LAKEWOOD, CO, Feb. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - 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
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"), in a letter dated
February 10, 2017, has issued an
aquifer exemption for the Jane Dough wellfield in the Nichols Ranch
ISR Project pursuant to the requirements of 40 CFR §146.4. In the
letter, the EPA concurred with the reclassification of the Jane
Dough aquifer by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality
("WDEQ") to allow for future in situ uranium
recovery.
The Jane Dough wellfield, which is adjacent to Energy Fuels'
currently producing Nichols Ranch wellfield, is important in
sustaining the Company's long-term uranium production at Nichols
Ranch. The Company is currently producing uranium from the
Nichols Ranch wellfield and expects nine header-houses to be in
operation during 2017. The Company expects to construct four
additional header-houses in the Nichols Ranch wellfield once
sustained improvements in uranium prices are observed. Once
all thirteen header-houses in the Nichols Ranch wellfield have been
constructed, the Company expects to advance production into the
Jane Dough wellfield, which will 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 estimated to be contained in the currently producing Nichols
Ranch wellfields.
EPA and WDEQ approval are important regulatory milestones for
the Company, as they are required to place the Jane Dough
wellfields into production. The next regulatory steps are to
add the Jane Dough wellfield to the main Nichols Ranch Permit to
Mine and Source Material License. Approval for these actions
from WDEQ and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ("NRC"),
respectively, are expected to be received by the Company within the
next few months. Following these last approvals, the Company
will have all major regulatory approvals to begin production from
the Jane Dough wellfield in the future.
Stephen P. Antony, President and
CEO of Energy Fuels stated: "The Jane Dough wellfield is important
for Energy Fuels to ensure sustainable, long-term uranium
production from our Nichols Ranch ISR Project in Wyoming.
Nichols Ranch has proven to be a reliable uranium supplier since it
went into production in 2014, and we expect existing wellfields to
produce about 350,000 pounds of uranium in 2017. The Jane
Dough wellfield is located adjacent to the existing Nichols Ranch
wellfield. Therefore, once all header-houses are completed at
the Nichols Ranch wellfield, production is expected to advance to
the Jane Dough wellfield, which will be connected to the Nichols
Ranch ISR Plant. In addition, I personally congratulate
Energy Fuels' internal permitting team for successfully obtaining
these EPA and State approvals. It is not easy to permit new
uranium projects in the United
States, and based on Energy Fuels' track-record in this
regard, I believe our permitting team is second-to-none in the U.S.
uranium sector. We look forward to receiving the final NRC
and WDEQ approvals in the upcoming months."
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.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements: Certain information contained in this
news release, including any information relating to: the Company
being a leading producer of uranium in the U.S.; the Jane
Dough wellfield being an important aspect of the Company's future
production plans; the Company's expectations with regard to the
sequencing of header-houses and wellfields; the Company's belief
that the Jane Dough wellfield can easily be connected to the
Nichols Ranch Plant; estimates of resources contained in various
areas of the Nichols Ranch Project; the Company's expectations with
regard to permitting and licensing of the Jane Dough wellfields
including the timing of future approvals; the Company's expectation
that the Nichols Ranch Project will produce 350,000 pounds of
uranium in 2017; the Company's belief that its permitting team is
second-to-none; 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 a leading producer of uranium in the U.S.; the
Jane Dough wellfield being an important aspect of the Company's
future production plans; the Company's expectations with regard to
the sequencing of header-houses and wellfields; the Company's
belief that the Jane Dough wellfield can easily be connected to the
Nichols Ranch Plant; estimates of resources contained in various
areas of the Nichols Ranch Project; the Company's expectations with
regard to permitting and licensing of the Jane Dough wellfields
including the timing of future approvals; the Company's expectation
that the Nichols Ranch Project will produce 350,000 pounds of
uranium in 2017; the Company's belief that its permitting team is
second-to-none; and other risk factors as described in
Energy Fuels' most recent annual report on Form 10-K 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.