LAKEWOOD, CO, March 16,
2020 /PRNewswire/ - Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU; TSX:
EFR) ("Energy Fuels" or the "Company") today reported its
financial results for the year ended December 31, 2019. 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.gov/edgar.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.
Highlights:
- At December 31, 2019, the Company
had $17.7 million in cash and
marketable securities plus $22.8
million of inventory, including 515,000 pounds of uranium
and 1,600,000 pounds of vanadium in the form of immediately
marketable product.
- On February 20, 2020, the Company
strengthened its balance sheet by completing a bought-deal
financing for net proceeds of $15.1
million and has raised approximately $4.0 million on the Company's At the Market
("ATM") program in 2020. These amounts are in addition to
the Company's cash, marketable securities and marketable
inventories balances, which totaled $40.5
million at December 31,
2019.
- Uranium production totaled 70,000 pounds of
U3O8 for the year due to the Company's focus
on vanadium production at its White Mesa Mill, the only
conventional uranium and vanadium mill currently operating in the
U.S.
- Vanadium production totaled 1,800,000 pounds of high-purity
V2O5 for the year. Production ceased during
Q4-2019 due to weakened vanadium market conditions and lowered
recoveries resulting from normal seasonal variances; however,
substantial quantities of dissolved vanadium remain in the
Company's tailings management system to be recovered at a later
date.
- No material uranium sales were completed during the year, and
the Company is strategically maintaining its uranium inventory for
future sales in anticipation of higher uranium prices, potentially
as a result of the creation of a new U.S. uranium reserve (as
discussed below) or other U.S. government support, or due to
generally improved uranium market fundamentals.
- The Company completed 200,000 pounds of vanadium sales during
the year at an average price of $11.06 per pound. At this time, the Company is
selling only small quantities of vanadium, instead focusing on
maintaining its strong V2O5 inventory for
sale in the future to capitalize on potential future price
increases in vanadium markets that are often volatile.
- The Company had an operating loss of $40.6 million during 2019, due in part to an
impairment of inventories of $14.4
million as a result of low uranium prices and a decrease in
vanadium prices during the latter half of 2019.
- The Company continued to make progress in its efforts to have
the U.S. government provide support for the U.S. uranium mining
industry. On February 10, 2020, the
President announced a proposed FY-2021 budget (the "President's
Budget"), which includes a request for $150 million per year for the next 10 years to
create a U.S. uranium reserve. The Company views this news as being
very positive for established U.S. uranium producers such as Energy
Fuels. This action followed a July 12,
2019 Presidential Memorandum issued pursuant to Section 232
of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended, ordering the
creation of the U.S. Nuclear Fuel Working Group (the "Working
Group") to "examine the current state of domestic nuclear fuel
production to reinvigorate the entire nuclear fuel supply chain,
consistent with United States
national security and nonproliferation goals." Aside from the
President's Budget, the Working Group has not issued its own
announcement relating to its recommendations, if any. U.S.
government officials, including U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, however, have publicly stated
that the U.S. government will be issuing a Working Group report in
the near future. The Company will continue to support this effort
to revive the domestic uranium industry for purposes of energy and
national security in 2020.
Mark S. Chalmers, Energy
Fuels' President and CEO, stated:
"Before giving you my views on Energy Fuels' achievements in
2019, I'd like to say a few words about the global COVID-19 crisis.
The world is currently focused on containing the spread of the
virus, and equity markets are experiencing significant volatility.
At Energy Fuels, we are taking steps to respond to this evolving
situation as well. In addition to protecting the safety and health
of our employees, we are also acting aggressively to conserve our
financial resources. Our ongoing focus on proactively maintaining a
strong balance sheet, including the bought-deal financing we
completed in mid-February, is particularly important in today's
environment. We support the Trump Administration's efforts to
contain the virus and bolster the U.S. economy, and we will
continue to seek immediate relief for U.S. uranium miners when and
where it is appropriate, while also recognizing that the government
is managing complex public health and financial challenges.
We think Energy Fuels is in the best financial position of any U.S.
uranium miner to weather the current storm. We wish all patients of
the virus a full and speedy recovery."
