OTC BB: SRCH HENDERSON, NV, April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Searchlight Minerals Corp. (the "Company"), OTCBB symbol SRCH, is pleased to announce it has received Chain of Custody (COC) results from the first six of nine drill holes completed to date at its Clarkdale Slag Reclamation Project in Clarkdale, Arizona. The following composite drill hole results were reported to the Company by Mountain States R&D International (MSRDI): Drill Hole Results ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drill Hole Composite Gold Copper Zinc Iron Footage Au (opt) Cu (%) Zn (%) Fe (%) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SD1 0.0 - 55.0 0.210 0.70 2.10 32.1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SD2 0.0 - 60.0 0.213 0.73 2.13 34.6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SD3 0.0 - 50.0 0.196 0.37 3.11 33.2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SD3 50.0 - 109.0 0.256 0.37 2.88 33.5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SD4 0.0 - 50.0 0.169 0.42 3.25 33.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SD4 50.0 - 80.0 0.224 0.35 3.35 31.2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SD5 0.0 - 50.0 0.227 0.38 2.33 30.3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SD5 50.0 - 89.0 0.231 0.40 2.24 30.1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SD6 0.0 - 50.0 0.216 0.36 3.04 32.5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- MSRDI performed the copper, zinc, and iron analysis using the fusion assay method, followed by atomic absorption (AA). Gold analysis was performed by Arrakis, Inc., under the chain-of-custody of MSRDI, using 4-acid total digestion followed by graphite furnace atomic absorption (GFAA). Ten foot interval assays for SD1-SD6 as well as assays from SD-7, SD-11 and SD-12 are currently being prepared by MSRDI and are expected to follow, along with silver (Ag) assays for each drill hole. Following receipt of the results from the first nine drill holes, the Company intends to resume drilling. Concurrently, the Company is developing metallurgy and recovery techniques to be used for larger-scale production. The Company intends to complete bulk testing by the end of 2006 and will utilize this data as part of the feasibility study aimed at determining the final production processes and economics of the Company's approximately 20 million ton, 50/50 joint venture project. Provided the feasibility study verifies the economics, the Company plans to build a 2000 ton/day production facility at Clarkdale. The Clarkdale Project is the more advanced of two ongoing projects that the Company is pursuing. The other project, the Searchlight Gold Project, is an early stage gold exploration endeavor on 3200 acres approximately 50 miles south of Las Vegas, Nevada. ------------------------------------------------------ Current Metal Prices ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Gold(x) $596/oz ------------------------------------------------------ Copper(x) $2.80/lb ------------------------------------------------------ Zinc(x) $1.38/lb ------------------------------------------------------ Iron As a saleable product ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ (x)At the close of April 13, 2006, from http://www.kitco.com/ ------------------------------------------------------ Drilling Program In the fall of 2005, drilling commenced on the Company's Clarkdale Slag Project under strict chain-of-custody (COC) sampling by MSRDI. A total of 9 holes (SD1-7, 11, 12) and 675 feet were drilled as part of a Minerals Inventory Study being conducted by MSRDI on behalf of the Company. The Company retained Dr. Richard F. Hewlett as the Project Manager for its Clarkdale Slag Project. Under the guidance of Dr. Hewlett, the Company contracted MSRDI of Tucson, AZ, to execute a Minerals Inventory Study. MSRDI, under the direction of its president, Dr. Roshan Bhappu PE, will guide the Minerals Inventory Study which will include drilling the slag pile to determine grade and tonnage. Project Details The Company entered into an assignment agreement dated for reference June 1, 2005 with Nanominerals Corp. ("NMC"), a Nevada Corporation, pursuant to which NMC assigned all of its interest in a joint venture agreement dated May 20, 2005 between NMC and Verde River Iron Company, LLC, a Nevada limited liability company. The JV Agreement was entered into for the purpose of funding the processing of a copper smelter slag located at Clarkdale, Arizona, USA, 107 miles north of Phoenix and about 50 miles southwest from Flagstaff, Arizona. The slag contained on the Clarkdale Slag Project site was produced as smelter rejects from prior processing of copper ores from Jerome, AZ. About Searchlight Minerals Corp. Searchlight Minerals Corp. is a dynamic mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of projects in the southwestern United States. The Company is currently involved in two projects: (1) Clarkdale Slag Project: Looking to recover base and precious metals from the reprocessing of slag material produced from smelting of copper ores from the former mines in Jerome, AZ (2) Searchlight Gold Project: Exploration for precious metals on mining claims near Searchlight, NV. For further details on SRCH, please visit the Company's website at http://www.searchlightminerals.com/. Contact Information ------------------- Ph: (702) 939-5247 Fax: (702) 939-5249 Website: http://www.searchlightminerals.com/ email: Forward-Looking Statements 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 US securities regulators. 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, dependence on joint venture partners and other statements that are not historical facts as disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's periodic filings with securities regulators in the United States. DATASOURCE: Searchlight Minerals Corp. CONTACT: Ph: (702) 939-5247, Fax: (702) 939-5249, Website: http://www.searchlightminerals.com/, email:

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