Webcast on May 18,
2022
LAKEWOOD, Colo., May 16, 2022
/CNW/ - Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE: UUUU) (TSX: EFR)
("Energy Fuels" or the "Company") today reported its
financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2022. The Company's annual report on
Form 10-K has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission ("SEC") and may be viewed on the Electronic
Document Gathering and Retrieval System ("EDGAR") at
www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml, on the System for Electronic Document
Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR") at www.sedar.com, and on
the Company's website at www.energyfuels.com. Unless noted
otherwise, all dollar amounts are in U.S. dollars.
Highlights:
- At March 31, 2022, the Company
had a robust balance sheet with $136.6
million of working capital, including $105.8 million of cash and marketable securities,
$29.7 million of inventory, and no
short term (or long term) debt. At current commodity prices, the
Company's product inventory has a value of $50.3 million.
- The Company produced approximately 60 metric tonnes of mixed
rare earth element ("REE") carbonate ("RE
Carbonate"), containing 30 metric tonnes of total rare earth
oxides ("TREO") during Q1-2022. Energy Fuels' RE Carbonate,
which is roughly 32% - 34% NdPr, is the most advanced REE material
being produced in the U.S. today.
- The Company is currently in active discussions with several
sources of natural monazite sands around the world to significantly
increase the supply of feed for its growing REE initiative.
- During Q1-2022, the Company began partial commercial separation
of Lanthanum (La) on a small scale from its RE Carbonate, using an
existing solvent extraction circuit at its White Mesa Mill (the
"Mill"). This represents the first commercial level REE
separation to occur in the U.S. in many years.
- The Company is planning to install a full separation circuit at
the Mill to produce both "light" and "heavy" separated REE oxides
in the coming years, subject to successful licensing, financing,
and commissioning, and continued strong market conditions. The
Company has hired Carester SAS ("Carester"), a global leader
in producing separated REE oxides, to support these REE separation
initiatives.
- Through May 31, 2022, the Company
has sold approximately 150,000 pounds of FeV (roughly 230,000
pounds of V2O5) from its existing
V2O5 inventory at a gross weighted average
price of about $20.65 per pound of V
contained in FeV (roughly $11.00 per
pound V2O5), capitalizing on recent market
strength. The Company expects to continue to sell vanadium with
increasing prices and is evaluating the potential to resume
vanadium recovery at the Mill, where its tailings pond solutions
contain an additional 1.0 to 3.0 million recoverable pounds of
V2O5.
Mark S. Chalmers, Energy
Fuels' President and CEO, stated:
"Energy Fuels continues to benefit from increases in the prices
for all of the critical elements and materials we produce. Though
volatile, uranium prices have continued to exhibit strength and
resilience, which we expect to continue as Russia's invasion in Ukraine continues. As a result of Russia's aggression, we believe domestic and
global nuclear utilities are reducing ties with the Russian
state-owned nuclear company. We also believe U.S. uranium and
nuclear fuel suppliers may be seeing increased interest from U.S.
utilities as a result of the $6
billion civil nuclear credit program, which prioritizes
reactors that purchase nuclear fuel and uranium from U.S.
suppliers, which would include Energy Fuels.
"We have also been selling some of our vanadium inventory over
the past few months, as prices rose during the quarter. Similar to
uranium, we believe Russia's
invasion of Ukraine is a reason we
are seeing strength in the vanadium market. Russia is a significant global supplier of
vanadium, and we believe buyers see risk in obtaining vanadium
supply from Russia. This quarter
we have sold 150,000 pounds of vanadium as FeV at an average price
of $20.65 per pound of V, which
equates to about $11.00 per pound
V2O5. Our vanadium inventory was carried on
our balance sheet at a little under $5.40 per pound V2O5, so we
have been able to capture some gross margin on these sales.
"Energy Fuels' rare earth production continues to proceed
extremely well. Through our actions and accomplishments in this
difficult industry, we believe we are making more progress, faster,
than any other U.S. company. In March, we began the partial
separation of lanthanum from our rare earth carbonate, using
existing solvent extraction equipment at our White Mesa Mill. This
is the first commercial-scale rare earth separation to occur in the
U.S. in many years. As a result, we are producing a very
high-purity rare earth carbonate, with most of the lanthanum
removed, that contains about 32% - 34% NdPr. We are also continuing
pilot-scale rare earth separation in the Mill's laboratory, where
we are producing about two kilograms of high-purity NdPr oxide per
day. It is early days, but with the outstanding achievements of our
internal staff, complemented by our relationships with Neo
Performance Materials ("Neo") and Carester, we are confident
that we will restore U.S. rare earth separation capabilities in the
coming years.
