Applied Minerals, Inc. To Investigate Options For Monetizing Its Non-Core Idaho Silver Properties

Applied Minerals, Inc. (OTCBB: AMNL), a leading global producer of Halloysite Clay from its Dragon Mine property in Utah, is pleased to announce that the Company engaged the services of Victor Lazarovici to assist the company in seeking options to maximize the value of its non-core Idaho silver properties. For twenty years, Mr. Lazarovici was a highly ranked global metals and minerals analyst in Canada and the United States. He is the only analyst to attain the #1 ranking in both Canada and the United States for research on the metals and mining industry in the Greenwich Associates survey. Mr. Lazarovici worked for a number of leading firms including BMO Capital Markets and Citigroup Inc. Prior to his time as an analyst, Mr. Lazarovici spent fourteen years in the corporate sector in engineering, financial and corporate development roles, with extensive experience in mergers, acquisitions and restructurings.

Maximizing the Value Of the Idaho Properties

Mr. Lazarovici’s principal focus for Applied Minerals will be to assist the Company in evaluating alternatives for the Company’s non-core properties located in northern Idaho’s historic Coeur d’Alene district – “Silver Valley,” the world's second largest silver district, having produced over 1.2billion ounces from 1884-2009. The largest such property is the Atlas Mine. The property was partially explored by Noranda from 1975-1977. It was determined that the mineralized zones identified from their drilling was not deemed economic to mine with silver prices then averaging $4.60/ounce. In 1981, with silver prices as high as $16/ounce, Atlas entered into an exploration agreement with neighboring Hecla Mining, the largest silver producer in the region. Under the agreement, a commitment of $1.3 million was made for furthering exploration in exchange for a 60/40 Hecla/Atlas net smelter split. In 1985, with silver prices plummeting to an average $6.14/ounce and failure to identify an ore body economically feasible to mine, the agreement was terminated and further development was cancelled. For the following 20 years, silver prices ranged from $3.93 - $7.32/ounce which was too low to justify further exploration expense.

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