Energy Fuels reported 2022-1Q results generally in line with expectations and gave an update on operations. Production and sales remain small (modest Vanadium sales) making bottom line results largely a function of operating costs. A slight increase in operating losses ($10.2m versus $8.8m) and net losses ($14.7m versus $10.9m) reflect additional ramp up costs for UUUU's rare earth element (REE) development and were expected. Development discussions were largely a repeat of the April update. But wait! A uranium supply contract?!?! Management plans to separate REE elements, efforts to access new REE supplies (Monzanite), and its medical isotope recovery partnership. This is all old news. However, management also announced on a call with investors (not in the press release) that it had just signed a uranium supply contract. This is the first contract in several years and a clear sign that the uranium market has improved to a point where UUUU may ramp up production, "perhaps as early as this summer." Read More >>

Energy Fuels - Are we seeing the first signs of ramping up?
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Energy Fuels Announces 2022 Results; Emerging as the Leading US Producer of Critical Minerals with Focus on Uranium and Rare Earth Elements
Webcast on March 10, 2023
Preparing multiple uranium mines for production, completing profitable sales & developing rare earth refining capacity to power up to 1 million EVs per year by late-2023 or early-2024, while strengthening the balance sheet and avoiding debt.
Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) ("Energy Fuels" or the "Company") today reported its financial results for the year ended December 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.govedgar.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.
Financial Highlights:
- At December 31, 2022 , the Company had a robust balance sheet with $116.97 million of working capital, including $62.80 million of cash and cash equivalents, $12.19 million of marketable securities, $38.16 million of inventory, and no debt. At current commodity prices, the Company's product inventory has a value of $62.48 million ;
- During the year ended December 31, 2022 , the Company incurred a net loss of $59.85 million or $0.38 per share, due in large part to: i) a non-cash mark-to-market loss on investments accounted for at fair value of $16.90 million ; ii) increased expenses associated with preparing four(4) of our uranium mines for production; iii) development expenses associated with developing commercial rare earth element (" REE ") separation capabilities in addition to our existing mixed REE carbonate (" RE Carbonate ") commercial production capabilities; (iv) expenses associated with advancing our medical isotope initiatives;(v) increased selling, general and administrative expenses arising from costs associated with acquiring the South Bahia monazite sand project in Brazil (the " Bahia Project ") and costs associated with the sale of the Company's Alta Mesa in situ recovery (" ISR ") project in Texas ; and (vi) increased other selling, general and administrative expenses associated with significant additions to personnel, enhanced business processes, and other general and administrative expenses required to support all these increased levels of activity.
- The Company held 1,027,000 pounds of finished uranium (" U 3 O 8 ") inventory at year end, along with approximately 985,000 pounds of finished vanadium (" V 2 O 5 ") inventory. At March 8, 2023 , following sale and purchase transactions discussed below, the Company held 847,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 and approximately 945,000 pounds of V 2 O 5 inventory.
Uranium Highlights:
- During 2022, the Company produced 162,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 at its White Mesa Mill in Utah (the " Mill ") and remains the largest producer of uranium in the U.S.
- During 2022, the Company was awarded four (4) new uranium supply contracts, with deliveries beginning in 2023, of which three (3) are long-term contracts with U.S. nuclear utilities and one (1) is with the U.S. government to supply the newly established strategic U.S. Uranium Reserve (" U.S. Uranium Reserve ").
- In January 2023 , the Company completed the sale of 300,000 pounds of U.S.-origin U 3 O 8 to the U.S. Uranium Reserve realizing total gross proceeds of $18.47 million , or $61.57 per pound of U 3 O 8 , resulting in an expected margin of approximately $35.85 per pound of uranium.
- During Q4-2022 and Q1-2023, the Company purchased a total of 301,052 pounds. of U.S.-origin U 3 O 8 on the spot market for a weighted-average price of $50.08 per pound.
- During 2022, the Company made significant progress in preparing four (4) of its conventional uranium and uranium/vanadium mines to be ready to resume uranium ore production, including significant workforce expansion and performing needed rehabilitation of surface and underground infrastructure.
- On February 15, 2023 , the Company announced it had completed its previously announced sale of its Alta Mesa ISR Project to enCore Energy Corp. (" enCore ") for total consideration of $120 million , comprised of $60 million in cash and $60 million in a secured convertible note bearing interest at a rate of eight percent (8%) per annum, convertible into common shares of enCore at a price of $2.9103 per share. This sale of a lower priority project provides Energy Fuels with significant additional cash and working capital, enabling the Company to ramp-up its US industry-leading uranium and REE production, while avoiding dilution to shareholders.
Rare Earth Element Highlights:
- During 2022, the Company produced approximately 205 metric tons (" MT ") of high-purity, partially separated RE Carbonate from monazite, containing approximately 95 MT of total rare earth oxides (" TREO "), which is the most advanced REE material being produced commercially in the U.S. today. In Q4-2022, the Company received approximately 600 MT of monazite, which is expected to be processed into 375 to 485 MT of RE Carbonate, containing 175 to 225 MT or TREO, during 2023.
- In early 2023, the Company began modifying and enhancing its existing solvent extraction (" SX ") circuits at the Mill to be able to produce separated REE oxides (" Phase 1 "). "Phase 1" is expected to be completed and fully commissioned by late 2023 or early 2024 and have the capacity to produce roughly 800 to 1, 000 MT of recoverable separated neodymium-praseodymium (" NdPr ") oxide per year, subject to securing sufficient monazite feed, or enough to provide the permanent magnets to power up to 1 million electric vehicles (" EVs ") per year, which is expected to position the Company as one of the world's leading producers of NdPr outside of China . "Phase 1" capital costs are expected to total approximately $25 million . The Company is also proceeding with engineering on further enhancements to expand NdPr production capability (" Phase 2 ") by 2026 and to produce separated dysprosium (" Dy "), terbium (" Tb ") and potentially other REE materials in the future (" Phase 3 ") from monazite and potentially other REE process streams by 2027.
- On February 13, 2023 , the Company announced it had completed its previously announced acquisition of a large heavy mineral project in Brazil (the " Bahia Project "), which has the potential to supply the Company's growing REE business with significant quantities of REE-bearing natural monazite sand for decades. The Bahia Project also contains significant quantities of high-value titanium (ilmenite and rutile) and zirconium (zircon) minerals.
- The Company is currently in active discussions with several additional suppliers of natural monazite around the world to significantly increase the supply of feed for our growing REE initiative.
Vanadium Highlights:
- During 2022, the Company sold approximately 642,000 pounds of existing V 2 O 5 inventory (as ferrovanadium, " FeV "), for an average weighted net price of $13.67 per pound of V 2 O 5 .
Medical Isotope Highlights:
- The Company continued advancing its program to evaluate the potential to recover radioisotopes from its process streams for use in emerging targeted alpha therapy (" TAT ") cancer therapeutics.
Mark S. Chalmers , Energy Fuels' President and CEO, stated:
"2022 was an extraordinary year for Energy Fuels as we expanded our US industry-leading uranium business and established a new, sustainable US rare earth supply chain that is already commercially producing the most advanced rare earth material in the US today. We believe we have clearly emerged as one of the leading U.S. critical mineral companies, producing many of the raw materials needed for the clean energy transition.
"In 2022, positive uranium market fundamentals were magnified by concerns over security of supply, potentially creating new market dynamics for nuclear fuel. Nations around the world are embracing nuclear, as it provides clean, carbon-free electricity on a 24/7 basis, making it indispensable in the fight against climate change. Existing uranium mines globally are depleting, and underinvestment in new mines globally over the past several years could cause supply shortfalls in the coming years. These market fundamentals alone are the best I've seen in decades. Then, just over a year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine . Regrettably, the world has allowed Russian state-owned entities to exert disproportionate influence over global uranium and nuclear fuel supply chains over the past several years. Our company has been a leader warning about the inherent risks of such dependence since at least 2017. Most governments and utilities are taking concrete action to stop funding Russia's war effort in Ukraine through uranium and nuclear fuel purchases. Energy Fuels continues to stand ready to supply and increase the availability of secure, US-produced uranium.
"We have been very active in the uranium space over the past year. In 2022, we began readying several of our conventional uranium and uranium/vanadium mines for production. We have hired about 30 people, and we are making the investments required to put one or more of these facilities into production as soon as later this year. We were also the only U.S. company to produce material quantities of uranium in 2022, having produced 162,000 pounds during Q4-2022, far more than any other company in the U.S. We are proud to have had the opportunity to sell 300,000 pounds of U.S.-produced uranium to the newly established strategic U.S. Uranium Reserve, which is a small but important step in re-establishing the U.S. nuclear fuel capabilities that will allow us to reduce our reliance on Russian uranium imports. We also have another 260,000 pounds of uranium deliveries to a U.S. utility later this year. Our strong uranium inventory position, which currently sits at 847,000 pounds along with another approximately 351,000 pounds contained in ore on the pad at the Mill, together with planned production, will allow us to meet contract deliveries over the life of those contracts, while also providing the flexibility to sell into the spot market and sign new long-term contracts under favorable market conditions.
"2022 was also an incredible year for our rare earth business. No other company is making progress like Energy Fuels in the rare earth space. We continued to produce and optimize our production of partially separated mixed RE Carbonate, though we produced less than expected due to a delay in deliveries that pushed late-2022 production into early-2023. We announced that we are beginning development of a rare earth separation circuit at the Mill that is expected to be commissioned in late-2023 or early-2024. Once operational, this circuit will have the capacity to produce up to 1, 000 MT of refined NdPr oxide per year, or enough for up to one million EVs per year. We are also securing the monazite required to feed our rare earth infrastructure, including our recent acquisition of the Bahia Project -- a large rare earth, titanium and zirconium project in Brazil -- with additional third-party purchases of monazite from Chemours and others expected to be in the pipeline. Today, Energy Fuels' mixed RE Carbonate is already the most advanced rare earth material commercially produced in the U.S. If we continue to be successful, no other U.S. company will be producing commercial quantities of refined NdPr products ready for offtake as quickly as Energy Fuels.
"We opportunistically sold some of our vanadium inventory in 2022, and we are looking to potentially sell more with V 2 O 5 prices gaining strength recently. Further, our medical isotope initiative is continuing to progress well, and we hope to have more announcements on this very soon.
"Finally, we continue to manage our cash, assets, and working capital to achieve all these heightened initiatives. We take pride in maintaining a strong balance sheet and maintaining the flexibility to do big things. At the end of 2022, we had about $117 million of working capital, with inventories considerably worth more if you apply today's market prices for uranium and vanadium. In January 2023 , we completed the sale of 300,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 to the U.S. Department of Energy for $18.5M . In February 2023 , we closed on the sale of our Alta Mesa property in Texas , adding another $120 million to our treasury. Of this, $60 million is in cash and $60 million is in a convertible note bearing interest at eight percent per annum, or about $4.8 million per year.
"We accomplished a great deal over the past year, but this is just the beginning. We have market, geopolitical, and societal tailwinds behind all the commodities we produce, and we fully intend to continue building our critical mineral processes and capabilities. We look forward to providing more updates on future milestones as we achieve them in the weeks and months to come."
Webcast at 11:00 am ET on March 10, 2023 :
Energy Fuels will be hosting a video webcast on March 10, 2023 at 11:00 1m ET ( 9:00 am MT ) to discuss its FY-2022 financial results, the outlook for 2023, and its uranium, rare earths, vanadium, and medical isotopes initiatives. To join the webcast and access the presentation and viewer-controlled webcast slides, please click on the link below:
By clicking this link and registering your name and phone number, the system will call you and place you directly into the call without talking to an operator. If you wish to call in on your own, 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 145847#. The recording will be available until March 24, 2023 .
