American Sands Energy Corp. Announces Successful Operation of Oil Sand Pilot Facility

SALT LAKE CITY, July 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- American Sands Energy Corp. (OTCBB: AMSE, "AMSE" or the "Company"), an oil sands exploration and development company operating in the state of Utah, announced today the successful operation of its oil sand recovery pilot facility.

The pilot facility, which is based in Phoenix, Arizona, has been operational since early July. Approximately 80 tons of the Company's oil sands were shipped to the facility, which has been able to run at its designed rate of up to two tons per hour, generating consistent flows of oil and clean, dry sand over multiple, consecutive days of operation.

"Successful running of our pilot facility is a key milestone for American Sands Energy," stated CEO William Gibbs. "We are now ready to move to the next steps of our business plan including submitting a mine permit application and beginning development of a 5,000 barrel per day facility at our Utah property."

American Sands is developing its oil sands operation outside of Price, Utah, where it currently has rights to over 2,000 acres of prime oil sand deposits. At full production, AMSE expects to produce 50,000 barrels of oil per day, employing conventional underground mining and an extraction and recovery system using a proprietary solvent.

The Company's extraction system consumes no water in its process. "The Utah oil sands are 'oil wet', which allows us to extract the bitumen while neither consuming water in the process nor producing waste water as a byproduct," according to Andrew Rosenfeld, company President. "This is a key differentiator between us and more traditional oil sand companies. It is our goal to minimize our environmental impact through employing underground mining techniques and creating zero wastewater tailings."

For additional information about American Sands Energy Corp., please contact either Tom Herbert of CleanTech Investor Relations (310-541-6824, [email protected]) or Daniel Carlson, Chief Financial Officer (415-460-1165, [email protected]).

About American Sands Energy Corp.

American Sands Energy Corporation is a development stage Delaware company with primary operations in Utah.  The Company has acquired rights to oil sand ore covering approximately 2,000 acres of prime oil sand deposits in the Sunnyside area of Utah.  The Company has an extraction and recovery system using a licensed proprietary solvent that separates oil and other hydrocarbons from sand, dirt and other substances without creating tailing ponds and other environmental hazards. For more information, visit www.americansandsenergy.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements regarding AMSE's future plans and expected performance based on assumptions the Company believes to be reasonable. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements, including, without limitation, the success rate of business development efforts, exploration efforts and the timeliness of development activities, the ability to place the project into full production; the ability to secure all necessary mining permits in a timely manner, fluctuations in energy prices, confirmation of estimated resources, and other risk factors described from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the SEC. In addition, the Company operates in an industry sector where securities values are highly volatile and may be influenced by economic and other factors beyond the Company's control. American Sands Energy Corp. undertakes no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE American Sands Energy Corp.