Energy Fuels recently made commercial
shipments of uranium, vanadium & advanced rare earth materials
– all in a single week
LAKEWOOD, Colo., April 13,
2022 /CNW/ - Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE: UUUU) (TSX:
EFR) ("Energy Fuels" or the "Company") is pleased to
announce that during the week of April
4, the Company's White Mesa Mill located near Blanding, Utah (the "Mill") made three
(3) commercial shipments of three (3) critical mineral products.
During that week, Energy Fuels shipped:
- Natural uranium concentrates
("U3O8") to the Metropolis Works
uranium conversion facility in Metropolis, Illinois for conversion into
uranium hexafluoride which will be enriched and used as fuel for
the production of clean, carbon-free nuclear energy;
- Vanadium pentoxide ("V2O5") to the
Bear Metallurgical Company in Butler,
Pennsylvania for conversion to ferrovanadium ("FeV")
which will be sold into the steel and specialty alloys industries;
and
- High-purity mixed rare earth element ("REE") carbonate
("REE Carbonate") to Neo Performance Materials'
("Neo's") Silmet facility in Estonia for separation into advanced REE
products. The REE Carbonate had undergone partial separation at the
Mill using existing Mill facilities prior to its delivery to
Silmet, which is the first commercial-scale REE separation to occur
in the U.S. since at least the early-2000's (to the Company's
knowledge).
This is the first time Energy Fuels, the Mill – and perhaps any
facility in history – has accomplished such a feat. The Company
believes it is clearly establishing itself as a "Clean Energy and
Critical Mineral Hub" for the United
States.
Rare Earth Elements:
The Company is pleased to announce that it has begun partial
commercial-scale REE separations at its White Mesa Mill, located
near Blanding, Utah (the
"Mill") utilizing existing Mill facilities. As a result, the
Company is now producing a more advanced REE Carbonate than it did
in 2021. The Company utilized an existing solvent extraction
("SX") circuit at the Mill to remove most of the lanthanum
("La") and produce an advanced cerium ("Ce")-plus REE
Carbonate. This product is roughly 32% - 34% neodymium-praseodymium
("NdPr") and 1.8% terbium ("Tb") and dysprosium
("Dy") on a % TREO basis.
This is the first commercial-scale REE separation conducted by
the Company, and to the Company's knowledge, the first to occur in
the U.S. since at least the early-2000's. The successful
integration of partial separations with existing Mill equipment and
processes represents a significant advancement in Energy Fuels'
long-term plans of becoming a vertically integrated producer of
advanced REE products. These separation processes also allow the
Company to refine operating costs and optimize metallurgical and
engineering designs for installation of a more advanced SX
separation circuit at the Mill in the future. This most recent
production campaign also further validates Energy Fuels' monazite
crack and leach process.
Energy Fuels continues to make rapid progress on restoring
commercial REE capabilities to the United
States. The Company is currently completing its latest
campaign of REE Carbonate production (with partial La separation)
from natural monazite sand concentrates. In July 2021, Energy Fuels began successfully
extracting REEs from natural monazite utilizing a crack and leach
process. The REE Carbonate that the Company has produced since
July 2021 meets Neo's commercial
specifications, thereby allowing it to be fed directly into the
separation process. Energy Fuels' REE Carbonate is the most
advanced REE material being produced at commercial quantities in
the U.S. today, as it has been chemically altered, impurities have
been removed, and it is ready for REE separation without further
processing. The Company's new REE Carbonate is even further
advanced, as it has been partially separated. The Company is
continuing to seek additional supplies of natural monazite sand to
expand production.
The Company is also pleased to announce that it is making
progress on its lab-scale REE separation pilot program. Lab-scale
piloting began in 2021 and is ongoing. The Company has achieved
production of a high-purity mixed NdPr oxide from its lab-scale
pilot. A sample of NdPr oxide will be sent to Neo for further
evaluation with the intent to sell this product as well as other
separated oxides to Neo or others in the future. Through the
operation of this pilot program, specific design criteria, as well
as reagent costs, are being evaluated, which to date, are within
initial expectations. REE separation piloting is expected to
continue throughout the rest of 2022, which will also allow the
Company to evaluate separation of the heavy REEs (samarium
("Sm")-plus).
