Energy Fuels could quickly add uranium production from Nichols Ranch to its other operating conventional mines in Arizona and Utah. The Company also disclosed an additional uranium supply contract with a US nuclear energy utility in its Q2, 2024 quarterly report, continuing its commitment to the domestic uranium industry and demonstrating expanding offtake interest.
“We are very pleased with our progress to date in preparing Nichols Ranch for a potential restart of production in 2025, and these significant drilling results are exceeding our expectations and further demonstrate the strength of this project,” said Mark Chalmers, president and CEO of Energy Fuels Inc. “This puts us one step closer on the path to meeting our projections, increasing our market share of the nuclear fuel supply chain, and potentially expanding our uranium resources.”
With a licensed annual capacity of two million pounds of uranium, the fully licensed, permitted and constructed Nichols Ranch ISR facility is a priority resource in the Company’s development pipeline. To restart production, the Company is performing delineation drilling and, based on that delineation drilling, plans to advance new header houses and install new well-fields in its permitted PA2 area at the mine. In addition to this delineation drilling, the Company has been advancing the restart by overhauling the on-site deep disposal well earlier this year and making some capital improvements to the existing plant.
Dan Kapostasy, Vice President, Technical Services stated, “We recently drilled 39 out of the planned 125 delineation holes at Nichols Ranch, with five that significantly exceeded expectations and the rest consistent with anticipated results. As we continue our exploration, we will better identify the location of resources within the site to allow us to optimize wellfield design ahead of a final mining decision, anticipated by the end of the year.”
Highlights
Pre-development drilling activities at PA2 at Nichols Ranch have completed 39 drill holes to date. All but four holes have uranium mineralization and five have encountered mineralization greater than 1.0 GT.
The Company anticipates updating the Nichols Ranch Technical Report, which will include these significant drill intercepts, once the drilling campaign is completed later this year.
Following this drilling campaign, the Company intends to drill approximately 152 holes on its Collins Draw area, a southeastern extension of its Jane Dough mineralized trend located in Sections 35 and 36, T43N, R76W, and Sections 1, 2 & 12, T42N, R76W, Campbell County, Wyoming. Once complete, these holes, along with historical holes drilled by Cleveland Cliffs and American Nuclear will be used to estimate an NI 43-101/S-K 1300 compliant mineral resource, which would be added to the existing mineral resource at the Nichols Ranch Project.
Technical Details
The current mineral resource estimate for the Nichols Ranch area (including the Jane Dough, Hank and North Rolling Pin areas, but excluding Collins Draw) of the Nichols Ranch Complex is given below, and details can be found in the Technical Report on the Nichols Ranch Project, Campbell and Johnson Counties, Wyoming USAdated February 22, 2022 and effective December 31,2021, as amended February 8, 2023, and prepared by Grant A. Malensek, M. Eng., P. Eng., Mark Mathisen, C.P.G., Jeremy Scott Collyard, PMP, MMSA QP, each a Qualified Person employed by SLR, Jeffrey L. Woods, MMSA QP, a Qualified Person employed by Woods Process Services, and Phillip E. Brown, C.P.G., R.P.G., a Qualified Person employed by Consultants In Hydrogeology (the “Nichols Ranch Technical Report Summary“).
Current Nichols Ranch Project Mineral Resource Estimate – Effective December 31, 2021
Notes:
All grades reported in this press release are “equivalent” eU3O8 grades as they were calculated from calibrated downhole gamma logging of the drill holes. The downhole probe was calibrated at the U.S. Department of Energy test pits located in Casper, Wyoming by Energy Fuels staff and verified on site by Century Geophysical Corporation. All drill holes reported are vertical and were verified as vertical using downhole deviation logging. All thicknesses reported are true thicknesses.
Qualified Person Statement
The scientific and technical information disclosed in this news release was reviewed and approved by Daniel D. Kapostasy, PG, Registered Member SME and Vice President, Technical Services for the Company, who is a “Qualified Person” as defined in S-K 1300 and National Instrument 43-101.
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