Project Announcement: Asphalt Bluff South

Most project announcements in this space come before the hard work begins. This one comes after.

Valkor has been laying the groundwork for this project for years — site selection, resource characterization, process engineering, and the legal footing under our SITLA lease. The kind of development work that holds up under scrutiny takes as long as it takes. This isn’t a concept announcement. It’s a status update on a project that has moved from idea to definition, with certified resources and a selected site.

The Site

Asphalt Bluff South (ABS) is a contingent resource bitumen deposit located approximately 6.5 miles southwest of Vernal, Utah (T5S, R21E, Section 5, SLB&M), held under SITLA lease by Valkor Energy Holdings. The deposit sits in a well-characterized bitumen formation in the Uinta Basin, with independently certified contingent oil resources from 0–300 feet of depth accessible via conventional open-pit mining techniques. Once extracted and processed, the bitumen yields two primary products: low-carbon asphalt binder and diesel. The high estimate (3C) for this development interval is approximately 20 million barrels; the full low-to-high resource range (1C–3C) will be presented in offering documents. The contingent resources have been certified by Netherland, Sewell & Associates, Inc. (NSAI) under the 2018 Petroleum Resources Management System (PRMS) as of March 2026.

These resources are classified as contingent pending project financing, facility construction, and commitment to develop — the exact milestones this project is designed to resolve. It is also worth noting that NSAI has certified substantial additional contingent resources below 300 feet at ABS, representing a meaningful long-term play beyond the scope of the initial development interval.

The Commodity

America’s asphalt supply chain is under more pressure than most people realize. Asphalt binder represents just 2% of typical refinery output — when refineries close because gasoline economics no longer pencil out, asphalt supply disappears as collateral damage. That process is already underway: major refinery closures across the West Coast, Gulf Coast, and Midwest are removing hundreds of thousands of barrels per day of capacity, with industry analysts projecting continued reductions through 2045.

Meanwhile, demand isn’t going anywhere. The U.S. has over 4 million miles of paved roads — 94% asphalt — with $124.8 billion in public highway construction expected in 2025 and a $684 billion infrastructure funding gap through 2033. We are not facing declining demand for asphalt. We are facing stable demand colliding with structurally tightening supply.

Unlike refinery-derived asphalt, Valkor’s model produces low-carbon asphalt binder and diesel directly from the ore — no refinery required. That distinction matters: when the industry’s own leading energy research firm calls for “new dedicated binder production capacity,” ABS is a direct answer to that signal.

The Facility

The production target is 2,500 barrels per day of bitumen, resulting in the primary low-carbon asphalt product with associated diesel range organics. This facility is a 5× scale-up of Valkor’s AR Pioneer facility, which is currently under construction and advancing toward commissioning later this year. The process technology is Valkor’s proprietary, patent-pending solvent extraction system, engineered specifically for Uinta Basin bitumen.

The ABS project is currently in the Project Definition phase, with CAPEX and OPEX estimates under active development to support facility design and investor-grade documentation.

The Capital Structure

Resource development projects at this scale have historically been bottlenecked not by geology or engineering, but by capital formation. Valkor has certified resources, proven extraction technology, and a site ready to move from definition to development. To close the gap between that readiness and production, Valkor has partnered with AetherStrike to bring a new capital formation model to ABS: fractional ownership of independently certified resources, structured as a security, held in a purpose-built SPV, and settled on-chain.

Under this structure, the SPV will issue Digital Resource Revenue Units (DRRUs) — each representing a direct fractional interest in the NSAI-certified contingent resources at ABS. The extraction technology is Valkor’s proprietary, patent-pending system. The reserve certification is NSAI’s. The tokenized instrument is the mechanism designed to convert those resources into producing reserves.

We are not announcing an offering today. We are announcing the project.

For qualified investors who want to understand the structure, the economics, and the path to production — that conversation will be available through the formal process administered by AetherStrike and the issuing SPV. Nothing in this announcement constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Any offering will be made only to eligible investors pursuant to applicable securities laws and through definitive offering documents.

What Comes Next

The SPV will prepare offering documentation and conduct a capital raise designed to fund construction and put ABS into production — and in doing so, convert these contingent resources into producing reserves.

We’ll have more to say as each milestone is reached.

— The Valkor Team