Searchlight Minerals Corp. provides construction update on Clarkdale Slag Project

HENDERSON, NV, Nov. 7  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Searchlight Minerals Corp. (OTC BB: SRCH) (the "Company"), today provided an update on the construction status of its initial production module at the Clarkdale Slag Project scheduled for start-up in the first quarter of 2008.

The Company is currently building one production module capable of processing 100-250 tons of slag per day (tpd). The performance of this production module will serve to determine the feasibility of extraction of precious and base metals from the slag and set the capital and operating costs of the 2,000 tpd operation currently envisioned.

"Our goal is to have the buildings at Clarkdale ready and major equipment installed by the end of this year," stated Ian McNeil, Chief Executive Officer of Searchlight Minerals Corp. "This will allow the Company to start-up and operate the initial production module and begin the Feasibility Study during the first quarter of 2008. Progress at the Clarkdale Slag Project continues at a pace consistent with these expectations and capital expenditures are tracking to budget. We have an incredibly skillful team working on the project, permits are in place, building construction is nearing completion and most of the critical pieces of equipment are on site. We are pleased with the forward momentum on the project and remain confident in the feasibility of the first production module."

Construction

Over the past nine months, significant progress has been made at the Clarkdale Slag Project. In particular, advancements in the building/foundation construction and site remediation program are continuing without interruption. As of November 2, 2007, rehabilitation of the lab building to house the first production module is over 70% complete.

Equipment

Equipment requiring the longest lead times, including the grinding and filtration circuits, has arrived on site in Clarkdale. The last major piece of equipment, the Ion Exchange system, is scheduled to arrive later in November.

Operations

The Company has hired a number of employees, including a full-time Operations Manager with over 25 years of mining industry experience.

About Searchlight Minerals Corp.

Searchlight Minerals Corp. is a dynamic minerals exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of projects in the southwestern United States. The Company is currently involved in two projects: (1) the Clarkdale Slag Project, located in Clarkdale, AZ, which seeks to recover precious and base metals from the reprocessing of slag material produced from the smelting of copper ores from former mines in the Jerome, Arizona area; and (2) the Searchlight Gold Project, which involves exploration for precious metals on mining claims near Searchlight, Nevada. The Clarkdale Project is the more advanced of two ongoing projects that the Company is pursuing. The Searchlight Gold Project is an early-stage gold exploration endeavor on 3,200 acres located approximately 50 miles south of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Searchlight Minerals Corp. is headquartered in Henderson, Nevada, and its common stock is listed on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol "SRCH".

Forward-Looking Statements

This Press Release may contain, in addition to historical information, forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements in this news release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. When used in this news release, the words such as "could," "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "potential", "should", and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements. The risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements include, but are not restricted to the Company's limited operating history, uncertainties about the availability of additional financing, geological or mechanical difficulties affecting the Company's planned geological work programs, uncertainty of estimates of mineralized material, operational risk, environmental risk, financial risk, currency risk, and other statements that are not historical facts as disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-KSB filing with the SEC and elsewhere in the Company's periodic filings with securities regulators in the United States. Copies of the Company's periodic reports are available on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov/.

CONTACT: please visit the Company's website at http://www.searchlightminerals.com/ or contact the Investors Relations Department at: Ph: [phone], Fax: [phone], email:  

DATASOURCE: Searchlight Minerals Corp.



CONTACT: please visit the Company's website at

http://www.searchlightminerals.com/ or contact the Investors Relations Department at:

Ph: [phone], Fax: [phone], email: 

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