"I was particularly excited to announce that the Company hit a
critical mineral 'trifecta' a few weeks ago, when we shipped three
different containers of uranium, vanadium, and rare earth materials
from the White Mesa Mill to customers or conversion facilities. To
my knowledge, this is the first time in American history a company
has achieved this feat. Energy Fuels is proud to have become one of
the most important producers of critical materials in the U.S.,
which is particularly important in today's uncertain geopolitical
environment. I look forward to providing updates on all fronts in
the coming weeks and months."
Webcast at 4:00 pm EDT on
May 18, 2022:
Energy Fuels will be hosting a video webcast on May 18, 2022 at 4:00 pm
EDT (2:00 pm MDT) to
discuss its Q1-2022 financial results, the outlook for 2022,
uranium, rare earths, vanadium, and medical isotopes. To join the
webcast and access the presentation and viewer-controlled webcast
slides, please click on the link below:
Webcast Link
If you would like to participate in the webcast and ask
questions, please dial in to 1-888-664-6392 (toll free in the U.S.
and Canada).
A link to a recorded version of the proceedings will be
available on the Company's website shortly after the webcast by
calling 1-888-390-0541 (toll free in the U.S. and Canada) and by entering the code 271887#. The
recording will be available until June 1,
2022.
Selected Summary Financial Information:
$000's, except per
share data
|
Three months
ended
March 31, 2022
|
Three months
ended
March 31, 2021
|
|
|
Total
revenues
|
$
2,937
|
$
353
|
|
Gross profit
|
45
|
353
|
|
Operating
loss
|
(10,213)
|
(8,847)
|
|
Net loss attributable
to the company
|
(14,729)
|
(10,908)
|
|
Basic and diluted net
loss per common share
|
(0.09)
|
(0.08)
|
|
|
|
|
|
$000's
|
As at March 31,
2022
|
As at December
31,
2021
|
|
|
Financial Position:
|
|
|
|
Working capital
|
$
136,611
|
$
143,190
|
|
Property, plant and equipment, net
|
21,385
|
21,983
|
|
Mineral properties, net
|
83,539
|
83,539
|
|
Total assets
|
306,103
|
315,446
|
|
Total long-term liabilities
|
14,016
|
13,805
|
|
Operations Update and Outlook for 2022:
Overview
The Company continues to believe that uranium supply and demand
fundamentals point to higher sustained uranium prices in the
future. In addition, Russia's
recent invasion of Ukraine and the
recent entry into the uranium market by financial entities
purchasing uranium on the spot market to hold for the long-term has
the potential to result in higher sustained spot and term prices
and, perhaps, induce utilities to enter into more long-term
contracts with non-Russian producers like Energy Fuels to ensure
security of supply and more certain pricing. However, the Company
has not yet entered into sufficient long-term supply agreements to
justify commencing uranium production at the Company's mines and
in-situ recovery ("ISR") facilities. As a result, the
Company expects to maintain uranium recovery at reduced levels
until such time when sustained increased market strength is
observed, additional suitable term sales contracts can be procured,
or the U.S. government buys uranium from the Company following the
establishment of the proposed U.S. uranium reserve (the "U.S.
Uranium Reserve"). The Company also holds significant uranium
inventories and is evaluating selling all or a portion of these
inventories on the spot market in response to future upside price
volatility or for delivery into long-term supply contracts, if
procured. The Company has also begun selling a portion of its
vanadium inventory into strengthening markets.
The Company will also continue to seek new sources of revenue,
including through its emerging REE business, as well as new sources
of Alternate Feed Materials and new fee processing opportunities at
the Mill that can be processed under existing market conditions
(i.e., without reliance on current uranium sales prices). The
Company is also seeking new sources of natural monazite sands for
its emerging REE business, is evaluating the potential to recover
radioisotopes for use in the development of targeted alpha therapy
("TAT") medical isotopes for the treatment of cancer, and
continues its support of U.S. governmental activities to assist the
U.S. uranium mining industry, including the proposed establishment
of the U.S. Uranium Reserve.
Extraction and Recovery Activities Overview
During 2022, the Company plans to recover 100,000 to 120,000
pounds of uranium and approximately 650 to 1,000 tonnes of mixed RE
Carbonate containing approximately 300 to 450 tonnes of TREO.
No vanadium production is currently planned during 2022, though
the Company is currently selling some of its vanadium inventory
into improved markets and evaluating potential vanadium production
in 2022 or 2023 in light of recent market improvements in vanadium
pricing.