"To say that 2019 was an interesting year for Energy Fuels would
be an understatement! At the beginning of the year, we were
swelling with optimism. We were increasingly positive that our
Section 232 Petition would lead to support for U.S. uranium miners
and millers. In addition, vanadium prices were high and, to our
knowledge, we were the only company in the world to successfully
respond and resume primary vanadium production. Unfortunately, due
to a sharp decline in vanadium prices during the year and delays in
government action to support U.S. uranium producers, we were not
able to realize all of the benefits of our efforts in 2019.
Nonetheless, we are extremely proud of what we accomplished, and we
believe our achievements during the year have placed us in a
position to generate considerable shareholder value in 2020 and
beyond.
"Our Section 232 Petition, which Energy Fuels played a key role
in bringing about in 2018, gained traction when, in July 2019, President Trump announced that he was
creating the Working Group. While this decision was unexpected, we
were optimistic that the government recognized the urgent need for
action to help support domestic uranium miners, as well as uranium
conversion and enrichment, to bolster U.S. energy and national
security. We received further good news in February 2020, when President Trump announced his
President's Budget, which included a $150
million per year, 10-year, $1.5
billion plan to support domestic uranium miners through the
creation of a U.S. uranium reserve. We believe this is likely to be
very positive for Energy Fuels, as we are an established U.S.
uranium miner with a proven track-record of successful and
environmentally responsible large-scale uranium production.
"Since 2006, uranium facilities currently owned by Energy Fuels
have supplied roughly 34% of all uranium produced in the U.S.,
putting us second only to Cameco during this period, who produced a
little over 50%. We have proven that our people and facilities can
cost-effectively put large quantities of U.S. uranium in the can
when called upon to do so. For the U.S. uranium reserve to be a
success, we are urging the U.S. government to spend their money
wisely on established, proven production facilities, including
those we operate."
"Today, there are only four to five production facilities
currently producing uranium in the U.S., and we own two of them, as
well as have a 3rd facility on standby. This includes
our White Mesa Mill in Utah, which
is the only remaining conventional uranium mill left in the U.S.,
and which also has the ability to process vanadium, alternate feed
materials, and uranium-bearing material produced from land cleanups
(such as abandoned uranium mines from the Cold War era). In
addition, our Nichols Ranch in-situ recovery ("ISR")
Facility in Wyoming is currently
in production and has produced over 1,200,000 pounds of uranium
since 2014. We also have 515,000 pounds of produced uranium in
inventory, which can potentially be sold into a government program.
I personally continue to dedicate a large portion of my time and
energy to advocating for a government support program. And, I can
affirmatively state that we have many high-level supporters in
Washington, DC who are helping to
achieve a concrete, positive outcome.
"We also made excellent progress on other fronts. Our 2019
vanadium production campaign exceeded our expectations in many
ways. We built 1,600,000 pounds of vanadium inventory, which now
provides us with the unique ability to capitalize on any future
price spikes unlike our competitors. In addition, we made
significant equipment upgrades, optimized our procedures, and
continually lowered our cost of vanadium production throughout the
year with substantial dissolved vanadium yet to be recovered from
our tailings management system. Outside of our control, however,
was the price of vanadium, which slid nearly 70% during the year.
As a result, we ceased vanadium production at the end of Q4-2019.
Energy Fuels is also pursuing discussions with government and
private entities about the potential for processing rare earth
elements at our White Mesa Mill. Energy Fuels is primarily a
uranium miner. However, as our uranium business develops, we are
well positioned to capture additional value through vanadium, and
potentially rare earth element recovery, in the future.
"As previously announced, we are continuing to operate at the
White Mesa Mill through a new processing agreement, under which we
are assisting in the cleanup of a formerly producing uranium mine
in New Mexico. Through this
project, we are generating significant revenue and are showing the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") and the Navajo
Nation that we can be a strong partner in the cleanup of Cold War
era abandoned uranium mines ("AUMs") in the Four Corners
Region of the U.S. To this end, we have agreed to participate in a
small, pilot-scale cleanup project on a site located on the Navajo
Nation. While this project is not intended to generate much cash
flow, we believe it is an important step toward securing a stronger
position in this program, for which the EPA currently has access to
over $1.7 billion and which we as a
Company want to be a part of, both from a fiscal perspective and
because it is the right and environmentally sound thing to do.