Energy Fuels has also formally engaged the French consulting
firm, Carester SAS ("Carester"), to perform more detailed
scoping, cost estimation, permitting support, technical support,
and design for commercial "light" REE separation infrastructure at
the Mill. The Company is currently preparing an application to the
State of Utah, which it expects to
submit in late 2022 or in early 2023. The Company plans to be in a
position to initially produce up to 10,000 tonnes of total REE
oxides ("TREO") by 2025 or 2026. The preliminary, high-level
scoping work Carester performed for Energy Fuels in 2021 estimated
capital and operating costs to install and operate a "light"
separation infrastructure at the Mill capable of producing 10,000
tonnes TREO per year, which are in line with the Company's initial
expectations. The Company's expanded collaboration with Carester
will include validation of these numbers. If confirmed, Energy
Fuels expects to be among the lowest cost REE producers in the
world, while also recovering uranium and possibly thorium. Energy
Fuels is also evaluating the production of "heavy" REE oxides,
including Dy and Tb, which could occur by 2027 or 2028.
Uranium:
The price of uranium has risen dramatically since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The spot price of natural uranium
concentrates ("U3O8") currently sits
at $63.25 per pound, an increase of
over 50% since December 31, 2021.
Energy Fuels has been the largest producer of uranium in
the United States for the past
several years and has over 11.5 million pounds of annual uranium
production capacity, more than any other U.S. company. As of
December 31, 2021, the Company had
roughly 700,000 pounds of U.S.-origin U3O8,
produced by the Company in finished inventory and expects to
produce an additional 100,000 to 120,000 pounds in 2022. All the
Company's current finished U.S. produced uranium inventory is at
the two North American uranium conversion facilities. The Company
also has additional significant stockpiled mineralized material at
the Mill that can be processed relatively quickly for uranium
recovery as required.
The Company has also observed a marked uptick in interest from
nuclear utilities seeking long-term uranium supply, and is now
actively engaged in pursuing selective long-term uranium sales
contracts.
Vanadium:
Vanadium prices have also risen substantially this year. The
mid-point spot price of vanadium oxide
("V2O5") in Europe is currently $12.00 per pound, an increase of nearly 40% since
the end of 2021. Energy Fuels has begun selectively selling some of
its vanadium inventory in 2022 at increasing prices per pound of
V2O5. The Company is continuing to ship
V2O5 to the Bear Metallurgical facility in
Pennsylvania ("Bear Met")
for conversion to ferrovanadium ("FeV") for sale into the
steel and specialty alloy industries.
Mark S. Chalmers, President and
CEO of Energy Fuels stated: "I believe the week of
April 4, 2022 will go down as one of
the most important weeks in Company history. This week, our vision
of Energy Fuels as 'America's Critical Mineral and Clean Energy
Hub' tangibly advanced, as our White Mesa Mill in Utah sent three shipments of advanced
materials containing a total of fifteen critical elements,
including the rare earth elements cerium, praseodymium, neodymium,
samarium, europium, gadolinium, dysprosium, terbium, holmium,
yttrium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium, along with
uranium and vanadium, to downstream processing facilities. We sent
a shipment of high-purity rare earth carbonate containing 32% - 34%
NdPr to Silmet in Estonia, where
it will be refined and processed into various advanced materials
for use in permanent magnets used in electric vehicle (EV) motors
and wind generation, batteries, electronics, defense applications,
and other technologies. We sent a shipment of uranium concentrates
to ConverDyn in Illinois for sale
to U.S. nuclear utilities for the production of carbon-free nuclear
energy, and further adding to Energy Fuels' industry-leading
finished U.S.-origin uranium inventory. And, we sent another
truckload of vanadium to Bear Met in Pennsylvania for conversion into ferrovanadium
for use in high-strength steel and other advanced and specialty
alloys.