Selected Summary Financial Information:
Year ended December 31, | |||||
$000's, except per share data | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | ||
Results of Operations: | |||||
Total revenues | $ 12,515 | $ 3,184 | $ 1,658 | ||
Operating loss | (44,939) | (35,425) | (24,627) | ||
Net income (loss) attributable to the company | (59,849) | 1,541 | (27,776) | ||
Basic and diluted net income (loss) per common share | (0.38) | 0.01 | (0.23) |
$000's | As at | As at | ||
Financial Position: | ||||
Working capital | $ 116,966 | $ 143,190 | ||
Property, plant and equipment, net | 12,662 | 21,983 | ||
Mineral properties | 83,539 | 83,539 | ||
Total assets | 273,947 | 315,446 | ||
Total long-term liabilities | 10,914 | 13,805 |
Financial Discussion:
At December 31, 2022, the Company had $116.97 million of working capital, including $74.27 million of cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities and $38.16 million of inventory, including approximately 1,027,000 pounds of uranium and 985,000 pounds of high-purity vanadium, both in the form of finished, immediately marketable product. The current spot price of U 3 O 8 , according to TradeTech, is $50.50 per pound, and the current mid-point spot price of V 2 O 5 , according to Fastmarkets, is $10.78 per pound. Based on those spot prices, the Company's uranium and vanadium inventories have a current market value of $51.86 million and $10.62 million , respectively, totaling $62.48 million
For the year ended December 31, 2022, we recognized a net loss of $59.85 million or $0.38 per share compared to net income of $1.54 million or $0.01 per share for the year ended December 31, 2021. The change between periods was primarily due to (i) a gain of $35.73 million recognized on the sale of a portfolio of the Company's non-core conventional uranium projects to Consolidated Uranium Inc. (" CUR ") in 2021 primarily in exchange for shares in CUR; (ii) a non-cash mark-to-market loss on investments accounted for at fair value of $16.90 million in 2022 due primarily to a decrease in the market price of our CUR shares over 2022 (iii) increased expenses in 2022 associated with preparing four (4) of our uranium mines for production or operational readiness amounting to $2.4 million ; (iv) development expenses in 2022 associated with developing commercial REE separation capabilities in addition to our existing mixed RE Carbonate commercial production capabilities; (v) expenses in 2022 associated with advancing our medical isotope initiatives; (vi) increased transaction expenses in 2022 arising from costs associated with acquiring the Bahia Project and costs associated with the sale of the Company's Alta Mesa project in Texas ; and (vii) increased other selling, general and administrative expenses in 2022 of $10.2 million associated with significant additions to executive and management/supervisory personnel (including non-cash share-based compensation of $2.5 million ), enhanced business processes, and other general and administrative expenses required to support all these increased levels of activity, partially offset by increased revenues in 2022.
Sale to the U.S. Uranium Reserve:
On December 16, 2022 , the Company announced it had been awarded a contract to sell 300,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 for $18.5 million ( $61.57 per pound of U 3 O 8 ) to the U.S. government for the establishment of the U.S. Uranium Reserve, resulting in an expected margin of approximately $35.85 per pound of uranium. The Uranium Reserve is intended to be a backup source of supply for domestic nuclear power plants in the event of a significant market disruption. The Company completed the transfer and received the proceeds in January 2023 .
Update on Rare Earth Initiatives and the Bahia Project:
Earlier this year, the Company began "Phase 1" REE separation, which includes modifications and enhancements to the existing SX circuits at the Mill. "Phase 1" is expected to have the capacity to process approximately 8,000 to 10,000 MT of monazite per year, producing roughly 4,000 to 5,000 MT TREO, containing roughly 800 to 1,000 MT of recoverable separated NdPr oxide per year. Because Energy Fuels is utilizing existing infrastructure at the Mill, "Phase 1" capital is expected to total only about $25 million. "Phase 1" is expected to be operational later this year or early 2024, subject to receipt of sufficient monazite supply and successful development and commissioning. If these milestones are achieved, Energy Fuels believes it will be the 'first to market' among U.S. companies with commercial quantities of separated NdPr available to EV, renewable energy, and other companies for offtake. Later, the Company expects to complete further enhancements to the Mill to expand NdPr production capability (" Phase 2 ") by 2026 and to produce separated Dy, Tb and potentially other REE materials in the future (" Phase 3 ") from monazite and potentially other REE-bearing process streams by 2027.
On February 13, 2023 , the Company announced it had completed the previously announced acquisition of the Bahia Project located between the towns of Prado and Caravelas in the State of Bahia, Brazil totaling 15,089.71 hectares (approximately 37,300 acres or 58.3 square miles). The Bahia Project is a well-known heavy mineral sand (" HMS ") deposit that has the potential to supply 3,000 – 10, 000 MT of natural monazite per year for decades to the Mill for processing into high-purity RE Carbonate, separated REE oxides and other REE products and materials. The Bahia Project is also expected to produce large quantities of high-quality titanium (ilmenite and rutile) and zirconium (zircon) minerals that are also in high demand. REE production is highly complementary to Energy Fuels' existing US-leading uranium business, as monazite and other major REE-bearing minerals naturally contain uranium that will be recovered and other impurities that will be removed at the Mill before further processing into advanced high-purity REE materials. 3,000 – 10,000 MT of monazite contains roughly 1,500 – 5, 000 MT of TREO, including 300 – 1,000 MT of NdPr and significant commercial quantities of Dy and Tb.
Prior to the closing on the Bahia Project, the Company commenced a sonic drilling program to further define and quantify the HMS resource, particularly at depth. The limited sonic drilling completed by Energy Fuels over the past few months appears to be confirming that the mineral-bearing sands continue at depth. The Company finished phase 1 of sonic drilling at the Bahia Project on February 14, 2023 totaling 2,266 meters. The Company plans to announce phase 1 drilling results this year and start phase 2 drilling in Q3-2023. Once data from both drill programs are available, the Company plans to engage industry leaders to calculate an initial mineral resource estimate for use in an S-K 1300 (U.S.) compliant Initial Assessment and an NI 43-101 ( Canada ) compliant Technical Report.
Prior owners of the Bahia Project performed extensive exploration work on the property, including the drilling of over 3,300 hand augur drill holes and a gamma survey of the region. Data from the drilling was used to publish highly detailed exploration and "reserve" reports prepared between 2016 and 2022 that were submitted to the National Mineral Agency of Brazil (" ANM ") in order to move the areas forward toward mining. Based on these seventeen historical reports dated between October 20, 2016 and April 29, 2022 , the Bahia Project is estimated to contain 204 million MT of HMS, containing 7.18 million MT of heavy minerals at an average grade of 3.52%, including monazite concentrations in the HMS concentrate between 0.66% and 13.1%. It should be noted that these numbers are historical in nature and a Qualified Person under S-K 1300 or NI-43-101 has not done sufficient work to classify the estimates as a current estimate of Mineral Resources, Mineral Reserves, or exploration results. The Company is not treating these estimates as a current estimate of Mineral Resources, Mineral Reserves or exploration results. Further drilling and data collection might not prove out these numbers.
Sale of Alta Mesa Property to enCore Energy:
On February 15, 2023 , the Company announced it had completed the sale (the " Closing ") of three (3) wholly owned subsidiaries that together hold the Alta Mesa ISR Project (" Alta Mesa ") to enCore Energy Corp. (" enCore ") for total consideration of $120 million (the " Transaction "). The consideration is comprised of:
- $60 million cash at or prior to Closing; and
- $60 million in a secured convertible note (the " Note "), payable two (2) years from the Closing, bearing annual interest of eight percent (8%). The Note will be convertible at Energy Fuels' election into enCore common shares at a conversion price of $2.9103 per share, being a 20% premium to the 10-day volume-weighted average price of enCore shares ending the day before the Closing. enCore was recently listed on the NYSE American and also trades on the TSX Venture Exchange.
The Note is guaranteed by enCore and is fully secured by Alta Mesa. Unless a block trade or similar distribution is executed by Energy Fuels to sell enCore shares received upon conversion of the Note, Energy Fuels will be limited to converting the Note into a maximum of $10 million principal amount per thirty (30) day period.
In addition, enCore replaced the existing reclamation bonds for the Alta Mesa project shortly after the Closing, which will result in Energy Fuels receiving an additional $3.6 million cash as a return of collateral from those bonds. The Transaction is also expected to reduce the Company's holding costs related to Alta Mesa by approximately $2 million per year.
The Transaction provides Energy Fuels with significant additional cash and working capital, enabling the Company to ramp-up its US industry-leading uranium and REE production, while avoiding dilution to shareholders. In addition, the Note provides Energy Fuels with significant exposure to uranium market upside through potential conversion into enCore common shares.
Operations Update and Outlook for 2023:
Overview
The Company continues to believe that uranium supply and demand fundamentals point to higher sustained uranium prices in the future. The Company believes that nuclear energy, fueled by uranium, is experiencing a global resurgence with an increased focus by governments, policymakers, and citizens on decarbonization, electrification, and security of energy supply. In addition, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the 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 foster security of supply, avoid transportation issues, and ensure more certain pricing.
In 2022, we entered into three long-term uranium contracts with major U.S. utilities for which the Company is beginning to perform the necessary work to recommence production at one or more of its mines, starting as soon as 2023. Until such time when the Company has ramped back up to commercial uranium production, it can rely on its significant uranium inventories to fulfill its new contract requirements, including its recent purchases of U.S. origin uranium on the spot market.
The Company is seeking additional sources of natural monazite to supply feedstock to its emerging REE projects. The Company is also evaluating the potential to recover radioisotopes for use in the development of 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 expanding the new U.S. Uranium Reserve Program, supporting efforts to restore domestic nuclear fuel capabilities, and advocating for the responsible sourcing of uranium and nuclear fuel.
We continually evaluate the optimal mix of production, inventory and purchases in order to retain the flexibility to deliver long-term value.
Mill Activities
During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company recovered and packaged approximately 162,000 pounds of its final uranium product, U 3 O 8 , at the Mill, which was added to the Company's finished product inventory. The Mill recovered an additional small quantity of uranium, which was retained in-circuit and was not packaged in 2022. During 2022, the Mill also focused on its mixed RE Carbonate production and produced approximately 205 MT of high-purity, partially separated mixed RE Carbonate during 2022, while working to secure additional monazite ore feedstock to increase production. The Mill did not recover any vanadium in 2022.
During 2023, the Company does not plan to recover uranium at the Mill, other than from its monazite processing which will likely remain in circuit and not be packaged in 2023. During early 2023, the Company expects to process approximately 600 MT of monazite delivered late in 2022 from Chemours and recover approximately 175 to 225 MT of TREO at the Mill in the form of approximately 375 to 485 MT of RE Carbonate. The Company expects to receive an additional 400 – 700 MT of monazite from Chemours later in 2023, which the Company expects to process for the recovery of uranium and production of separated NdPr and a heavy REE (Sm+) Re Carbonate upon commissioning of the Mill's Phase 1 REE Separation circuit in late 2023 or early 2024. The Company is also in active discussion with several parties globally to acquire additional quantities of natural monazite, which if secured and delivered to the Mill, could result in significant additional quantities of uranium and separated NdPr and heavy REE (Sm+) Re Carbonate production in 2024 and beyond.
No vanadium production is currently planned during 2023, though the Company continually monitors its inventory and vanadium markets to guide future potential vanadium production.
Conventional Mine Activities
During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company performed rehabilitation and development work on its La Sal , Beaver , Whirlwind and Pinyon Plain projects for future potential production, including engineering, procurement, construction management, increased development activities, significant workforce expansion and needed rehabilitation of surface and underground infrastructure, while its other conventional mining properties remain on standby. The Company expects to continue its rehabilitation and development work, as it prepares these mines for future production. Although, the timing of the Company's plans to extract and process mineralized materials from these projects will be based on current contract requirements, inventory levels, sustained improvements in general market conditions, procurement of suitable sales contracts and/or the expansion of the U.S. Uranium Reserve Program, the Company is making the investments required to put one or more of these facilities into production as soon as later in 2023.
The Company is selectively advancing certain permits at its other major conventional uranium projects, such as the Roca Honda, Sheep Mountain, and Bullfrog Projects. All these projects serve as important pipeline assets for the Company's future conventional production capabilities, as market conditions may warrant.
ISR Mine Activities
The Company expects to produce insignificant quantities of U 3 O 8 in the year ending December 31, 2023 from Nichols Ranch. Until such time when (i) market conditions improve sufficiently, (ii) suitable term sales contracts can be procured, and/or (iii) the U.S. Uranium Reserve Program is expanded, 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.