"In conclusion, I am extremely proud of what Energy Fuels
achieved in 2019, despite unforeseen setbacks, and what it means
for our future. While these achievements have not yet manifested in
higher share prices or on our financial statements, I am excited
for the new and developing opportunities in front of us and the
unmatched optionality our company's business strategy represents to
shareholders."
Selected Summary Financial Information:
|
|
|
|
$000, except per
share data
|
Year ended
December 31, 2019
|
Year ended
December 31, 2018
|
Year ended
December 31, 2017
|
Results of
Operations:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
revenues
|
$
|
5,865
|
$
|
31,721
|
$
|
31,046
|
Gross profit
(loss)
|
|
1,918
|
|
16,969
|
|
11,641
|
Net income (loss)
attributable to the company
|
|
(37,978)
|
|
(25,245)
|
|
(27,766)
|
Basic and diluted
loss per share
|
|
(0.40)
|
|
(0.30)
|
|
(0.39)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$000's
|
As at December 31,
2019
|
As at December 31,
2018
|
Financial
Position:
|
|
|
|
|
Working
capital
|
$
|
20,534
|
$
|
52,000
|
Property, plant and
equipment
|
|
26,203
|
|
29,843
|
Mineral
properties
|
|
83,539
|
|
83,539
|
Total
assets
|
|
175,720
|
|
196,766
|
Total long-term
liabilities
|
|
22,475
|
|
43,059
|
Outlook
Overview
Operations and Sales Outlook Overview
In response to the President's Budget, the Company is evaluating
activities aimed towards increasing uranium production at all or
some of our production facilities, including the currently
operating White Mesa Mill and Nichols Ranch ISR Facility, as well
as the Alta Mesa ISR Facility, La Sal Complex, and Canyon Mine,
which are currently on standby, as market conditions may warrant.
The Company may commence such activities, prior to confirmation of
Congressional appropriations and prior to the definition of all
implementation details, as market conditions may warrant,
recognizing that there can be no guarantee that the required
appropriations will be forthcoming or that the implementation
details will be satisfactory, and that the outcome of this process
is therefore uncertain. Alternatively, the Company may defer
commencing any such activities until further clarification on
implementation of the President's Budget is published and/or
Congressional appropriations are obtained, or market conditions
otherwise warrant. No decisions on any project-specific actions to
be taken in response to the President's Budget have been made at
this time.
Subject to any actions the Company may take in response to the
President's Budget, the Company plans to extract and/or recover
limited amounts of uranium from its Nichols Ranch Project in 2020,
as its existing wellfields are nearing depletion. In addition,
during 2020, the Company expects to recover uranium at the White
Mesa Mill from in-circuit uranium inventories extracted from the
recent vanadium pond-return campaign, and from alternate feed
materials. The vanadium pond-return campaign that was conducted in
2019 was brought to a close in early 2020.
Subject to any actions the Company may take in response to the
President's Budget, both ISR and conventional uranium recovery is
expected to be maintained at reduced levels, as a result of current
uranium market conditions, until such time when market conditions
improve sufficiently. Subject to any actions the Company may take
in response to the President's Budget, until such time that
improvement in uranium market conditions is observed or suitable
sales contracts can be entered into, the Company expects to defer
further wellfield development at its Nichols Ranch Project. In
addition, subject to any actions the Company may take in response
to the President's Budget, the Company expects to keep the Alta
Mesa Project and its conventional mining properties on standby.
The Company is also seeking new sources of revenue, including
new sources of alternate feed materials and new fee processing
opportunities at the White Mesa Mill that can be processed under
existing market conditions (i.e., without reliance on current
uranium sales prices). The Company will also continue its support
of U.S. governmental activities to support the domestic uranium
mining industry and will evaluate additional acquisition and
disposition opportunities that may arise.
