LAKEWOOD, CO, March 23, 2017 /CNW/ - Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE MKT: UUUU; TSX: EFR) ("Energy Fuels" or the "Company"), a leading producer of uranium in the United States, is pleased to announce that it has received the final amendment to the Source Material License (the "License Amendment") for the expansion of its Nichols Ranch ISR Project ("Nichols Ranch") from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ("NRC").
With this License Amendment in hand, the Company now holds all of the permits, licenses, and approvals required to expand the Nichols Ranch ISR Project into the Jane Dough wellfields in the future. Nichols Ranch is a currently producing in situ recovery ("ISR") uranium project, located in northeast Wyoming. All of the Company's uranium production is sold into the global uranium market and used for the generation of clean, carbon-free nuclear energy.
The License Amendment for the Jane Dough expansion was issued by the NRC on March 22, 2017. In support of the License Amendment, the NRC prepared an Environmental Assessment ("EA"), a Safety Evaluation Report ("SER"), and a Finding of No Significant Impact ("FONSI"). This final NRC approval for the Jane Dough expansion follows final U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") and Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality ("WDEQ") approval of the aquifer exemption, as previously announced by the Company on February 17, 2017. In addition on March 7, 2017, the Company received final approval from the WDEQ Land Quality Division ("LQD") for an amendment that added the Jane Dough wellfield to the mine permit for Nichols Ranch.
The Jane Dough wellfield, which is adjacent to Energy Fuels' currently producing Nichols Ranch wellfield, is important to sustain the Company's long-term uranium production at Nichols Ranch. The Company is currently producing uranium from the Nichols Ranch wellfield and expects nine (9) header-houses to be in operation during 2017 producing a total of approximately 350,000 pounds of U3O8. The Nichols Ranch wellfield includes four (4) additional header-houses, which are expected to be constructed in the future, but only after sustained improvements in uranium prices are observed. Once all thirteen (13) header-houses in the Nichols Ranch wellfield have been constructed, the Company expects to advance production at Nichols Ranch into the Jane Dough wellfield, which contains twenty-two (22) header-houses that can be connected to the Nichols Ranch Plant.
According to a February 2015 technical report ("Technical Report") prepared in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"), the Jane Dough wellfield is estimated to hold approximately 3.6 million pounds of uranium, contained in 1.5 million tons of Indicated Mineral Resources with an average grade of 0.11% eU3O8. This is almost 1 million more pounds of uranium than what the Technical Report originally estimated to be contained in the currently producing Nichols Ranch wellfields.
Stephen P. Antony, President and CEO of Energy Fuels stated: "Receipt of NRC approval is a key milestone for Energy Fuels, as it ensures we are able to produce uranium from our Nichols Ranch ISR Project over the long-term as market conditions warrant. I would like to recognize our internal permitting and ISR operations teams for their hard work in obtaining the various government approvals, licenses and permits from the NRC, EPA, and State of Wyoming for this important project. In my view, obtaining these approvals is validation of Energy Fuels' successful track-record of uranium production in Wyoming, and our commitment to safe operations and environmental protection. Uranium spot prices are up over 40% since early December 2016, and we are optimistic that we will continue to see positive market catalysts as the year goes on. As uranium prices continue to rise on a sustained basis, we expect to resume wellfield construction at Nichols Ranch, which is expected to include the Jane Dough wellfields in the future."
About Energy Fuels: Energy Fuels is a leading integrated US-based uranium mining company, supplying U3O8 to major nuclear utilities. Energy Fuels holds three of America's key uranium production centers, the White Mesa Mill in Utah, the Nichols Ranch Processing Facility in Wyoming, and the Alta Mesa Project in Texas. 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 is an ISR production center with a licensed capacity of 2 million pounds of U3O8 per year. Alta Mesa is an ISR production center currently on care and maintenance. 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 one producing ISR project, mines on standby, and mineral properties in various stages of permitting and development. The Company also produces vanadium as a co-product of its uranium production form certain of its mines on the Colorado Plateau, as market conditions warrant. 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".
Stephen P. Antony, P.E., President & CEO of Energy Fuels, is a Qualified Person as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release.