Inventory
As of December 31, 2022 , the Company had approximately 1,027,000 pounds of finished uranium inventories located at North American conversion facilities. Additionally, the Company had approximately 351,000 pounds of additional U 3 O 8 contained in stockpiled Alternate Feed Materials and other ore inventory at the Mill that can be recovered relatively quickly in the future, as general market conditions may warrant. During Q1-2023, the Company completed the purchase 120,000 additional pounds of uranium and the sale of 300,000 pounds of uranium to the U.S. Uranium Reserve, resulting in the Company holding approximately 847,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 in inventory as of March 8, 2023 . The Company expects to deliver 260,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 under its existing uranium term contracts in 2023, resulting in expected uranium inventories to total approximately 587,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 at year-end 2023, subject to currently unplanned uranium spot sales and purchases.
The Company currently has approximately 945,000 pounds of V 2 O 5 in inventory, and there remains an estimated 1.0 to 3.0 million pounds of additional solubilized recoverable V 2 O 5 remaining in tailings solutions awaiting future recovery, as market conditions may warrant.
Sales Update and Outlook for 2023
Uranium Sales
While the Company did not sell uranium during the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company entered into four (4) uranium sale and purchase agreements in 2022, three (3) with major U.S. nuclear utilities and one (1) with the U.S. Uranium Reserve. Under these contracts, the Company expects to sell 560,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 during 2023 with an expected weighted-average sales price of $58 - $60 per pound, subject to then-prevailing market prices at the time of delivery.
The three (3) utility contracts require deliveries of uranium between 2023 and 2030, with base quantities totaling 3.0 million pounds of uranium over the period, and up to 4.1 million pounds of uranium if all remaining options are exercised. Having observed a marked uptick in interest from nuclear utilities seeking long-term uranium supply, the Company remains actively engaged in pursuing additional selective long-term uranium sales contracts. During 2023, the Company expects to sell 260,000 pounds of its U 3 O 8 inventory into these contracts at an expected sales price of approximately $54 - $58 per pound, subject to inflation and spot prices in effect at the time of delivery. In addition, in January 2023 , the Company completed the sale of 300,000 pounds of its inventories located at ConverDyn to the U.S. Uranium Reserve, receiving total proceeds of $18.47 million ( $61.57 per pound).
To provide the Company with additional flexibility to fulfill its contract obligations and gain direct exposure to potential future uranium price increases, the Company has recently purchased a total of 301,052 lbs. of U.S. origin uranium on the spot market for a weighted-average gross price of approximately $50.08 per pound.
Vanadium Sales
As a result of strengthening vanadium markets, during the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company sold approximately 642,000 pounds of the Company's existing inventory of V 2 O 5 (as FeV) at a net weighted average price of $13.67 per pound of V 2 O 5 . 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 expects to sell to a diverse group of customers in order to maximize revenues and profits. The vanadium produced in the 2018/19 Pond Return campaign was a high-purity vanadium product of 99.6%-99.7% V 2 O 5 . The Company believes there may be opportunities to sell certain quantities of this high-purity material at a premium to reported spot prices.
The Company intends to continue to selectively sell itsV 2 O 5 inventory on the spot market as markets warrant but will otherwise continue to maintain its vanadium in inventory.
Rare Earth Sales
The Company commenced its commercial production of a mixed RE Carbonate in March 2021 and has shipped all its RE Carbonate produced to-date to Neo Performance Material's (" Neo's ") REE separation plant, Silmet, located in Estonia where it is currently being fed into their separation process. All RE Carbonate produced at the Mill in 2022 was sold to Neo for separation at Silmet. Until such time as the Company commissions its own separation circuits at the Mill, which is expected to be in late 2023 or early 2024, all or a portion of RE Carbonate production is expected to be sold to Neo for separation at Silmet and/or, 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. During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company sold approximately 89,000 kilograms of RE Carbonate at an average price of $23.88 per kilogram of RE Carbonate.
While the Company continues to make progress on 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 and process enhancements at the Mill being expensed as underutilized capacity production costs applicable to RE Carbonate and development expenditures. Throughout this process, the Company is gaining important knowledge, experience and technical information, all of which are valuable for current and future mixed RE Carbonate production and planned future production of separated REE oxides and other advanced REE materials at the Mill or elsewhere.
ABOUT Energy Fuels
Energy Fuels is a leading US-based critical minerals company. The Company mines uranium and produces natural uranium concentrates that are sold to major nuclear utilities for the production of carbon-free nuclear energy. Energy Fuels recently began production of advanced rare earth element (" REE ") materials, including mixed REE carbonate, and plans to produce commercial quantities of separated REE oxides in the future. Energy Fuels also produces vanadium from certain of its projects, as market conditions warrant, and is evaluating the recovery of radionuclides needed for emerging cancer treatments. Its corporate offices are in Lakewood, Colorado , near Denver, and substantially all its assets and employees are in the United States . Energy Fuels holds two of America's key uranium production centers: the White Mesa Mill in Utah and the Nichols Ranch in-situ recovery (" ISR ") Project in Wyoming. The White Mesa Mill is the only conventional uranium mill operating in the US today, has a licensed capacity of over 8 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year, has the ability to produce vanadium when market conditions warrant, as well as REE products, from various uranium-bearing ores. The Nichols Ranch ISR Project is on standby and has a licensed capacity of 2 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year. The Company recently acquired the Bahia Project in Brazil , which is believed to have significant quantities of titanium (ilmenite and rutile), zirconium (zircon) and REE (monazite) minerals. In addition to the above production facilities, Energy Fuels also has one of the largest NI 43-101 compliant uranium resource portfolios in the US 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 .
Daniel Kapostasy , P.G., Director of Technical Services for 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, including sampling, analytical, and test data underlying such disclosure.
The data collected and provided in this disclosure related to the Bahia Project is derived entirely from the exploration reports for each of the seventeen ANM Process Areas. Dan Kapostasy , Director of Technical Services and a Qualified Person for the Company has reviewed these reports in detail and discussed the methods used with the project geologist in charge of field and laboratory activities for the previous owners. This person is also currently an employee of Energy Fuels Brazil, Ltda. Heavy mineral concentrations were derived for every meter drilled using heavy liquid separations, a standard method of heavy mineral determination.
To determine the concentration of the various heavy minerals in a sample, the heavy fraction was separated from the silica sand by using heavy liquid separation. The heavy fraction was then mounted in epoxy or dispersed on slide glass and viewed under a microscope. A geologist can then identify the various minerals and determine the concentration of each mineral through a process called point counting, whereby the geologist identifies each sand grain individually, tallies the number of each mineral and then divides by the total.
Verification of the heavy mineral concentration was started by the Company in September 2022 , when it hired a contract driller to collect samples using a sonic rig. While no laboratory analyses have been received to date, visual estimation of the heavy mineral quantity indicates that the historical values seen at the various Process Areas are valid.
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 be awarded any future sales under the U.S. Uranium Reserve; 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 Uranium Reserve; any expectation as to future uranium, vanadium, RE Carbonate, REE oxide, or REE market fundamentals or sales; any expectation as to recommencement of production at any of the Company's uranium mines or the timing thereof; 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; any expectation as to timelines for the permitting and development of projects; any expectation as to longer term fundamentals in the market and price projections; any expectation 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 U.S.-based critical minerals company; any expectation with respect to timelines to production; any expectation that the sale of the Alta Mesa project and the use of the proceeds from that sale will not result in any dilution to shareholders; any expectation that the Mill will be successful in producing RE Carbonate on a full-scale 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, including the timing of any such initiatives and the expected production capacity or capital and operating costs associated with any such production capabilities; any expectation with respect to the future demand for REEs; any expectation with respect to the quantities of monazite to be acquired by Energy Fuels, the quantities of RE Carbonate or REE oxides to be produced by the Mill or the quantities of contained TREO in the Mill's RE Carbonate; any expectation that the Company may sell its separated NdPr oxide to major electric vehicle manufacturers in the U.S. and Europe ; any expectation that the Bahia Project has the potential to feed the Mill with REE and uranium-bearing monazite sand for decades or at all; any expectation that the Company will complete comprehensive sonic drilling and geophysical mapping at the Bahia Project or complete an Initial Assessment under SK-1300 (U.S.) and a Technical Report Technical Report under NI 43-101 ( Canada ) during Q4-2023 or Q1-2024, or otherwise; 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 or radium recovered at the Mill will be feasible; any expectation that any thorium, radium or other isotopes can be recovered at the Mill and sold on a commercial basis; any expectation as to the quantities to be delivered under existing uranium sales contracts; any expectation that the Company will be successful in completing any additional contracts for the sale of uranium to U.S. utilities on commercially reasonable terms or at all; 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; engineering, construction, 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; available supplies of monazite; the ability of the Mill to produce RE Carbonate, REE oxides or other REE products to meet commercial specifications on a commercial scale at acceptable costs or at all; market factors, including future demand for REEs; the ability of the Mill to be able to separate radium or other radioisotopes 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.

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CleanTech & Precious Metals Virtual Investor Conference: Presentations Now Available for Online Viewing
Virtual Investor Conferences, the leading proprietary investor conference series, announced the presentations from the CleanTech and Precious Metal Virtual Investor Conference held on February 14 th -16 th are now available for online viewing.
REGISTER NOW AT : https://bit.ly/3S1V1yg
The company presentations will be available 24/7 for 90 days. Investors, advisors, and analysts may download investor materials from the company's resource section.
Select companies are accepting 1x1 management meeting requests through February 21 st , 2023.
February 14th
Presentation | Ticker(s) |
Deep Yellow Ltd. | OTCQX: DYLLF | ASX: DYL |
Madison Metals Inc. | OTCQB: MMTLF | CSE: GREN |
Blue Sky Uranium Corp. | OTCQB: BKUCF | TSXV: BSK |
Kraken Energy Corp. | OTCQB: UUSAF | CSE: UUSA |
Fission Uranium Corp. | OTCQX: FCUUF | TSX: FCU |
Peninsula Energy Ltd. | OTCQB: PENMF | ASX: PEN |
Keynote Presentation: The Outlook for Vanadium Supply/Demand Projections and Analysis Terry Perles, Secretary of Board of Directors US Vanadium | |
Energy Fuels Inc. | NYSE American: UUUU | TSX: EFR |
Largo Physical Vanadium Corp. | TSXV: VAND |
Currie Rose Resources Inc. | Pink: CUIRF | TSXV: CUI |
Phenom Resources Corp. | OTCQX: PHNMF | TSXV: PHNM |
Australian Vanadium Limited | OTCQB: ATVVF | ASX: AVL |
February 15th
Presentation | Ticker(s) |
Vision Lithium Inc. | OTCQB: ABEPF | TSXV: VLI |
CleanTech Lithium PLC | OTCQB: CTLHF |AIM: CTL |
Collective Mining Ltd. | OTCQX: CNLMF | TSXV: CNL |
Precipitate Gold Corp. | OTCQB: PREIF | TSXV: PRG |
Golden Arrow Resource Corp. | OTCQB: GARWF | TSXV: GRG |
Metallic Minerals Corp. | OTCQB: MMNGF | TSXV: MMG |
Faraday Copper Corp. | OTCQX: CPPKF | TSX: FDY |
Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. | OTCQB: AVLNF | TSX: AVL |
Sun Summit Minerals Corp. | OTCQB: SMREF | TSXV: SMN |
Wealth Minerals Ltd. | OTCQB: WMLLF | TSXV: WML |
Southern Silver Exploration Corp. | OTCQX: SSVFF | TSXV: SSV |
Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd. | OTCQB: PEXZF | TSXV: PEX |
February 16th
Presentation | Ticker(s) |
Guanajuato Silver Co Ltd. | OTCQX: GSVRF | TSXV: GSVR |
Doré Copper Mining Corp. | OTCQX: DRCMF | TSXV: DCMC |
Amex Exploration Inc. | OTCQX: AMXEF | TSXV: AMX |
Barksdale Resources Corp. | OTCQX: BRKCF | TSXV: BRO |
Grounded Lithium Corp. | OTCQB: GRDAF | TSXV: GRD |
Giga Metals | OTCQX: HNCKF | TSXV: GIGA |
Lavras Gold Corp. | OTCQB: LGCFF | TSXV: LGC |
Century Lithium Corp. | OTCQX: CYDVF | TSXV: LCE |
Power Nickel Inc. | OTCQB: PNPNF | TSXV: PNPN |
O3 Mining Inc | OTCQX: OIIIF | TSXV: OIII |
Outcrop Silver & Gold Corp. | OTCQX: OCGSF | TSXV: OCG |
Empress Royalty Corp. | OTCQX: EMPYF | TSX-V: EMPR |
To facilitate investor relations scheduling and to view a complete calendar of Virtual Investor Conferences, please visit www.virtualinvestorconferences.com .
