that may impact these forward looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors and other discussion contained in the Company’s quarterly and annual periodic reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K, on file with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements.