Energy Fuels Receives Final OK to Expand Nichols Ranch

Energy Fuels Inc. (TSX:EFR,NYSEMKT:UUUU) has received the final amendment to the source material licence for the expansion of its Nichols Ranch ISR project from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). With this licence amendment in hand, the company now holds all of the permits, licences 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 licence amendment for the Jane Dough expansion was issued by the NRC on March 22, 2017. In support of the licence 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 Feb. 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 EnergyFuels‘ 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 header-houses to be in operation during 2017 producing a total of approximately 350,000 pounds of triuranium octoxide The Nichols Ranch wellfield includes four additional header-houses, which are expected to be constructed in the future, but only after sustained improvements in uranium prices are observed. Once all 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 22 header-houses that can be connected to the Nichols Ranch plant.
According to a February, 2015, technical report prepared in accordance with National Instrument 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 per cent equivalent triuranium octoxide. This is almost one 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 chief executive officer of EnergyFuels, stated: “Receipt of NRC approval is a key milestone for EnergyFuels, 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, licences, and permits from the NRC, EPA and State of Wyoming for this important project. In my view, obtaining these approvals is validation of EnergyFuels‘ successful track record of uranium production in Wyoming, and our commitment to safe operations and environmental protection. Uranium spot prices are up over 40 per cent 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 EnergyFuels Inc.
EnergyFuels is a leading integrated U.S.-based uranium mining company, supplying U3O8 to major nuclear utilities. EnergyFuels 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 licenced capacity of over eight million pounds of U3O8 per year. The Nichols Ranch processing facility is an ISR production centre with a licenced capacity of two million pounds of U3O8 per year.
Stephen P. Antony, PE, president and CEO of EnergyFuels, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, and has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release.
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