The Company has strategically begun to pursue uranium sales
commitments, with pricing expected to have both fixed and
market-related components. The Company believes that recent price
increases, volatility, and focus on security of supply in light of
Russia's invasion of Ukraine have increased the potential for the
Company to make spot sales, and the Company is actively seeking
term sales contracts with utilities at pricing that sustains
production and covers corporate overhead. Therefore, existing
inventories may increase from 692,000 pounds of
U3O8 to 792,000 to 812,000 pounds of
U3O8 at year-end 2022 or may increase to a
lesser extent, or be reduced, in the event the Company sells some
inventory on the spot market or pursuant to term contracts, if
procured, in 2022.
ISR Activities
The Company expects to produce insignificant quantities of
U3O8 in the year ending December 31, 2022 from Nichols Ranch. Until such
time when market conditions improve sufficiently, suitable term
sales contracts can be procured, or the proposed U.S. Uranium
Reserve is established, the Company expects to maintain the Nichols
Ranch Project on standby and defer development of further
wellfields and header houses. The Company currently holds 34 fully
permitted, undeveloped wellfields at Nichols Ranch, including four
additional wellfields at the Nichols Ranch wellfields, 22
wellfields at the adjacent Jane Dough wellfields, and eight
wellfields at the Hank Project which is fully permitted to be
constructed as a satellite facility to the Nichols Ranch Plant. The
Company expects to continue to keep the Alta Mesa Project on
standby until such time that market conditions improve
sufficiently, suitable term sales contracts can be procured, or the
proposed U.S. Uranium Reserve is established.
Conventional Activities
Conventional Extraction and Recovery Activities
During the three months ended March 31,
2022, the Mill did not package any material quantities of
U3O8, focusing instead on developing its REE
recovery business. During the three months ended March 31, 2022, the Mill produced approximately
60 metric tonnes of RE Carbonate, containing approximately 30
metric tonnes of TREO. The Mill recovered small quantities of
uranium in 2021 and during the 1st quarter of 2022,
which were retained in circuit. During 2022, the Company expects to
recover 100,000 to 120,000 pounds of uranium at the Mill as
finished product. The Company expects to recover approximately 650
to 1,000 tonnes of mixed RE Carbonate containing approximately 300
to 450 tonnes of TREO at the Mill. The Company expects to sell all
or a portion of its mixed RE Carbonate to Neo or other global
separation facilities and/or to stockpile it for future production
of separated REE oxides at the Mill or elsewhere. The Company is in
advanced discussions with several sources of monazite sands,
including the Company's existing supplier, to secure additional
supplies of monazite sands, which if successful, would be expected
to allow the Company to increase RE Carbonate production.
In addition to its 692,000 pounds of finished uranium
inventories currently located at a North American conversion
facility and at the Mill, the Company has approximately 389,000
pounds of U3O8 contained in stockpiled
Alternate Feed Materials and ore inventory at the Mill that can be
recovered relatively quickly in the future, as general market
conditions may warrant (totaling about 1,081,000 pounds of
U3O8 of total uranium inventory). The Company
is also seeking to acquire additional ore inventory from
3rd party mine cleanup activities than can be recovered
relatively quickly in the future. In addition, there remains
approximately 1,397,000 pounds of V2O5
inventory in the form of immediately marketable product, and an
estimated 1.0 to 3.0 million pounds of solubilized recoverable
V2O5 inventory remaining in tailings
solutions awaiting future recovery, as market conditions may
warrant.
Conventional Standby, Permitting and Evaluation Activities
During the three months ended March 31,
2022, standby and environmental compliance activities
continued at our fully permitted and substantially developed Pinyon
Plain Project (uranium) and fully permitted and developed La Sal
Complex (uranium and vanadium). The Company plans to continue
carrying out engineering, metallurgical testing, procurement and
construction management activities at its Pinyon Plain Project. The
timing of the Company's plans to extract and process mineralized
materials from these projects will be based on sustained
improvements in general market conditions, procurement of suitable
sales contracts and/or the establishment of the proposed U.S.
Uranium Reserve.
The Company is selectively advancing certain permits at its
other major conventional uranium projects, such as the Roca Honda
Project, which is a large, high-grade conventional project in
New Mexico. The Company is also
continuing to maintain required permits at its conventional
projects, including the Sheep Mountain Project and Whirlwind
Project. In addition, the Company will continue to evaluate the
Bullfrog Project. Expenditures for certain of these projects have
been adjusted to coincide with expected dates of price recoveries
based on the Company's forecasts. All of these projects serve as
important pipeline assets for the Company's future conventional
production capabilities, as market conditions may warrant.