About Virtual Investor Conferences ®
Virtual Investor Conferences (VIC) is the leading proprietary investor conference series that provides an interactive forum for publicly traded companies to seamlessly present directly to investors.
Providing a real-time investor engagement solution, VIC is specifically designed to offer companies more efficient investor access. Replicating the components of an on-site investor conference, VIC offers companies enhanced capabilities to connect with investors, schedule targeted one-on-one meetings and enhance their presentations with dynamic video content. Accelerating the next level of investor engagement, Virtual Investor Conferences delivers leading investor communications to a global network of retail and institutional investors.
Media Contact:
OTC Markets Group Inc. +1 (212) 896-4428, media@otcmarkets.com
Virtual Investor Conferences Contact:
John M. Viglotti
SVP Corporate Services, Investor Access
OTC Markets Group
(212) 220-2221
johnv@otcmarkets.com
News Provided by GlobeNewswire via QuoteMedia
CleanTech & Precious Metals Virtual Investor Conference: Presentations Now Available for Online Viewing
Virtual Investor Conferences, the leading proprietary investor conference series, announced the presentations from the CleanTech and Precious Metal Virtual Investor Conference held on February 14 th -16 th are now available for online viewing.
REGISTER NOW AT : https://bit.ly/3S1V1yg
The company presentations will be available 24/7 for 90 days. Investors, advisors, and analysts may download investor materials from the company's resource section.
Select companies are accepting 1x1 management meeting requests through February 21 st , 2023.
February 14th
Presentation | Ticker(s) |
Deep Yellow Ltd. | OTCQX: DYLLF | ASX: DYL |
Madison Metals Inc. | OTCQB: MMTLF | CSE: GREN |
Blue Sky Uranium Corp. | OTCQB: BKUCF | TSXV: BSK |
Kraken Energy Corp. | OTCQB: UUSAF | CSE: UUSA |
Fission Uranium Corp. | OTCQX: FCUUF | TSX: FCU |
Peninsula Energy Ltd. | OTCQB: PENMF | ASX: PEN |
Keynote Presentation: The Outlook for Vanadium Supply/Demand Projections and Analysis Terry Perles, Secretary of Board of Directors US Vanadium | |
Energy Fuels Inc. | NYSE American: UUUU | TSX: EFR |
Largo Physical Vanadium Corp. | TSXV: VAND |
Currie Rose Resources Inc. | Pink: CUIRF | TSXV: CUI |
Phenom Resources Corp. | OTCQX: PHNMF | TSXV: PHNM |
Australian Vanadium Limited | OTCQB: ATVVF | ASX: AVL |
February 15th
Presentation | Ticker(s) |
Vision Lithium Inc. | OTCQB: ABEPF | TSXV: VLI |
CleanTech Lithium PLC | OTCQB: CTLHF |AIM: CTL |
Collective Mining Ltd. | OTCQX: CNLMF | TSXV: CNL |
Precipitate Gold Corp. | OTCQB: PREIF | TSXV: PRG |
Golden Arrow Resource Corp. | OTCQB: GARWF | TSXV: GRG |
Metallic Minerals Corp. | OTCQB: MMNGF | TSXV: MMG |
Faraday Copper Corp. | OTCQX: CPPKF | TSX: FDY |
Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. | OTCQB: AVLNF | TSX: AVL |
Sun Summit Minerals Corp. | OTCQB: SMREF | TSXV: SMN |
Wealth Minerals Ltd. | OTCQB: WMLLF | TSXV: WML |
Southern Silver Exploration Corp. | OTCQX: SSVFF | TSXV: SSV |
Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd. | OTCQB: PEXZF | TSXV: PEX |
February 16th
Presentation | Ticker(s) |
Guanajuato Silver Co Ltd. | OTCQX: GSVRF | TSXV: GSVR |
Doré Copper Mining Corp. | OTCQX: DRCMF | TSXV: DCMC |
Amex Exploration Inc. | OTCQX: AMXEF | TSXV: AMX |
Barksdale Resources Corp. | OTCQX: BRKCF | TSXV: BRO |
Grounded Lithium Corp. | OTCQB: GRDAF | TSXV: GRD |
Giga Metals | OTCQX: HNCKF | TSXV: GIGA |
Lavras Gold Corp. | OTCQB: LGCFF | TSXV: LGC |
Century Lithium Corp. | OTCQX: CYDVF | TSXV: LCE |
Power Nickel Inc. | OTCQB: PNPNF | TSXV: PNPN |
O3 Mining Inc | OTCQX: OIIIF | TSXV: OIII |
Outcrop Silver & Gold Corp. | OTCQX: OCGSF | TSXV: OCG |
Empress Royalty Corp. | OTCQX: EMPYF | TSX-V: EMPR |
To facilitate investor relations scheduling and to view a complete calendar of Virtual Investor Conferences, please visit www.virtualinvestorconferences.com .
About Virtual Investor Conferences ®
Virtual Investor Conferences (VIC) is the leading proprietary investor conference series that provides an interactive forum for publicly traded companies to seamlessly present directly to investors.
Providing a real-time investor engagement solution, VIC is specifically designed to offer companies more efficient investor access. Replicating the components of an on-site investor conference, VIC offers companies enhanced capabilities to connect with investors, schedule targeted one-on-one meetings and enhance their presentations with dynamic video content. Accelerating the next level of investor engagement, Virtual Investor Conferences delivers leading investor communications to a global network of retail and institutional investors.
Media Contact:
OTC Markets Group Inc. +1 (212) 896-4428, media@otcmarkets.com
Virtual Investor Conferences Contact:
John M. Viglotti
SVP Corporate Services, Investor Access
OTC Markets Group
(212) 220-2221
johnv@otcmarkets.com
News Provided by GlobeNewswire via QuoteMedia
Energy Fuels Completes Sale of Alta Mesa Property to enCore Energy for Total Gross Proceeds of $120 Million
Sale provides Energy Fuels with significant non-dilutive funding for expansion of industry-leading US uranium production and completion of 'Phase 1' rare earth separation circuit.
Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) ( "Energy Fuels" or the "Company" ) is pleased to announce that it has completed the sale (the " Closing ") of three (3) wholly-owned subsidiaries that together hold Energy Fuels' Alta Mesa ISR Project (" Alta Mesa ") to enCore Energy Corp. (" enCore ") for total consideration of $120 million (the " Transaction "). Unless otherwise indicated, all references to dollar amounts in this press release are references to US$.
The consideration is comprised of:
- $60 million cash at or prior to Closing; and
- $60 million in a secured convertible note (the " Note "), payable in two (2) years from the Closing, bearing annual interest of eight percent (8%). The Note will be convertible at Energy Fuels' election into enCore common shares at a conversion price of $2.9103 per share, being a 20% premium to the 10-day volume-weighted average price of enCore shares ending the day before the Closing. enCore was recently listed on the NYSE American and also trades on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Note is guaranteed by enCore and is fully secured by Alta Mesa. Unless a block trade or similar distribution is executed by Energy Fuels to sell enCore shares received upon conversion of the Note, Energy Fuels will be limited to converting the Note into a maximum of $10 million principal amount per thirty (30) day period.
In addition, enCore is required to replace the existing reclamation bonds for the Alta Mesa project shortly after the Closing, which will result in Energy Fuels receiving an additional $3.6 million cash as a return of collateral from those bonds. The Transaction also reduces the Company's holding costs related to Alta Mesa by approximately $2 million per year.
The Transaction provides Energy Fuels with significant additional cash and working capital, enabling the Company to ramp-up its US industry-leading uranium and rare earth element (" REE ") production, while avoiding dilution to shareholders. In addition, the Note provides Energy Fuels with significant exposure to uranium market upside through potential conversion into enCore common shares.
Energy Fuels plans to invest a portion of the proceeds from the Transaction into increasing its US industry-leading uranium production. At the current time, the Company's White Mesa Mill (the " Mill ") is the only US uranium facility producing material quantities of uranium, having produced 162,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 in Q4-2022. The Company is also preparing four (4) of its conventional uranium and uranium/vanadium mines to be ready to resume uranium ore production, including significant workforce expansion and performing needed rehabilitation of surface and underground infrastructure. The exact timing for resumption of ore production from each of these projects will be subject to current and future uranium sales and inventory requirements.
Energy Fuels' 2022 uranium production of 162,000 pounds exceeded its previously announced guidance of 130,000 to 140,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 . In addition, over the past several months, the Company has invested in additional uranium inventories, having purchased approximately 301,000 pounds of US-origin U 3 O 8 at a weighted average price of $50.08 per pound. In addition, in January 2023 , the Company sold 300,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 to the US government for the establishment of the strategic Uranium Reserve, earning total gross proceeds of $18.5 million , or $61.57 per pound.
As a result of 2022 production, recent purchases, and the sale to the US government, Energy Fuels currently holds approximately 847,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 in inventory at a book value of $29.19 per pound (worth about $42.5 million at the current weekly uranium spot price as reported by TradeTech). In combination with future uranium production, the Company expects to utilize this inventory to fulfill its delivery obligations under its supply contracts with US nuclear utilities. Energy Fuels is also actively seeking additional uranium sales contracts with nuclear utilities at increasingly higher uranium prices bolstered by improving market fundamentals, including the global energy transition toward less carbon intensive sources of energy, including nuclear, efforts to move away from Russian uranium and nuclear fuel supply, and other factors related to transportation and security of supply. As a result of the Company's strategic moves in the uranium space, the Company believes it is creating significant flexibility by growing and managing its existing inventories and preparing several of its US assets for near-term production.
In a February 13, 2023 news release, the Company announced that it had achieved several milestones related to its expanding REE supply chain, including completion of the acquisition of the Bahia Project in Brazil and continued progress on procuring natural monazite sand concentrate. Today, the Company is producing the most advanced REE material in the US and is currently performing modifications and enhancements to the existing solvent extraction (" SX ") circuits at the Mill (" Phase 1 ") that are expected to enable Energy Fuels to annually produce up to 5,000 metric tons (" MT ") of total REE oxides (" TREO "), including up to 1, 000 MT of neodymium-praseodymium (" NdPr ") oxide (or oxalate), subject to receipt of sufficient REE-bearing monazite sand supply and successful commissioning. The "Phase 1" circuit will be in the same SX building where uranium and vanadium is produced at the Mill. If these milestones are achieved, Energy Fuels believes it will be the 'first to market' among US companies with commercial quantities of separated NdPr available to electric vehicle (" EV "), renewable energy, and other companies for offtake, while fully maintaining our uranium and vanadium recovery capabilities. Energy Fuels' "Phase 1" "light" separation circuit is expected to produce commercial quantities of separated NdPr oxide (or oxalate) by later this year or early 2024, followed by planned further enhancements to expand NdPr production capability (" Phase 2 ") and to produce separated "heavy" REEs, including Dy, Tb, and potentially other REE materials, in the future (" Phase 3 ") from monazite and potentially other REE-bearing process streams.
Mark S. Chalmers , President and CEO of Energy Fuels stated: "Energy Fuels' sale of the Alta Mesa project for $120 million of total consideration is highly strategic for a variety of reasons. When combined with our already strong balance sheet, the proceeds from this sale are expected to fully fund our current uranium, vanadium and rare earth business plans through approximately 2024 without the dilution to shareholders one might normally expect, nor depletion of working capital. On the uranium front, this sale provides Energy Fuels with the ability to make the focused investments in infrastructure and human capital required to resume production at our lowest-cost and nearest-term uranium mines and facilities. We believe Energy Fuels will be among the quickest to market with significant new US uranium production and retain our position as the leading US uranium producer for many years to come.
"Of the four (4) conventional mines we are currently preparing for production, three (3) produce both uranium and vanadium. Vanadium prices are currently on the move, having risen from $7.50 per pound of V 2 O 5 in October 2022 to $10.80 per pound today. Vanadium is important to our uranium business, as strong vanadium prices contribute to the economics of these mines, making them a more attractive option for us as we evaluate which mines to place back into production. Due to today's strong vanadium markets, we are also evaluating the sale of more of our existing vanadium inventory which currently sits at 987,000 pounds of V 2 O 5 .