Extraction and Recovery Activities Overview
During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company
recovered approximately 70,000 pounds of
U3O8, all of which were for the account of
the Company. The Company also recovered approximately 1,807,000
pounds of V2O5, all of which were for the
account of the Company. The Company expects to recover
approximately 125,000 to 175,000 pounds of
U3O8 in the year ending December 31, 2020 for its own account, and zero
pounds of U3O8 for the account of others. The
Company also expects to package vanadium remaining from in-process
pond solution recovery in 2019 of 59,000 pounds
V2O5 in 2020.
The Company has strategically opted not to enter into any
uranium sales commitments for 2020. Therefore, subject to any
actions the Company may take in response to the President's Budget
and general market conditions, all 2020 uranium production is
expected to be added to existing inventories. Subject to any
actions the Company may take in response to the President's Budget,
both ISR and conventional uranium extraction and/or recovery is
expected to continue to be maintained at reduced levels until such
time that improvements in uranium market conditions are observed or
suitable sales contracts can be entered into. All
V2O5 production is expected to be sold on the
spot market if prices rise significantly above current levels, but
otherwise maintained in inventory.
ISR Activities
We extracted and recovered approximately 70,000 pounds of
U3O8 from the Nichols Ranch Project for the
year ended December 31, 2019. The Company expects to produce
approximately 6,000 pounds of U3O8 in the
year ending December 31, 2020 from
Nichols Ranch.
As of December 31, 2019, the Nichols Ranch wellfields had
nine header houses extracting uranium. Subject to any actions the
Company may take in response to the President's Budget, until such
time as improvement in uranium market conditions is observed or
suitable sales contracts can be procured, the Company expects to
defer development of further header houses at its Nichols Ranch
Project. 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.
Subject to any actions the Company may take in response to the
President's Budget, the Company expects to continue to keep the
Alta Mesa Project on standby until such time as improvements in
uranium market conditions are observed or suitable sales contracts
can be procured.
Conventional Activities
Conventional Extraction and Recovery Activities
The White Mesa Mill recovered no pounds of
U3O8 during the year ended December 31, 2019, as operations focused solely
on vanadium recovery from dissolved vanadium in the Mill's tailings
management system not recovered from previous processing activities
("Pond Return"). The White Mesa Mill recovered approximately
1,807,000 pounds of V2O5 in 2019 from Pond
Return, all for the account of the Company. During 2020 the Company
expects to recover approximately 120,000 to 170,000 pounds of
U3O8 at the White Mesa Mill from in-circuit
uranium inventories extracted from the recent vanadium pond-return
campaign and alternate feed materials. In addition, there
remains an estimated 1.5 to 3.0 million pounds of solubilized
recoverable V2O5 inventory in the tailings
facility awaiting future recovery as market conditions may
warrant.
The White Mesa Mill has historically operated on a campaign
basis whereby uranium and/or vanadium recovery is scheduled as mill
feed, cash needs, contract requirements, and/or market conditions
may warrant. The Company currently expects that planned uranium
production from alternate feed materials and receipt of
uranium-bearing materials from mine cleanup activities will keep
the Mill in operation through all or most of 2020. The Company is
also actively pursuing opportunities to process new and additional
alternate feed material sources and new and additional low-grade
ore from third parties in connection with various uranium clean-up
requirements. Successful results from these activities would allow
the Mill to extend the current campaign through 2020 and beyond. In
addition, if improvements in uranium market conditions are
observed, or conventional mines are ramped up in response to the
President's Budget, the Company would expect to be able to keep the
Mill operating over a considerably longer period of time.
Conventional Standby, Permitting and Evaluation Activities
During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company
completed its test-mining and refurbishment program targeting
vanadium at its fully-permitted La Sal Complex located on the
Colorado Plateau. We completed the test-mining in April 2019 and continued to pursue enhanced
operational readiness targeting future commercial production. The
goal of the test-mining program was to evaluate different mining
approaches in previously mined-out areas that selectively target
high-grade vanadium zones, thereby potentially increasing
productivity and mined grades for vanadium and decreasing mining
costs per pound of V2O5 and
U3O8. During this program, the Company
refurbished the La Sal and
Pandora Mines within the La Sal
Complex and extracted approximately 11,000 tons of mineralized
material. In addition, the Company completed a surface and
underground drilling program at the La Sal Complex in 2019 in order
to potentially expand the uranium and/or vanadium resources.