Uranium Sales
During the three months ended March 31,
2022, the Company completed no sales of uranium, at its
election, but is now actively engaged in pursuing selective
long-term uranium sales contracts.
Vanadium Sales
As a result of strengthening vanadium markets, during the three
months ended March 31, 2022, the
Company sold 150,000 pounds of FeV (converted from the Company's
existing inventory of V2O5) at a gross
weighted average price of $20.65 per
pound V contained in FeV. The Company expects to sell its remaining
finished vanadium product when justified into the metallurgical
industry, as well as other markets that demand a higher purity
product, including the aerospace, chemical, and potentially the
vanadium battery industries. The Company may also retain vanadium
product in inventory for future sale, depending on vanadium spot
prices and general market conditions.
Rare Earth Sales
The Company commenced its ramp-up to commercial production of a
mixed RE Carbonate in March 2021 and
has shipped all of its RE Carbonate produced to-date to Neo's
Silmet facility in Estonia
("Silmet"), where it is currently being fed into their
separation process. All RE Carbonate produced at the Mill in 2022
is expected to be sold to Neo for separation at Silmet. Until such
time as the Company expects to permit and construct its own
separation circuits at the Mill, production in future years is
expected to be sold to Neo for separation at Silmet and,
potentially, to other REE separation facilities outside of the U.S.
To the extent not sold, the Company expects to stockpile mixed RE
Carbonate at the Mill for future separation and other downstream
REE processing at the Mill or elsewhere.
As the Company continues to ramp up its mixed RE Carbonate
production and additional funds are spent on process enhancements,
improving recoveries, product quality and other optimization,
profits from this initiative are expected to be minimal until such
time when monazite throughput rates are increased and optimized.
However, even at the current throughput rates, the Company is
recovering most of its direct costs of this growing initiative,
with the other costs associated with ramping up production, process
enhancements and evaluating future separation capabilities at the
Mill being expensed as development expenditures. Throughout this
process, the Company is gaining important knowledge, experience and
technical information, all of which will be valuable for current
and future mixed RE Carbonate production and expected future
production of separated REE oxides and other advanced REE materials
at the Mill. As discussed above, the Company is evaluating
installing a full separation circuit at the Mill to produce both
"light" and "heavy" separated REE oxides in the coming years,
subject to successful licensing, financing, and commissioning and
continued strong market conditions, and has hired Carester to
support these REE separation initiatives.
The Company also continues to pursue new sources of revenue,
including additional Alternate Feed Materials and other sources of
feed for the Mill.
Continued Efforts to Minimize Costs
Although the Company is pursuing two exciting new initiatives —
its REE and TAT radioisotope initiatives — in addition to its
existing uranium and vanadium lines of business, which will likely
require the Company to grow certain of its operations, the Company
will continue to seek ways to minimize the costs of all its
operations where feasible, while maintaining its critical
capabilities, manpower and properties.
About Energy Fuels: Energy Fuels is a
leading U.S.-based uranium mining company, supplying
U3O8 to major nuclear utilities. The Company
also produces vanadium from certain of its projects, as market
conditions warrant, and is ramping up to full commercial-scale
production of RE Carbonate. Its corporate offices are in
Lakewood, Colorado near
Denver, and all its assets and
employees are in the United
States. Energy Fuels holds three of America's key uranium
production centers: the White Mesa Mill in Utah, the Nichols Ranch ISR Project in
Wyoming, and the Alta Mesa ISR
Project in Texas. The White Mesa
Mill is the only conventional uranium mill operating in the U.S.