"Even though uranium is Energy Fuels' core business, we expect to invest some of the proceeds from the sale of Alta Mesa into our rapidly expanding rare earths business. We have started the modifications and enhancements at our White Mesa Mill in Utah that are expected to produce commercial quantities (500 – 1, 000 MT ) of NdPr oxide (or oxalate) by later this year or early in 2024, while maintaining our uranium and vanadium capabilities. NdPr oxide is a high-demand advanced material needed in the EV, renewable energy and defense industries. We are not aware of any other US company that will get this far down the US rare earth supply chain as quickly as Energy Fuels. It is also virtually unheard of anywhere else in the world to produce uranium, vanadium and separated rare earths in the same building, which demonstrates the creativity and resourcefulness of the team at the Mill.
"We also expect to invest some of the proceeds from Alta Mesa into advancing our Bahia Project in Brazil , where we plan to continue our comprehensive sonic drill program in 2023 to better define and delineate the titanium (ilmenite and rutile), zirconium (zircon), and of course rare earths (monazite) resources. We believe the Bahia Project has the potential to produce 3,000 to 10, 000 MT per year of monazite concentrate for our Mill as soon as 2025 and for decades to come. Bahia, combined with other Company-owned and third-party monazite sources, is expected to supply the feed for 'Phase 1' and 'Phase 2' 'light' rare earth separation, and 'Phase 3' 'heavy' rare earth separation at the Mill.
"We see our rapidly developing REE business as highly complementary to our primary uranium business. We can utilize our existing facilities to recover uranium and REEs from monazite, which increases our uranium production and also allows us to generate margins from multiple commodities. No other US uranium producer has the ability to complement its primary uranium business in this manner.
"Finally, the $60 million secured convertible note Energy Fuels received from enCore at closing provides the Company with additional uranium market upside through the potential conversion of the Note into enCore Energy shares at an attractive conversion price."
Energy Fuels is a leading US-based critical minerals company. The Company mines uranium and produces natural uranium concentrates that are sold to major nuclear utilities for the production of carbon-free nuclear energy. Energy Fuels recently began production of advanced rare earth element (" REE ") materials, including mixed REE carbonate, and plans to produce commercial quantities of separated REE oxides in the future. Energy Fuels also produces vanadium from certain of its projects, as market conditions warrant, and is evaluating the recovery of radionuclides needed for emerging cancer treatments. Its corporate offices are in Lakewood, Colorado , near Denver, and substantially all its assets and employees are in the United States . Energy Fuels holds two of America's key uranium production centers: the White Mesa Mill in Utah and the Nichols Ranch in-situ recovery (" ISR ") Project in Wyoming. The White Mesa Mill is the only conventional uranium mill operating in the US today, has a licensed capacity of over 8 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year, has the ability to produce vanadium when market conditions warrant, as well as REE products, from various uranium-bearing ores. The Nichols Ranch ISR Project is on standby and has a licensed capacity of 2 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year. The Company recently acquired the Bahia Project in Brazil , which is believed to have significant quantities of titanium (ilmenite and rutile), zirconium (zircon) and REE (monazite) minerals. In addition to the above production facilities, Energy Fuels also has one of the largest NI 43-101 compliant uranium resource portfolios in the US 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 .
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 will receive an additional $3.6 million cash as a return of collateral from the Alta Mesa reclamation bonds; any expectation that the conversion price of the Note may be attractive or that the Company will convert all or any portion of the Note; any expectation that the proceeds from the sale of Alta Mesa will fully fund the Company's current uranium, vanadium and REE business plans through approximately 2024 without dilution to shareholders or depletion of working capital; any expectation that the Company will invest a portion of the proceeds of the Transaction into its uranium production; any expectation that the Company will successfully prepare any of its mines to resume ore production or that any of its mines will enter into production in the near term or at all; any expectation that the Company will utilize any of its inventories to fulfill delivery obligations under its existing supply contracts or will be successful in obtaining any additional supply contracts; any expectation as to the quantities of uranium and heavy minerals, including monazite , NdPr, Dy and Tb contained in the Bahia Project; any expectation as to the potential annual supply of monazite sands from the Bahia Project to the Mill, the contained MT of TREO per year, or the number of years or decades of such potential supply; any expectation as to the timing of mining at the Bahia Project; any expectation that the Company will complete its Phase 1, Phase 2 and/or Phase 3 separation facilities on the time frames indicated, if at all; any expectation as to the expected throughput rates, production capability, and REEs to be produced ; any expectation that the Company will be the first to market among US companies with commercial quantities of separated NdPr available to EV, renewable energy and other companies for offtake; any expectation that the Company will retain its position as the leading US uranium producer for many years to come; any expectations as to vanadium or other commodity prices; any expectation that the Company will sell any of existing inventory at attractive prices or at all; any expectation that the Company will be able to utilize the Mill to generate margins from recovering uranium and REEs from monazite sands and other ores independent of the price of uranium; any expectation that the Company's REE business may become a profitable stand-alone business for the Company, or provide commodity price diversification for the Company; and any expectation that the Mill is a unique and highly strategic asset in the US . 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; mining or processing difficulties and upsets; licensing, permitting and regulatory delays; litigation risks; competition from others; political actions or instability in foreign countries; 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.

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Energy Fuels Completes Acquisition of Rare Earth and Heavy Mineral Project in Brazil
Acquisition of Bahia Project expected to supply the raw materials needed by the Company's US facility for the production of advanced rare earth materials used in EVs, clean energy, and defense technologies.
Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) ( "Energy Fuels" or the "Company" ) is pleased to announce that it has completed its previously announced acquisition (the " Closing ") of seventeen (17) mineral concessions between the towns of Prado and Caravelas in the State of Bahia, Brazil totaling 15,089.71 hectares (approximately 37,300 acres or 58.3 square miles) (the " Bahia Project "). The Closing followed the Brazilian Government's approval of the transfers to Energy Fuels' wholly owned Brazilian subsidiary Energy Fuels Brazil, Ltda. At the Closing, the Company paid the mineral owners the remaining $21.9 million cash.
As previously reported, the Bahia Project is a well-known heavy mineral sand (" HMS ") deposit that has the potential to supply 3,000 – 10,000 metric tons (" MT ") of natural monazite concentrate per year for decades to Energy Fuels' White Mesa Mill in Utah (the " Mill ") for processing into high-purity rare earth element (" REE ") oxides and other materials. As used herein, the term "monazite concentrate" refers to an HMS concentrate containing roughly 80% to 90% monazite. While Energy Fuels' primary interest in acquiring the Bahia Project is the REE-bearing monazite, the Bahia Project is also expected to produce large quantities of high-quality titanium (ilmenite and rutile) and zirconium (zircon) minerals that are also in high demand. REE production is highly complementary to Energy Fuels' existing US-leading uranium business, as monazite and other major REE-bearing minerals naturally contain uranium that will be recovered and other impurities that will be removed at the Mill before further processing into advanced high-purity REE materials.
3,000 – 10, 000 MT of monazite concentrate contains roughly 1,500 – 5, 000 MT of total REE oxides (" TREO "), including 300 – 1, 000 MT of neodymium-praseodymium (" NdPr ") and significant commercial quantities of dysprosium (" Dy ") and terbium (" Tb "). The Company is focused on monazite at the current time, as it has superior concentrations of these four (4) critical REEs compared to other REE-bearing minerals. These REE's are used in the powerful neodymium-iron-boron (" NdFeB ") magnets that power the most efficient electric vehicles (" EV "), along with uses in other clean energy and defense technologies. For reference, a typical EV utilizes roughly one (1) to two (2) kilograms of NdPr oxide in its drivetrain. Based on this assumption, monazite concentrate from the Bahia project alone is expected to supply enough NdPr oxide to power 150,000 to 1 million EVs per year. The uranium contained in the monazite, which is expected to be comparable to typical Colorado Plateau uranium deposits, will also be recovered at the Mill.
Update on Growing Monazite Supply Portfolio:
The acquisition of the Bahia Project is a part of the Company's efforts to build a large and diverse book of monazite concentrate supply for its rapidly advancing REE processing business. The Company expects to procure monazite concentrates through Company-owned mines like the Bahia Project, joint ventures or other collaborations, and open market purchases, like the Company's current arrangement with The Chemours Company (" Chemours "). The Company is currently in advanced discussions with several additional current and future monazite producers around the world to supply Energy Fuels' initiative.
Energy Fuels, through its White Mesa Mill in Utah , is currently the only U.S. company extracting REE's and producing commercial quantities of partially-separated mixed REE carbonate (" RE Carbonate "), which it extracts as a coproduct, along with its uranium production from monazite. This is the most advanced REE material being produced in the US today at scale, since it is a high-purity product ready for REE separation without further processing, refining or purification. The Company is currently selling all its RE Carbonate to a separation facility in Europe for further processing into advanced REE products further down the supply chain, including metals, alloys, and magnets. Though as discussed below, the Company is currently modifying and enhancing its existing circuits and facilities at the Mill with the expected ability to produce separated REE oxides (or oxalates) from these process streams starting as soon as later this year. The Company is also recovering the uranium that naturally occurs in monazite for use in carbon-free nuclear energy.
Update on Ongoing Sonic Drilling Program at the Bahia Project:
Prior to Closing on the Bahia Project, the Company commenced a sonic drilling program on the property to further define and quantify the HMS resource, particularly at depth. Under the previous owners, 3,300 vertical exploration auger holes were drilled on the property indicating significant concentrations of titanium (ilmenite and rutile), zirconium (zircon), and rare earth elements (monazite) at and near the surface. However, due to inherent limitations, historic augur drilling averaged only 5.7 meters in depth.
Utilization of a sonic drill allows for relatively undisturbed collection of sediments both above and below the water table. The limited sonic drilling completed by Energy Fuels over the past few months is confirming that the mineral bearing sands are expected to continue at depth. The Company expects to finalize Phase 1 sonic drilling at the Bahia Project this month totaling 2,250 meters. Following drilling, the Company will begin sampling and sending the material to labs for testing, including metal assay, mineralogic characterization, and process testing. The Company plans to announce Phase 1 drilling results this year and start Phase 2 drilling in Q3-2023. Once data from both drill programs are available, the Company plans to engage industry leaders to calculate an initial mineral resource estimate for use in an S-K 1300 (US) compliant Initial Assessment and an NI 43-101 ( Canada ) compliant Technical Report.
Update on Production of Separated NdPr Products at the White Mesa Mill & Plans for Future REE Separation:
The Company is currently separating lanthanum (" La ") and cerium (" Ce ") from its commercial RE Carbonate stream utilizing existing Mill infrastructure to produce an RE Carbonate product with higher concentrations of NdPr and "heavy" REEs. Energy Fuels is also proceeding with the modification and enhancement of its infrastructure at the Mill (" Phase 1 ") to expand its "light" REE separation facilities to be capable of producing commercial quantities of separated NdPr oxide (or oxalate) by later this year or early 2024, followed by planned further enhancements to expand NdPr production capability (" Phase 2 ") and to produce separated Dy, Tb and potentially other REE materials in the future (" Phase 3 ") from monazite and potentially other REE-bearing process streams.
Earlier this year, the Company began construction on its "Phase 1" REE separation facilities, which includes modifications and enhancements to the solvent extraction (" SX ") circuits at the Mill. "Phase 1" is expected to have the capacity to process approximately 8,000 to 10, 000 MT of monazite concentrates per year from the Mill's process streams, producing roughly 4,000 to 5, 000 MT TREO, containing roughly 800 to 1, 000 MT of recoverable separated NdPr oxide (or oxalate) per year. Because Energy Fuels is utilizing existing infrastructure at the Mill, "Phase 1" capital is expected to total only about $25 million . "Phase 1" is expected to be operational later this year or early 2024, subject to receipt of sufficient monazite supply and successful construction and commissioning. If these milestones are achieved, Energy Fuels believes it will be the 'first to the market' among US companies with commercial quantities of separated NdPr available to EV, renewable energy, and other companies for offtake.