"I could not be more proud of what our team is doing at the
White Mesa Mill on rare earths. It is hard to believe, but we are
currently producing commercial-scale quantities of a rare earth
material that is more advanced than any other company in the U.S.
We even recently began commercial-scale rare earth separation in
March using existing Mill facilities, the first time the United States has produced a separated
rare earth product in a couple of decades. Keep in mind that we
only announced our entry into the rare earth space in April 2020. Yet barely two years later, Energy
Fuels is producing commercial quantities of advanced rare earth
materials. We have been able to move at 'lightning speed,' because
we have existing licenses, expertise, and infrastructure, along
with dedication and hard work. We believe we are moving faster than
any other company in the U.S. on restoring low-cost, domestic
critical material supply chains. At Energy Fuels, we don't just
talk about restoring critical domestic supply chains. We innovate,
invest, and work hard to actually do it, all to the highest
environmental, human health, and human rights standards in the
world."
ABOUT ENERGY FUELS
Energy Fuels is a leading U.S.-based uranium mining company,
supplying U3O8 to major nuclear
utilities. Energy Fuels also produces vanadium from certain of its
projects, as market conditions warrant, and is ramping up
commercial-scale production of REE 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 in-situ recovery
("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,
has the ability to produce vanadium when market conditions warrant,
as well as REE carbonate from various uranium-bearing ores. The
Nichols Ranch ISR Project is on standby and has a licensed capacity
of 2 million pounds of U3O8 per year.
The Alta Mesa ISR Project is also 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 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 STATEMENTS REGARDING
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains "forward-looking information"
within the meaning of applicable securities laws in the United States and Canada. Forward-looking information may relate
to future events or future performance of Energy Fuels. All
statements in this release, other than statements of historical
facts, with respect to Energy Fuels' objectives and goals, as well
as statements with respect to its beliefs, plans, objectives,
expectations, anticipations, estimates, and intentions, are
forward-looking information. Specific forward-looking statements in
this discussion include, but are not limited to, the following: any
expectation that the Company may establish itself as a Clean Energy
and Critical Mineral Hub in the U.S; any expectation that the
Company may be successful in becoming a vertically integrated
producer of advanced REE products; any expectation that the Company
may be successful in helping to restore commercial REE capabilities
and critical supply chains in the U.S.; any expectation that the
Company may be successful in securing additional supplies of
natural monazite sand to expand production; any expectation that
the Company may successfully permit and install a more advanced
commercial separation circuit at the Mill in the future for the
separation of light and/or heavy REEs and the timing of any such
permitting and installation; any expectation as to future
production levels of REE oxides; any expectation that the Company
may be among the lowest-cost REE producers in the world; any
expectation as to the amount of uranium the Company may produce in
2022; any expectation as to stockpiled mineralized material at the
Mill that may be processed for the recovery of uranium and the
timing of any such processing; any expectation that the Company may
secure long-term uranium sales contracts at suitable uranium
prices; any expectation as to future vanadium sales and the prices
of such sales; and any expectation that the Company will be able to
operate at the highest environmental, human health, and human
rights standards in the world. Often, but not always,
forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words
such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled",
"estimates", "continues", "forecasts", "projects", "predicts",
"intends", "anticipates" or "believes", or variations of, or the
negatives of, such words and phrases, or state that certain
actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should",
"might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. This information
involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from
those anticipated in such forward-looking information.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include
risks associated with: technical difficulties; processing
difficulties and upsets; licensing, permitting and
regulatory delays; litigation risks; competition from others; and
market factors, including future demand for and prices realized
from the sale of uranium, vanadium and REEs. Forward-looking
statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news
release, and Energy Fuels 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. Energy Fuels assumes no
obligation to update the information in this communication, except
as otherwise required by law.
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SOURCE Energy Fuels Inc.