Subject to any actions the Company may take in response to the
President's Budget, during 2020 and general market conditions, the
Company plans to continue carrying out engineering, metallurgical
testing, procurement and construction management activities at its
Canyon Project, including additional bench and pilot plant scale
metallurgical test work of the uranium/copper mineralization, and
to continue pursuing any additional permitting actions that may be
required to potentially recover copper at the White Mesa Mill.
Subject to any actions the Company may take in response to the
President's Budget, the timing of the Company's plans to extract
and process mineralized materials from this project will be based
on the results of this additional evaluation work, along with
market conditions, available financing, sales requirements, and/or
permits required for copper recovery at the Mill.
Sales
During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company
completed $0.07 million of uranium
sales. The Company currently has no remaining contracts and is
therefore fully unhedged to future uranium price increases.
At the current time, the Company is selling only small
quantities of vanadium, while mainly focusing on maintaining
V2O5 inventory for sale in the future, as
prices are expected to increase. During the year ended
December 31, 2019, the Company completed sales of 202,325
pounds of vanadium at an average price of $11.06 per pound. The Company expects to continue
to sell 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 recent pond return
campaign was a high-purity vanadium product of 99.6%-99.7%
V2O5. 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 may also
retain vanadium product in inventory for future sale, depending on
vanadium spot prices and general market conditions.
The Company also continues to pursue new sources of revenue,
including additional alternate feed materials and other sources of
feed for the White Mesa Mill.
Bought Deal Financing
On February 20, 2020, the Company
closed a bought deal public offering of common shares made pursuant
to an underwriting agreement dated February 13, 2020 between
the Company and a syndicate of underwriters led by Cantor
Fitzgerald & Co. as lead underwriter and sole book-runner, and
H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC, Eight Capital, Haywood Securities
Inc. and Roth Capital Partners, LLC (the "Offering").
Pursuant to the Offering, the Company issued an aggregate of
11,300,000 common shares at a price of $1.47 per share for gross proceeds of
$16,611,000. The Company received net
proceeds, after commissions and fees, of $15.1 million from the Offering.
Working Group Update and U.S. President's Budget for Fiscal
Year 2021
On July 12, 2019, in response to
our Section 232 Petition, the President of the United States issued a memorandum, titled
"Memorandum on the Effect of Uranium Imports on the National
Security and Establishment of the United States Nuclear Fuel
Working Group." In his memorandum, the President acknowledged
he has "significant concerns regarding the impact of uranium
imports on the national security with respect to domestic mining,"
and concluded that "a fuller analysis of national security
considerations with respect to the entire nuclear fuel supply chain
is necessary at this time." In his memorandum, he also established
the Working Group, comprised of members of his cabinet and other
government officials, to study U.S. nuclear fuel production,
including uranium mining, in order "to develop recommendations for
reviving and expanding domestic nuclear fuel production" and to
"reinvigorate the entire nuclear fuel supply chain, consistent with
United States national security
and nonproliferation goals."
On February 10, 2020, the
President published his President's Budget for fiscal year 2021
(October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021). The President's Budget
"Supports Nuclear Fuel Cycle Capabilities," and states that "[o]n
July 12, 2019, the President
determined that '...the United
States uranium industry faces significant challenges in
producing uranium domestically and that this is an issue of
national security.' The President's Budget establishes a Uranium
Reserve for the United States to
provide additional assurances of availability of uranium in the
event of a market disruption." Table 25-1 of the President's Budget
seeks congressional appropriations of $150
million per year over the next 10 years (totaling
$1.5 billion over that timeframe) for
uranium purchases. For fiscal 2021 (October
1, 2020 through September 30,
2021), the President's Budget seeks an appropriation of
$150 million, "to remain available
until expended," as the appropriation for the first year of this
10-year program. The President's Budget states that "Establishing a
Uranium Reserve provides assurance of availability of uranium in
the event of a market disruption and supports strategic U.S. fuel
cycle capabilities. This action addresses immediate challenges to
the production of domestic uranium and reflects the
Administration's Nuclear Fuel Working Group (NFWG) priorities. The
NFWG will continue to evaluate issues related to uranium supply
chain and fuel supply."