During "Phase 2", Energy Fuels expects to expand its NdPr separation capabilities, with an expected capacity to process roughly 15,000 to 30, 000 MT of monazite concentrates per year and expected recovery of roughly 7,500 to 15, 000 MT of TREO, containing roughly 1,500 to 3, 000 MT of NdPr oxide per year, or sufficient NdPr for 750,000 to 3.0 million EVs per year. "Phase 2" is also expected to add a dedicated monazite "crack-and-leach" circuit to the Mill's existing leach circuits. Currently, the Mill is utilizing its main uranium processing circuits to process monazite and extract the REEs and uranium. A dedicated leach circuit will allow the Mill to simultaneously process monazite in the new dedicated circuit and to process other mined uranium and uranium/vanadium ores in the main circuit. The Company expects to complete "Phase 2" in 2026, subject to licensing, financing, and receipt of sufficient monazite feed.
During "Phase 3", Energy Fuels expects to add "heavy" REE separation capabilities, including the production of Dy, Tb, and potentially other REE oxides and advanced materials. The Company will also evaluate the potential to produce La and Ce products. Monazite concentrates naturally contain higher concentrations of "heavy" REEs, including Dy and Tb, versus other REE-bearing ores, like bastnaesite, mainly due to the presence of another REE-bearing phosphate mineral called "xenotime." "Phase 3" is expected to enable Energy Fuels to produce separated Dy, Tb, and potentially other "light" and "heavy" products. The Company also expects to have additional "heavy" REE feedstock stockpiled from "Phase 1" and "Phase 2." During these earlier phases, the Company expects to produce NdPr oxide (or oxalate) and a samarium-plus (" Sm+ ") "heavy" REE concentrate, which the Company will either sell or stockpile as feed for "Phase 3" REE separation. For reference, the monazite concentrates the Company has analyzed to date contain roughly 1% to 3% Dy and Tb, so 10, 000 MT of monazite concentrate contains roughly 100 to 300 MT of Dy and Tb. The Company expects to complete "Phase 3" in 2027, subject to licensing, financing, and receipt of sufficient feed.
Mark S. Chalmers , President and CEO of Energy Fuels stated: "Energy Fuels has achieved yet another important milestone for our expanding rare earth business through our acquisition of the Bahia Project. We look forward to further defining the heavy mineral sand resource through our sonic drilling program and moving forward toward mining in the most prospective areas of the project. Using conservative development and market assumptions, we expect to receive monazite concentrates from the Bahia Project at a very low cost within the next few years. By receiving monazite feeds from a variety of sources, including mineral projects that we own, like the Bahia Project, and open market purchases, like from Chemours and others, we expect to be a low-cost US producer of advanced REE materials.
"As we continue to build our book of monazite supply through acquisitions of projects like Bahia and other transactions, we are also moving faster down the rare earth supply chain than any other U.S. company to produce more advanced rare earth materials at our White Mesa Mill in Utah . We are currently expanding our SX separation circuit at the Mill that is expected to enable us to commercially produce NdPr oxide or oxalate by later in 2023 or early 2024. NdPr is a key ingredient in permanent rare earth magnets used in EVs, wind energy, and defense technologies. Later in 2026 and 2027, we expect to increase the scale of our NdPr production and add 'heavy' REE separation capabilities, including the ability to produce Dy, Tb and potentially other products, subject to securing additional monazite supplies.
"Of course, uranium production remains our core business, where we continue to make excellent progress on resuming production at our mines. As the largest US producer of uranium, Energy Fuels recently sold 300,000 pounds of uranium into the newly established strategic US uranium reserve where we earned total gross proceeds of $18.5 million , and we have nuclear utility contract deliveries beginning this year. We look forward to providing markets with further updates on both our REE and uranium business segments.
"With our leading position as a uranium producer in the US, our US-leading vanadium production capability, our rapidly advancing US-leading REE production capability, and our evaluation of radioisotopes for use in emerging cancer treatment therapeutics, Energy Fuels is truly becoming a leading producer of critical minerals in the United States ."
Energy Fuels is a leading US-based critical minerals company. The Company mines uranium and produces natural uranium concentrates that are sold to major nuclear utilities for the production of carbon-free nuclear energy. Energy Fuels recently began production of advanced rare earth element (" REE ") materials, including mixed REE carbonate, and plans to produce commercial quantities of separated REE oxides in the future. Energy Fuels also produces vanadium from certain of its projects, as market conditions warrant, and is evaluating the recovery of radionuclides needed for emerging cancer treatments. Its corporate offices are in Lakewood, Colorado , near Denver, and substantially all its assets and employees are in the United States . Energy Fuels holds two of America's key uranium production centers: the White Mesa Mill in Utah and the Nichols Ranch in-situ recovery (" ISR ") Project in Wyoming. The White Mesa Mill is the only conventional uranium mill operating in the US today, has a licensed capacity of over 8 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year, has the ability to produce vanadium when market conditions warrant, as well as REE products, from various uranium-bearing ores. The Nichols Ranch ISR Project is on standby and has a licensed capacity of 2 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year. The Company recently acquired the Bahia Project in Brazil , which is believed to have significant quantities of titanium (ilmenite and rutile), zirconium (zircon) and REE (monazite) minerals. In addition to the above production facilities, Energy Fuels also has one of the largest NI 43-101 compliant uranium resource portfolios in the US 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 .
Daniel Kapostasy , P.G., Director of Technical Services for 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, including sampling, analytical, and test data underlying such disclosure.
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 as to the concentrations or quantities of uranium and heavy minerals, including monazite , NdPr, Dy and Tb contained in the Bahia Project; any expectation as to the potential annual supply of monazite sands from the Bahia Project to the Mill, the contained MT of TREO per year, or the number of years or decades of such potential supply; any expectation as to the number of EVs that can be powered by NdPr oxide produced from the Bahia Project; any expectation that drilling results at the Bahia Project will confirm that the mineral bearing sands continue at depth; any expectation as to the timing and results of the Company's drilling program at the Bahia Project and the timing of any announcements relating to drilling results; any expectation that the Company will complete an S-K 1300 compliant Initial Assessment and an NI 43-101 compliant Preliminary Economic Assessment relating to the Bahia Project and the timing of any such assessments; any expectation as to the timing of mining at the Bahia Project; any expectation as to the costs to the Company of monazite concentrates from the Bahia Project and the timing of receipt of any such concentrates; any expectation as to the Company's ability to build a large and diverse book of monazite concentrate supply ; any expectation as to the Company's ability to rapidly advance its REE processing business; any expectation that the Company will produce separated REE oxides (or oxalates) from its Mill process streams starting as early as next year ; any expectation that the Company will be a low-cost US producer of advanced REE material; any expectation that the Company will complete its Phase 1, Phase 2 and/or Phase 3 separation facilities on the time frames indicated, if at all; any expectation as to the expected throughput rates, production capability, REEs to be produced and capital and operating costs of such facilities ; any expectation that the Company will be the first to the market among US companies with commercial quantities of separated NdPr available to EV, renewable energy and other companies for offtake; any expectation that monazite concentrates will naturally contain higher concentrations of "heavy" REEs, including Dy and Tb versus other REE-bearing ores, like bastnaesite; any expectation as to the Company's ability to produce radioisotopes needed for emerging cancer treatments on a commercial basis or at all ; and any expectation that the Company will continue to be a leading US based uranium mining company and a leading producer of critical minerals in the United States . 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; mining or processing difficulties and upsets; licensing, permitting and regulatory delays; litigation risks; competition from others; political actions or instability in foreign countries; 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.

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Marvel Drills Three Holes, Expands Drill Program to 1,400 Meters at KLR-Walker Uranium Project, Athabasca Basin
Marvel Discovery Corp. (TSXV:MARV)(Frankfurt:O4T)(OTCQB:MARVF); ("Marvel" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on the inaugural diamond drilling program at the DD and Highway Zone within the KLR-Walker Uranium Project ("the Property") in the Athabasca Basin (Figure 1). The drill program was originally planned for 1,000m and has since been expanded to 1,400m. To date, 3 drill holes have been completed for a total of 684m

Holes KLR23-01 and KLR23-02 targeted a previous 2015 backpack drill hole that intersected 1.96% U over 29cm at the Highway Zone. Hole KLR23-01 recorded a peak of 12,000 cps over a 4 m interval of anomalous gamma-ray readings (Figure 2). Drill hole KLR23-03 was drilled at the DD Zone 1.5 km north of the Highway Zone targeting historic drill holes DD-03, DD-16, and DD-21 where in 2015 a backpack drill hole intersected 1.57% U over 4 cm. The DD Zone was first explored and outlined via surface trenching in 1970.
Commentary
"We are very excited with the progress to date; the first indications are pointing to success after only 3 drill holes. We have expanded the current drill program from 1,000 meters to 1,400 meters and look forward to reporting on the results. Further detection from Gama Probe surveys also shows positive detection readings," stated Karim Rayani, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director.

The KLR-Walker Property
The Property is located within the Wollaston-Mudjactic Transition Zone ("WMTZ") of the eastern Athabasca Basin. The WMTZ hosts the highest-grade uranium mines in the world (Figure 3). The DD Zone within the Highway Project straddles the Key Lake Shear Zone, an important fault for structurally controlled Athabasca Basin type uranium deposits.

The DD Zone is proximal and along strike to Fission 3.0 Hobo Lake uranium properties. Hosted within WMTZ, the DD Zone lies along the Key Lake Shear Zone and hosts 10 uranium showings and multiple unexplored EM targets.
Like its neighbor to the west, the Arrow Deposit, owned by NexGen Energy lies along a similar structural corridor as the Marvel properties. The Arrow Deposit1, which has undergone a Positive Feasibility Study with robust economics contains Probable Reserves of 239.6 million lbs of U3O8 at an average of 2.37% U3O8 and Measured and Indicated Resources of 256.7 million lbs at an average grade of 3.1% U3O8. The Arrow Deposit is the largest undeveloped uranium deposit in Canada.
Qualified Person
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mike Kilbourne, P.Geo., who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
References
Arrow Deposit1 https://www.nexgenenergy.ca/rook-1-project/default.aspx#feasibility-study
About Marvel Discovery Corp.
Marvel, listed on the TSX Venture Exchange for over 25 years, is a Canadian based emerging resource company. The Company is systematically exploring its extensive property positions in:
- Newfoundland (Slip, Gander North, Gander South, Victoria Lake, Baie Verte, and Hope Brook - Au Prospects)
- Atikokan, Ontario (BlackFly - Au Prospect)
- Elliot Lake, Ontario (East Bull - Ni-Cu-PGE Prospect)
- Quebec (Duhamel -Ni-Cu-Co prospect & Titanium, Vanadium, and Chromium Prospect)
- Prince George, British Columbia (Wicheeda North - Rare Earth Elements Prospect)
The Company's website is: https://marveldiscovery.ca/
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Marvel Discovery Corp.
"Karim Rayani"
Karim Rayani
President/Chief Executive Officer, Director
Tel: 604 716 0551 email: k@r7.capital
Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information:
Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements which reflect the expectations of management. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations, or intentions regarding the future. Forward-looking statements in this press release relate to, among other things: completion of the proposed Arrangement. Actual future results may differ materially. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. There is no assurance any of the conditions for closing will be met. Forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions, and projections on the date the statements are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the respective parties, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release concerning these times. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE:Marvel Discovery Corp.
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Canada Silver Cobalt Reassessing Its Shillington Copper Property with Historical Drill Core Copper Grades up to 18.28 % Cu over 0.30m and as Wide as 0.50% Cu over 12.50m
Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc. (TSXV: CCW) (OTCQB: CCWOF) (FSE: 4T9B) (the "Company" or "Canada Silver Cobalt") has decided to re-assess the value of it's fully owned Shillington Copper Property north of Castle East, near Gowganda Ontario. The Shillington Copper Property has the potential to become a valuable Copper exploration asset given the current market demand.
The Company had previously acquired the 2190-hectare Shillington Copper Property in 2020 to expand the land package and exploration potential north of Castle East given the geology and controlling structures nearby. The Company completed a ground-truthing and prospecting program in 2021 over a 2 square kilometre area and identified strong mineralization from grab and outcrop samples. The Company will plan a future exploration program to define the extent of this potential high-grade copper mineralised area.
