Energy Fuels to Increase Lower-Cost ISR Uranium Production Profile through Acquisition of Mesteña Uranium

Energy Fuels Inc. (TSX:EFR,NYSEMKT:UUUU) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Mesteña Uranium, LLC, a well-known, closely-held uranium producer that operates the Alta Mesa ISR Project located in Brooks and Jim Hogg Counties, Texas.
As quoted in the press release:

Transaction Highlights

• Acquisition of Mesteña will further cement Energy Fuels’ position as the dominant integrated uranium producer in the U.S.
• Alta Mesa is a fully-permitted and constructed in situ recovery (“ISR”) operation and processing facility, with a well-established track record of lower cost uranium production.
• Alta Mesa will diversify Energy Fuels’ operations into a 3^rd production center, along with the Nichols Ranch ISR Project (Wyoming) and the White Mesa Mill (Utah).
• Fully-licensed and constructed ISR processing facility that has an operating capacity of 1.5 million pounds of uranium per year.
• Alta Mesa is currently on standby and ready to resume production, as market conditions warrant.  It can reach commercial production levels with limited required capital within six months of a production decision.
• Control of a large land package totaling 195,501 contiguous acres, including 4,575-acres currently under a lease and mining permit and 190,926-acres under a lease-option and exploration/testing permit.
• Mesteña has extensive exploration results across the area that have identified significant uranium resources that Energy Fuels expects can be recovered at lower costs, as market conditions warrant.
• Between Alta Mesa, Nichols Ranch, and the White Mesa Mill, Energy Fuels’ licensed processing capacity will exceed 11.5 million pounds of uranium per year.
• Alta Mesa produced a total of 4.6 million pounds of uranium between October 2005 and November 2013, including 1 million pounds of uranium per year over a two year period.
• Mesteña’s operations are located on private land, with 100% of minerals owned in fee, and in a supportive jurisdiction with primary regulatory authority residing with the State of Texas.
• With low holding costs, Mesteña provides fully permitted lower-cost production scalability that can be brought into production as uranium prices improve, thereby improving Energy Fuels’ ability to respond to improvements in market conditions and at lower prices.

Energy Fuels President and CEO, Stephen P. Antony, stated:

Since we acquired Uranerz Energy Corporation in June 2015, Energy Fuels has not only added uranium production at the lower end of our cost curve, we’ve also gained valuable experience in the ISR uranium business.  Mesteña is well-known within the U.S. nuclear industry and has an impressive record of recent production.  Most importantly, the Alta Mesa Project is fully-permitted and constructed, and ready to go into production within a short period of time.  We believe this transaction creates significant value for our shareholders, as we are acquiring operational processing facilities and permitted resources, which would otherwise take many years and tens of millions of dollars to permit and construct ourselves.  I should also mention that our current Executive Vice President of ISR Operations in Wyoming, Paul Goranson, oversaw the Alta Mesa Project for several years.  He has intimate knowledge of the operations, including its costs, production profile and in-ground uranium resources.  In my view, Mesteña was the next logical acquisition in growing Energy Fuels’ ISR capability.  We look forward to closing the transaction within the next few months.

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