America West Resources Takes Delivery of New Continuous Miner and Commences Expansion of Thermal Coal Production at Horizon Coal

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - America West Resources, Inc. reported that it has taken delivery of a new continuous miner and has immediately commenced its deployment in a second section of the Horizon Mine, the Company's compliant coal mining operation located 12 miles outside of Helper, Utah about 120 miles southeast of Salt Lake City in Carbon County.

A continuous miner is a 60-ton machine with a large rotating steel drum with tungsten carbide bits that cut coal from the coal seam. Operating in a "room and pillar" system  where the mine is divided into a series of rooms, or work areas cut into the coalbed, it can mine as much as five tons of coal a minute. For the past two years, America West has utilized continuous mining in one section of Horizon, averaging approximately 25,000 tons of compliant thermal coal per month. With the arrival of the second continuous miner, the Company expects to immediately commence deployment of the new miner in a second section of Horizon, which is expected to increase total monthly production to approximately 60,000 tons once the new continuous miner reaches fully operational status. Based on the Company's prevailing deployment strategy, the new miner should be operating at optimal capacity by the end of March 2011. Contact: 407-585-1080, email: [email protected].