"Significant near-surface copper grades were defined in the limited historical exploration at the Shillington Copper Property. These copper grades can be accepted directly into the Re-2Ox process for final product production. The property is in proximity to our current exploration of the high-grade Castle Silver Mine with easy access by paved road and logging trails," commented Frank J. Basa, P.Eng., CEO of Canada Silver Cobalt Works.
Table 1: Historical Drill Result Highlights Part 1
Hole ID | From (m) | To (m) | Length (m) | Cu (%) |
GCSH-05-08 | 26.00 | 29.00 | 3.00 | 2.16 |
including | 27.40 | 27.70 | 0.30 | 3.58 |
including | 27.70 | 28.25 | 0.55 | 1.68 |
including | 28.25 | 28.65 | 0.40 | 4.40 |
including | 28.65 | 29.00 | 0.35 | 5.56 |
GCSH-05-08 | 34.30 | 35.30 | 1.00 | 8.59 |
including | 34.30 | 34.70 | 0.40 | 6.80 |
including | 34.70 | 35.00 | 0.30 | 18.28 |
including | 35.00 | 35.30 | 0.30 | 1.27 |
GCSH-05-09 | 50.90 | 59.00 | 8.10 | 0.61* |
including | 50.90 | 53.00 | 2.10 | 1.97 |
including | 50.90 | 51.40 | 0.50 | 2.65 |
including | 51.40 | 52.00 | 0.60 | 2.68 |
including | 52.00 | 52.50 | 0.50 | 1.21 |
including | 52.50 | 53.00 | 0.50 | 1.19 |
Table 2: Historical Drill Result Highlights Part 2
Hole ID | From (m) | To (m) | Length (m) | Cu (%) |
GCSH-05-10 | 43.00 | 55.50 | 12.50 | 0.50* |
including | 43.00 | 48.50 | 6.50 | 0.76 |
including | 45.00 | 45.50 | 0.50 | 1.30 |
including | 45.50 | 46.00 | 0.50 | 1.14 |
including | 46.00 | 46.50 | 0.50 | 1.27 |
including | 47.50 | 48.00 | 0.50 | 1.16 |
including | 48.00 | 48.50 | 0.50 | 1.87 |
GCSH-05-11 | 93.50 | 94.00 | 0.50 | 1.42 |
GCSH-05-14 | 57.70 | 58.20 | 0.50 | 0.84 |
GCSH-05-14 | 71.00 | 73.50 | 2.50 | 4.76 |
including | 71.40 | 71.80 | 0.40 | 3.63 |
including | 71.80 | 72.20 | 0.40 | 6.07 |
including | 72.20 | 72.60 | 0.40 | 14.50 |
including | 72.60 | 73.00 | 0.40 | 4.63 |
GCSH-05-15 | 36.00 | 37.10 | 1.10 | 1.58 |
including | 36.00 | 36.50 | 0.50 | 1.01 |
including | 36.50 | 37.10 | 0.60 | 2.05 |
Note: Drill core assay results shown here are represented as material being over 0.25% Copper. No significant Au, Ag, Co, Ni, Zn, or Pb values were encountered. Bolded intervals are assay composites. *Any intervals not assayed within the composites are included as zeros. The assay intervals are shown as core length and not representative of true width. The assays have not been verified in person by our technical team - the assay results are taken from reported assessment filings from 2005 and 2006.
Table 3: Field Sample Information from 2020
Station ID | Sample ID | Sample Type | Cu (%) |
605S1 | 14409 | Outcrop | 2.93 |
606T3 End | 14434 | Historic Trench / Outcrop | 0.44 |
606T3 Start | 14421 | Historic Trench / Outcrop | 1.78 |
607W2 | 14424 | Muck Pile Grab at Historic Shaft | 0.29 |
608W2 | 14429 | Muck Pile Grab | 6.88 |
608W2 | 14431 | Muck Pile Grab | 1.40 |
608W2 | 14432 | Muck Pile Grab | 2.20 |
608W2 | 14435 | Muck Pile Grab | 6.53 |
Note: Field sample assay results shown here are represented as material being over 0.10% Copper. No significant Au, Ag, Co, Ni, Zn, or Pb values were encountered.
Qualified person
The technical information in this news release was approved and prepared under the supervision of Frank J. Basa, P.Eng., CEO of Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc., a qualified person accordance with National Instrument 43-101.
Figure 1: Plan View Map of the Drill Hole Traces and Sample Locations
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About Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc.
Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc. recently discovered a major high-grade silver vein system at Castle East located 1.5 km from its 100%-owned, past-producing Castle Mine near Gowganda in the prolific and world-class silver-cobalt mining district of Northern Ontario. The Company has completed a 60,000m drill program aimed at expanding the size of the deposit with an update to the resource estimate underway.
In May 2020, based on a small initial drill program, the Company published the region's first 43-101 resource estimate that contained a total of 7.56 million ounces of silver in Inferred resources, comprising very high-grade silver (8,582 grams per tonne un-cut or 250.2 oz/ton) in 27,400 tonnes of material from two sections (1A and 1B) of the Castle East Robinson Zone, beginning at a vertical depth of approximately 400 meters. Note that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Please refer to Canada Silver Cobalt Works Press Release May 28, 2020, for the resource estimate. Report reference: Rachidi, M. 2020, NI 43-101 Technical Report Mineral Resource Estimate for Castle East, Robinson Zone, Ontario, Canada, with an effective date of May 28, 2020, and a signature date of July 13, 2020.
The Company also has: (1) 14 battery metals properties in Northern Quebec where it has recently completed a nearly 15,000-metre drill program on the Graal property; and (2) the prospective 1,000-hectare Eby-Otto gold property close to Agnico Eagle's high-grade Macassa Mine near Kirkland Lake, Ontario where it is exploring.
Canada Silver Cobalt's flagship silver-cobalt Castle mine and 78 sq. km Castle Property feature strong exploration upside for silver, cobalt, nickel, gold, and copper. With underground access at the fully owned Castle Mine, an exceptional high-grade silver discovery at Castle East, a pilot plant to produce cobalt-rich gravity concentrates, a processing facility (TTL Laboratories) in the town of Cobalt, and a proprietary hydrometallurgical process known as Re-2Ox (for the creation of technical-grade cobalt sulphate as well as nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) formulations), Canada Silver Cobalt is strategically positioned to become a Canadian leader in the silver-cobalt space. More information at www.canadasilvercobaltworks.com.
"Frank J. Basa"
Frank J. Basa, P. Eng.
Chief Executive Officer
For further information, contact:
Frank J. Basa, P.Eng.
Chief Executive Officer
416-625-2342
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements. A detailed discussion of the risk factors encountered by Canada Silver Cobalt is available in the Company's Annual Information Form dated July 19, 2021 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
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Uranium Energy Corp Announces Inaugural Sustainability Report
Uranium Energy Corp (NYSE American: UEC) (the " Company " or " UEC ") is pleased to announce the completion of its inaugural Sustainability Report (the "Report"). The Report, which includes the Company's achievements for Fiscal 2022 and plans for Fiscal 2023, is available on the Company website at https:www.uraniumenergy.comsustainability and has been filed with the SEC through EDGAR on Form 8-K.
Amir Adnani , CEO and President stated: "This inaugural Sustainability Report demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the environment, our people, the communities we work in and our high corporate governance standards. Our Environmental, Social and Governance program, launched in 2021, formalizes and builds upon the strong environmental, health and safety record the Company prides itself on. 2022 was a remarkable growth year for UEC as we invested over half billion dollars by making three highly accretive acquisitions, including Uranium One Americas, Inc., UEX Corporation and Rio Tinto's world-class Roughrider Project."
Mr. Adnani continued: "We are particularly pleased with the progress made on measuring our scope 1 and 2 emissions in Texas and achieving carbon neutral status at our Hobson Central Processing Plant. Additionally, our Wyoming reclamation program made great progress that is now in the final regulatory stages of returning 68 acres of in situ-recovery wellfield property to its landowner. Reclamation is an important part of the uranium project lifecycle, ensuring the restoration of affected nature and biodiversity at our project sites."
Mr. Adnani concluded: "Sustainability, accountability, and good stewardship have been central to the way we do business since the Company's founding 18 years ago and will be a foundational value system to support our future ambitions. UEC is powering the clean energy future as a leading supplier of low-cost, environmentally-friendly uranium for the nuclear industry from proven, politically stable resource jurisdictions."
Uranium Energy Corp is the fastest growing supplier of the fuel for the green energy transition to a low carbon future. UEC is the largest, diversified North American focused uranium company, advancing the next generation of low-cost, environmentally friendly In-Situ Recovery ("ISR") uranium projects in the United States and high-grade conventional projects in Canada . The Company has two production-ready ISR hub and spoke platforms located in South Texas and Wyoming . These two production platforms are anchored by fully operational central processing plants and served by seven U.S. ISR uranium projects with all their major permits in place. Additionally, the Company has diversified uranium holdings including: (1) one of the largest physical uranium portfolios of North American warehoused U3O8; (2) a major equity stake in Uranium Royalty Corp., the only royalty company in the sector; and (3) a Western Hemisphere pipeline of resource stage uranium projects. The Company's operations are managed by professionals with decades of hands-on experience in the key facets of uranium exploration, development and mining.
Stock Exchange Information:
NYSE American: UEC
Frankfurt Stock Exchange Symbol: U6Z
WKN: AØJDRR
ISN: US916896103
Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented in this news release constitutes "forward-looking statements" as such term is used in applicable United States and Canadian securities laws. These statements relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. Any other statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans, "estimates" or "intends", or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and should be viewed as "forward-looking statements". Such 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 expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, the actual results of exploration activities, variations in the underlying assumptions associated with the estimation or realization of mineral resources, the availability of capital to fund programs and the resulting dilution caused by the raising of capital through the sale of shares, accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry including, without limitation, those associated with the environment, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, title disputes or claims limitations on insurance coverage. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Many of these factors are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this news release and in any document referred to in this news release. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially and that could impact the Company and the statements contained in this news release can be found in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities.
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SOURCE Uranium Energy Corp

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EY Expert: Energy Transition Bringing New Faces to Mining, but Challenges Remain
Discussions around the energy transition are bringing a new crop of investors into mining.
As the biggest event in the resource space returned in full force, an expert from EY told the Investing News Network (INN) he's encouraged by the changing face of the mining investment storyline.
On the sidelines of year's instalment of the annual Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention, known as PDAC, the mining sector expert also shared his thoughts on current challenges in the market.
Changing face of the mining industry
Theo Yameogo, mining and metals leader at EY Americas and Canada, told INN that a younger and more diverse class of investors has a real recognition of the importance of new sources of energy.
The expert said he’s curious to see the relationship develop between these fresh mining investors and established faces in the space who have long been banging on the drum of support for the industry.
“This is going to be quite an interesting dynamic going forward,” Yameogo said. “Because mining always felt that it was a misunderstood sector for the value it was bringing to society.”
Yameogo said the resource sector could end up seeing a change to its public image thanks to the emergence of new members of the industry, both at the company level and among investors.
Costs rising, new talent tough to find
Yameogo told INN the team at EY has also been closely monitoring the cost of operations in the sector.
“We're going into a supercycle,” he said. "We know that when we go into a supercycle, people spend a lot and then they don't pay attention to the volume of the profit." A supercycle is marked by a "prolonged period of rising prices and investment in supply by commodity producers" after strong rises in demand.
Aside from that, rising inflation has ballooned costs for virtually every industry, leaving mining companies facing challenges when it comes to the cost of doing business.
"You can anticipate that inflation may actually drive cost overruns of major capital projects, which is a problem and may impact profitability of projects that we're building right now,” the expert said.
Yameogo also said regions that are struggling with economic pressures may start to ask more of mining companies. “With inflation comes a discussion around geopolitics,” he said, noting that this is already starting to happen.
At the same time, mining companies are dealing with the problem of an aging pool of talent; they need to attract new workers to the space while continuing to monitor their costs.
When asked about other challenges affecting mining corporations, the EY expert told INN that commodity price uncertainty is a significant struggle for the space, and can affect company plans moving forward.
“You're changing your cost base, and trying to make sure that you can still operate profitably,” he said.
Investor takeaway
Critical minerals and battery metals saw significant interest at PDAC, and Yameogo told INN it may seem as though these segments are the new children in the mining family. He expects more buzz to build in these markets, but cautioned investors to be careful as it is “not going to be just straightforward" to approach these spaces.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Bryan Mc Govern, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.
