LAKEWOOD, CO, Feb. 12, 2016 /CNW/ - Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE
MKT:UUUU; TSX:EFR) ("Energy Fuels" or the "Company"), one of
the largest producers of uranium in the
United States, is pleased to announce that the Company has
achieved several key licensing, development, and production
milestones at its Nichols Ranch in situ recovery ("ISR")
Project in Wyoming.
The Company is pleased to announce that it has completed the
construction and licensing of the previously announced elution
circuit at the Nichols Ranch ISR Plant as scheduled. The
Company has received final notice from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission ("NRC") that uranium recovery operations involving
elution, precipitation, filter press, and slurry processes are
authorized to commence. Now that the elution circuit is
completed and fully-licensed, Energy Fuels has 100% self-contained
ISR processing capabilities. The new elution circuit is
expected to significantly lower the Company's future costs of
production on a per pound basis by avoiding 3rd party
toll processing fees. The elution circuit also provides the
Company with operational flexibility as it executes its development
plans and responds to future market conditions.
The Company is also increasing production at the Nichols Ranch
Project on a controlled basis. Through ongoing well-field
development and drilling, the Company is confirming – and in
certain cases increasing – its level of confidence in the uranium
resource estimates contained in the most recent Technical Report
and Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Nichols Ranch Uranium
Project dated February 28, 2015,
prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 (the
"Technical Report").
A 6th header-house at the Nichols Ranch Project began
production in November 2015. It continues to maintain grades
and produce uranium at higher-than-expected rates.
Furthermore, through the successful execution of slant hole
drilling, the Company has been able to place significant additional
resources under pattern at this 6th header-house that
were previously thought to be inaccessible due to challenging
terrain.
The Company is scheduled to place the 7th and
8th header-houses on-line at the Nichols Ranch Project
in March 2016 and July 2016, respectively. Drilling and
installation of production wells for these two header-houses is
proceeding at the current time. The pattern for the
7th header-house was originally believed to have lower
uranium grades. However, drilling is now indicating that the
high-grade zones identified in earlier patterns of the project are
more continuous than originally estimated. Indeed, the
Company has recorded the 3rd highest intercept ever
observed at Nichols Ranch (0.441% U3O8 with a
thickness of 15.5 feet), in addition to other high-grade intercepts
between 0.11% – 0.15% U3O8 with thicknesses
of 9.0 – 14.5 feet. Future drilling will confirm whether
additional resources can be placed under pattern above the
estimates contained in the current Technical Report. Finally
in late 2015, the Company successfully completed the installation
of the monitor wells and began baseline and hydrological testing
work in the next phase of the Nichols Ranch Project. Energy
Fuels expects to start development and uranium recovery operations
in this next phase in the latter part of 2016.
Stephen P. Antony, President and
CEO of Energy Fuels stated: "Nichols Ranch continues to meet
– and exceed – the high expectations we had when we acquired the
project in June 2015. Nichols Ranch is proving itself to be a
reliable and scalable long-term U.S. uranium production center,
which has large areas of high grade uranium resources that can be
produced at an attractive cost. The 6th
header-house at Nichols Ranch is producing very well, and we have
similarly high expectations for the 7th and
8th header-houses, which are scheduled to come online
later this year. While we expect uranium prices to increase
in the coming years, Nichols Ranch has become vitally important for
Energy Fuels as we navigate today's challenging uranium price
environment. I wish to congratulate our permitting and
technical teams for achieving these important milestones at Nichols
Ranch. Between our ISR team in Wyoming and our conventional mining teams in
Utah and Arizona, I think it is clear that Energy Fuels
has the right people and projects in place to solidify our position
as a dominant uranium producer in the U.S."
Stephen P. Antony, P.E., President & CEO of Energy
Fuels, is a Qualified Person as defined by National
Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical
disclosure contained in this news release.
About Energy Fuels: Energy Fuels is a leading
integrated US-based uranium mining company, supplying
U3O8 to major nuclear utilities. Energy
Fuels operates two of America's key uranium production centers, the
White Mesa Mill in Utah and the
Nichols Ranch Processing Facility in Wyoming. The White Mesa
Mill is the only conventional uranium mill operating in the U.S.
today and has a licensed capacity of over 8 million pounds of
U3O8 per year. The Nichols Ranch
Processing Facility, acquired in the Company's acquisition of
Uranerz Energy Corporation, is an in situ recovery ("ISR")
production center with a licensed capacity of 2 million pounds of
U3O8 per year. Energy Fuels also has
the largest NI 43-101 compliant uranium resource portfolio in the
U.S. among producers, and uranium mining projects located in a
number of Western U.S. states, including producing mines, mines on
standby, and mineral properties in various stages of permitting and
development. The Company's common shares are listed on the
NYSE MKT under the trading symbol "UUUU", and on the Toronto Stock
Exchange under the trading symbol "EFR".
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements: Certain information contained in this
news release, including any information relating to the Company
being one of the largest producers of uranium, the ability of
Nichols Ranch to continue to meet or exceed expectations, the
ability of the Company to reduce its cost of production and respond
to market conditions, the ability of the Company to produce
resources placed under pattern, the ability of the Company to
increase resource estimates through future drilling, the Company's
position as a dominant uranium producer in the U.S., and any other
statements regarding Energy Fuels' future expectations, beliefs,
goals or prospects constitute forward-looking information within
the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively,
"forward-looking statements"). All statements in this news
release that are not statements of historical fact (including
statements containing the words "expects", "does not expect",
"plans", "anticipates", "does not anticipate", "believes",
"intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "scheduled",
"forecast", "budget" and similar expressions) should be considered
forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking
statements are subject to important risk factors and uncertainties,
many of which are beyond Energy Fuels' ability to control or
predict. A number of important factors could cause actual
results or events to differ materially from those indicated or
implied by such forward-looking statements, including without
limitation factors relating to: the Company being one of the
largest producers of uranium, the ability of Nichols Ranch to
continue to meet or exceed expectations, the ability of the Company
to reduce its cost of production and respond to market conditions,
the ability of the Company to produce resources placed under
pattern, the ability of the Company to increase resource estimates
through future drilling, the Company's position as a dominant
uranium producer in the U.S., and other risk factors as described
in Energy Fuels' most recent annual information forms and annual
and quarterly financial reports. Energy Fuels assumes
no obligation to update the information in this communication,
except as otherwise required by law. Additional information
identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in Energy Fuels'
filings with the various securities commissions which are available
online at www.sec.gov and www.sedar.com.
Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of
providing information about the current expectations, beliefs and
plans of the management of Energy Fuels relating to the
future. Readers are cautioned that such statements may not be
appropriate for other purposes. Readers are also cautioned
not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements,
that speak only as of the date hereof.
SOURCE Energy Fuels Inc.