today, has a licensed capacity of over 8 million pounds of
U3O8 per year, and has the ability to produce
vanadium when market conditions warrant, as well as RE Carbonate
from various uranium-bearing ores. The Nichols Ranch ISR Project is
currently on standby and has a licensed capacity of 2 million
pounds of U3O8 per year. The Alta Mesa ISR
Project is also currently on standby and has a licensed
capacity of 1.5 million pounds of U3O8 per
year. In addition to the above production facilities, Energy
Fuels also has one of the largest S-K 1300 and NI 43-101 compliant
uranium resource portfolios in the U.S. and several uranium and
uranium/vanadium mining projects on standby and in various stages
of permitting and development. The primary trading market for
Energy Fuels' common shares is the NYSE American under the trading
symbol "UUUU," and the Company's common shares are also listed on
the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "EFR." Energy
Fuels' website is www.energyfuels.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements: This news release contains certain "Forward
Looking Information" and "Forward Looking Statements" within the
meaning of applicable United
States and Canadian securities legislation, which may
include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to:
production and sales forecasts; costs of production; any
expectation that the Company will continue to be ready to supply
uranium into the proposed U.S. Uranium Reserve once it is
established; scalability, and the Company's ability and readiness
to re-start, expand or deploy any of its existing projects or
capacity to respond to any improvements in uranium market
conditions or in response to the proposed Uranium Reserve; any
expectations as to future uranium, vanadium, RE Carbonate or REE
sales; any expectation regarding any remaining dissolved vanadium
in the Mill's tailings facility solutions or the ability of the
Company to recover any such vanadium at acceptable costs or at all;
the ability of the Company to secure any new sources of Alternate
Feed Materials or other processing opportunities at the Mill;
expected timelines for the permitting and development of projects;
the Company's expectations as to longer term fundamentals in the
market and price projections; any expectations as to the
implications of the current Russian invasion of Ukraine on uranium, vanadium or other
commodity markets; any expectation that the Company will maintain
its position as a leading uranium company in the United States; any expectation that the
proposed Uranium Reserve will be implemented and if implemented the
manner in which it will be implemented and the timing of
implementation; any expectation with respect to timelines to
production; any expectation that the Mill will be successful
in producing RE Carbonate on a full-scale commercial basis; any
expectation that Neo will be successful in separating the Mill's RE
Carbonate on a commercial basis; any expectation that Energy Fuels
will be successful in developing U.S. separation, or other
value-added U.S. REE production capabilities at the Mill, or
otherwise; any expectation with respect to the future demand for
REEs; any expectation with respect to the quantities of monazite
sands to be acquired by Energy Fuels, the quantities of RE
Carbonate to be produced by the Mill or the quantities of contained
TREO in the Mill's RE Carbonate; any expectation that additional
supplies of monazite sands will result in sufficient throughput at
the Mill to reduce underutilized capacity production costs and
allow the Company to realize its expected margins on a continuous
basis; any expectation that the Company's evaluation of thorium and
radium recovery at the Mill will be successful; any expectation
that the potential recovery of medical isotopes from any thorium
and radium recovered at the Mill will be feasible; any expectation
that any thorium, radium and other isotopes can be recovered at the
Mill and sold on a commercial basis; any expectation
that the Company will be successful in completing one or more
contracts for the sale of uranium to U.S. utilities; and any
expectation that the Company will generate net income in future
periods. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be
identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as
"plans," "expects," "does not expect," "is expected," "is likely,"
"budgets," "scheduled," "estimates," "forecasts," "intends,"
"anticipates," "does not anticipate," or "believes," or variations
of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or
results "may," "could," "would," "might" or "will be taken,"
"occur," "be achieved" or "have the potential to." All statements,
other than statements of historical fact, herein are considered to
be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may
cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the
Company to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements express or implied by the
forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results
to differ materially from those anticipated in these
forward-looking statements include risks associated with: commodity
prices and price fluctuations; processing and mining difficulties,
upsets and delays; permitting and licensing requirements and
delays; changes to regulatory requirements; legal challenges; the
availability of sources of Alternate Feed Materials and other feed
sources for the Mill; competition from other producers; public
opinion; government and political actions; the appropriations for
the proposed Uranium Reserve not being allocated to that program
and the Uranium Reserve not being implemented; the manner in which
the proposed Uranium Reserve, if established, will be implemented;
the Company not being successful in selling any uranium into the
proposed Uranium Reserve at acceptable quantities or prices, or at
all; available supplies of monazite sands; the ability of the Mill
to produce RE Carbonate to meet commercial specifications on a
commercial scale at acceptable costs; the ability of Neo to
separate the RE Carbonate produced by the Mill to meet commercial
specifications on a commercial scale at acceptable costs; market
factors, including future demand for REEs; the ability of the Mill
to be able to separate thorium and radium at reasonable costs or at
all; the ability of the Company to be able to recover other
isotopes from thorium and radium recovered at the Mill at
reasonable costs or at all; market prices and demand for medical
isotopes; and the other factors described under the caption "Risk
Factors" in the Company's most recently filed Annual Report on Form
10-K, which is available for review on EDGAR at
www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml, on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and on the
Company's website at www.energyfuels.com. Forward-looking
statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news
release, and the Company disclaims, other than as required by law,
any obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as
a result of new information, results, future events, circumstances,
or if management's estimates or opinions should change, or
otherwise. There can be no assurance that forward-looking
statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future
events could differ materially from those anticipated in such
statements. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue
reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no
obligation to update the information in this communication, except
as otherwise required by law.
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SOURCE Energy Fuels Inc.