ACME Lithium Receives Highest Lithium Values to Date at Fish Lake Valley, Nevada Confirming Lithium Extension
ACME Lithium Inc. (CSE: ACME) (OTCQX: ACLHF) (the "Company", or "ACME") is pleased to report that its recent Phase 2 geological field review and sampling program at Fish Lake Valley, Nevada has resulted in numerous new occurrences of lithium values exceeding 1200 ppm lithium with the highest surface value to date at 1418 ppm lithium. Boron anomalies up to 1964 ppm occur with and adjacent to surface lithium anomalies. See results in link to table below.
The FLV claim group encompass 144 lode mining claims totalling approximately 2,975 acres, in Esmeralda County, Nevada and is directly west and contiguous to Ioneer Ltd.'s world class Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron project area.
As a pilot project, following a teaming agreement announced on January 26, 2023, eight of these particular high grade lithium targets were identified utilizing ASTERRA's ground breaking satellite-based technology. Based in Israel, ASTERRA has developed a revolutionary Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) utilizing data analytics, patented algorithms and artificial intelligence to identify lithium specific targets. ACME Lithium is the first in North America to use ASTERRA's technology.
Figure 1: Fish Lake Phase 2 Lithium Samples
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ACME's Phase 2 sampling program is designed to focus primarily on the higher-grade lithium rock anomalies and to expand into adjacent areas of similar geology and alteration. Previous sampling has identified trends where anomalous lithium and boron values show structures that were open and receiving fluids at the time of mineralization. Those structural zones are targets for where lithium and boron mineralization could be hosted in structural blocks such as grabens. Lower grade lithium anomalies sampled along structural trend from higher grade zones may overlie stronger lithium mineralization at depth.
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Fifty-eight rock and soil samples were collected as a follow-up to the FAST91 1325ppm lithium rock sample collected in the previous FLV sampling program. The most recent sampling continues to suggest that the lithium anomalies found on the Fish Lake Project are hosted by geologically young, basin fill claystone sediments comparable to those found at the nearby Rhyolite Ridge Mine. Lithium anomalies occur in these receptive clay stones along the margins of fault bounded graben basins and the current sampling has expanded the area of strong lithium mineralization, in addition to the discovery of additional scattered areas of strong lithium mineralization and a broad area of moderate claystone lithium mineralization approximately one-half mile east of the FAST91 sample. Shallow drill holes to test the areas of strong lithium anomalies are warranted as are the lithium anomalies associated with the geophysical anomaly northwest of the FAST91 area.
A geophysical survey completed in the fall of 2022 indicates the presence of a down-dropped fault block with interpreted target clay sediments potentially similar to illite units identified in the nearby Rhyolite Ridge lithium deposit.
Mapping, geophysics, and sampling to date are consistent with a model of structural feeder zones forming bedded mineralization within down-dropped structural blocks. Drilling is justified and is needed to test the full potential host section. Additional potential down dropped structural blocks containing geologically young sediments have been identified on the property and are currently being evaluated.
Ioneer's Rhyolite Ridge deposit about three miles to the east is hosted in fine lake sediments of the Cave Spring formation deposited in a graben or down dropped fault basin. A similar basin has been proposed under the broad gravelly wash crossing the northeast part of the FLV claim block based on geomorphology. This mapping program found a previously unrecognized window about 400 meters by 400 meters on the margins of the wash with scattered outcrops of Cave Spring lithologies under the gravels. The sampling shows the anomalous lithium and boron values are from those exposures. This is the first definitive evidence of Rhyolite Ridge lithologies on the Property.
On January 13, 2023, the US government announced that it had committed up to $700 million in construction funding to Ioneer's project. Under the Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program, the proposed loan to Ioneer could allow the company to start mine construction next year. Last summer, Ioneer entered into offtake agreements with Ford Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp, and Panasonic Corp to supply lithium for EV battery production in the US. Following news of the conditional loan, Ioneer reported that it could produce enough lithium for 370,000 electric vehicles per year.
A total of 58 samples were analyzed by American Assay Lab in Sparks, NV. Analyses were by ICP-AES with Na202 fusion for 27 elements including lithium and boron. The QAQC protocol included two analyses of a blank, three of commercial standards and seven duplicate analyses. The results from this protocol fall within accepted analyses standards.
William Feyerabend, Certified Professional Geologist, is a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, and has supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release.
About ASTERRA
ASTERRA (formerly Utilis) provides geospatial data-driven platform solutions for water utilities, government agencies, and the greater infrastructure industry in the areas of roads, rails, dams, and mines. ASTERRA services use Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR) data from satellites and turn this data into large-scale decision support tools. The company's proprietary algorithms, scientists, and engineers are the keys to their mission, to become humanity's eyes on the Earth. ASTERRA is investing in artificial intelligence (AI) to bring its products to the next level. Since 2017, ASTERRA technology has been used in over 64 countries, saving over 276,000 million gallons of potable water, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 176,640 metric tons, and saving 690,000 MWH of energy, all in support of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. ASTERRA is headquartered in Israel with offices in the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan.
About ACME Lithium Inc.
Led by an experienced team, ACME Lithium is a mineral exploration Company focused on acquiring, exploring, and developing battery metal projects in partnership with leading technology and commodity companies. ACME has acquired or is under option to acquire a 100-per-cent interest in projects located in Clayton Valley and Fish Lake Valley, Esmeralda County Nevada, at Shatford, Birse, and Cat-Euclid Lakes in southeastern Manitoba, and at Bailey Lake in northern Saskatchewan.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Steve Hanson
Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
Telephone: (604) 564-9045
info@acmelithium.com
For Investor Inquiries:
Anthony Simone
Simone Capital
Telephone: (416) 881-5154
asimone@simonecapital.ca
Neither the CSE nor its regulations service providers accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur and in this news release include but are not limited to the attributes of, timing for and expected benefits to be derived from exploration, drilling or development at ACME's project properties. Information inferred from the interpretation of drilling, sampling and other technical results may also be deemed to be forward-looking statements, as it constitutes a prediction of what might be found to be present when and if a project is actually developed. ACME's project location adjacent to or nearby lithium projects does not guarantee exploration success or that mineral resources or reserves will be defined on ACME's properties. Exploration, development, and activities conducted by regional companies provide assistance and additional data for exploration work being completed by ACME. These forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to fluctuations in metal prices; uncertainties related to raising sufficient financing to fund the planned work in a timely manner and on acceptable terms; changes in planned work resulting from weather, logistical, technical or other factors; the possibility that results of work will not fulfill expectations and realize the perceived potential of the Company's properties; risk of accidents, equipment breakdowns and labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties or interruptions; the possibility of cost overruns or unanticipated expenses in the work program; the risk of environmental contamination or damage resulting from the Company's operations and other risks and uncertainties. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.
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ALX Resources Corp. Acquires Reindeer Lithium Project, Northern Saskatchewan, Canada
ALX Resources Corp. (TSXV: AL) (FSE: 6LLN) (OTC: ALXEF) ("ALX" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has acquired by way of purchase the Reindeer Lithium Project ("Reindeer", or the "Project") in northern Saskatchewan. Reindeer consists of 5 mineral claims totalling 13,239 hectares (32,713 acres), located approximately 130 kilometres (81 miles) due east of LaRonge, SK and 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) southwest of the community of Pelican Narrows, SK. Reindeer is 100%-owned by ALX, subject to a 2.0% net smelter returns royalty ("NSR") in favour of the vendor of the Project claims (the "Claims").
Highlights of the Reindeer Lithium Project
- Government of Saskatchewan geological mapping in 1968 at Reindeer identified pegmatites within quartz-feldspar, schist, and gneiss, "…with abundant pegmatite lenses, pods, and layers." (Report No. 114, The Geology of the Deschambault Lake District, Padgham. W.A., 1968);
- The presence of schorl (black tourmaline), one of the pathfinder minerals for pegmatite lithium mineralization, was noted in the pegmatites mapped in the Deschambault Lake area;
- ALX believes that Reindeer is underexplored for lithium-bearing pegmatites in the modern era and intends to carry out reconnaissance geological mapping in the summer/fall of 2023 to evaluate the lithium potential of the pegmatites present at the Project.
ALX's Reindeer Lithium Project claims, March 2023
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In consideration for the acquisition of the Claims, ALX has agreed to pay $12,500 to the vendor for a 100% interest in the Claims, subject to a 2.0% NSR. ALX is entitled to purchase one-half of the NSR (1.0%) from the vendor at any time within five years from closing of the transaction for the Claims, for $2,000,000.
To view maps and other information relating to Reindeer, click here.
NationaI Instrument 43-101 Disclosure
The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Robert Campbell, P.Geo., a consultant to ALX, who is a Qualified Person in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101.
Historical geological mapping descriptions quoted in this news release were taken directly from publications released by the Government of Saskatchewan. Management of ALX cautions that the reported historical observations have not been verified nor confirmed by its Qualified Person, but they create a scientific basis for ongoing work in the Reindeer area. Management further cautions that historical results or discoveries on adjacent or nearby mineral properties are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved on ALX's mineral properties.
About ALX
ALX is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada and its common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "AL", on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "6LLN" and in the United States OTC market under the symbol "ALXEF".
ALX's mandate is to provide shareholders with multiple opportunities for discovery by exploring a portfolio of prospective mineral properties, which include uranium, lithium, nickel-copper-cobalt and gold projects. The Company uses the latest exploration technologies and holds interests in over 220,000 hectares of prospective lands in Saskatchewan, a stable Canadian jurisdiction that hosts the highest-grade uranium mines in the world, a producing gold mine, and production from base metals mines, both current and historical.
ALX's uranium holdings in northern Saskatchewan include 100% interests in the Gibbons Creek Uranium Project,the Sabre Uranium Project and the Javelin and McKenzie Lake Uranium Projects, a 40% interest in the Black Lake Uranium Project (a joint venture with Uranium Energy Corporation and Orano Canada Inc.), and a 20% interest in the Hook-Carter Uranium Project, located within the uranium-rich Patterson Lake Corridor, with Denison Mines Corp. (80% interest) as operator of exploration since 2016.
ALX owns 100% interests in Canadian lithium exploration properties staked in 2022 and 2023 known as the Hydra Lithium Project, located in the James Bay region of northern Quebec, the Crystal Lithium and Reindeer LithiumProjects in northern Saskatchewan, and the Anchor Lithium Project, located in Nova Scotia.
ALX also owns 100% interests in the Firebird Nickel Project (now under option to Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Inc., who can earn up to an 80% interest), the Flying VeeNickel/Gold and Sceptre Gold projects, and can earn up to an 80% interest in the Alligator Lake Gold Project, all located in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. ALX owns, or can earn, up to 100% interests in the Electra Nickel Project and the Cannon Copper Project located in historic mining districts of Ontario, Canada, the Vixen Gold Project (now under option to First Mining Gold Corp., who can earn up to a 100% interest in two stages), and in the Draco VMS Project in Norway.
For more information about the Company, please visit the ALX corporate website at www.alxresources.com or contact Roger Leschuk, Manager, Corporate Communications at: PH: 604.629.0293 or Toll-Free: 866.629.8368, or by email: rleschuk@alxresources.com.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors of ALX Resources Corp.
"Warren Stanyer"
Warren Stanyer, CEO and Chairman
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Statements in this document which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Forward-looking statements in this news release include: ALX's 2023 exploration plans at the Reindeer Lithium Project, and ALX's ability to continue to expend funds at that project. It is important to note that the Company's actual business outcomes and exploration results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include that ALX may not be able to fully finance exploration on our exploration projects, including drilling; our initial findings at our exploration projects may prove to be unworthy of further expenditures; commodity prices may not support further exploration expenditures; exploration programs may be delayed or changed due to any delays experienced in consultation and engagement activities with First Nations and Metis communities and the results of such consultations;and economic, competitive, governmental, societal, public health, environmental and technological factors may affect the Company's operations, markets, products and share price. Even if we explore and develop our projects, and even if lithium, uranium, nickel, copper, gold or other metals or minerals are discovered in quantity, ALX's projects may not be commercially viable. Additional risk factors are discussed in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis for the Year Ended Months Ended December 31, 2022, which is available under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Except as required by law, we will not update these forward-looking statement risk factors.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release
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