The proposed President's Budgeted activities are subject to
appropriation by the Congress of the
United States, and the details of implementation of
activities in the President's Budget have not yet been defined. As
a result, there can be no certainty of the outcome of the
President's Budget or any further evaluations of the Working
Group. Therefore, the outcome of this process remains
uncertain. If the required appropriations are not made by Congress,
or if the President does not implement the activities contemplated
by the President's Budget, or implements them in a way that does
not provide the required support for the Company's activities, and
uranium and vanadium markets do not otherwise improve, or as market
conditions may otherwise dictate, we may reduce our operational
activities as required in order to minimize our cash expenditures
while preserving our asset base for increased production in the
future as market conditions may warrant.
The Company's Plans in Response to the President's
Budget
As stated above, in response to the President's Budget, the
Company is evaluating activities aimed towards increasing uranium
production at all or some of its production facilities, subject to
general market conditions. No decisions on any project-specific
actions to be taken in response to the President's Budget have been
made at this time.
Convertible Debentures
On July 24, 2012, the Company
issued Cdn$22,000,000 aggregate
principal amount of Convertible Debentures, with Cdn$20,860,000 ($16,061,000) currently outstanding. The
Convertible Debentures, which were amended on August 4, 2016, will mature on December 31, 2020 and are convertible into Common
Shares of the Company at the option of the holder at a conversion
price, subject to certain adjustments, of Cdn$4.15 per share at any time prior to
redemption or maturity. The Convertible Debentures may be retired
at any time in whole or in part at a price equal to 101% of their
face value or at maturity at their face value either through the
payment of cash or the issuance of Common Shares based on a 5%
discount to the then prevailing market price of the Common Shares,
at the Company's option.
The net proceeds of the Offering of $15.1
million and the $4.0 million
raised on the Company's ATM program since December 31, 2019 provide the Company with an
additional $19.03 million in cash
raised in 2020 to add to the Company's cash and cash equivalents
and marketable securities and inventories (which totaled
$40.5 million as at December 31, 2019). This gives the Company added
flexibility to ramp-up production at its properties in response to
the President's Budget, as market conditions may warrant. It also
provides the Company with the ability, as market conditions may
warrant, to elect to redeem all or a portion of its existing
Convertible Debentures for cash prior to or at maturity, along with
its existing right to repay the Convertible Debentures in whole or
in part in Common Shares at maturity, to the extent the Convertible
Debentures are not converted by the holders thereof or refinanced
with replacement Convertible Debentures by the Company in whole or
in part prior to maturity.
Minimize Costs
The Company will continue to seek ways to minimize the costs of
maintaining its critical properties in a state of readiness for
potential improvements in market conditions, and is evaluating
whether additional cost-cutting measures may be warranted at this
time as a result of recent declines in general market
conditions.
Mark S. Chalmers, P.E., of 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.
About Energy Fuels: Energy Fuels is a leading
U.S.-based uranium mining company, supplying
U3O8 to major nuclear utilities. The Company
also produces vanadium from certain of its projects, as market
conditions warrant. Its corporate offices are in Lakewood, Colorado near Denver, and all of its assets and employees
are in the United States. Energy
Fuels holds three of America's key uranium production centers: the
White Mesa Mill in Utah, the
Nichols Ranch in-situ recovery ("ISR") Project in Wyoming, and the Alta Mesa ISR Project in
Texas. The White Mesa Mill is the
only conventional uranium mill operating in the U.S. today, has a
licensed capacity of over 8 million pounds of
U3O8 per year, and has the ability to produce
vanadium when market conditions warrant. The Nichols Ranch ISR
Project is in operation and has a licensed capacity of 2 million
pounds of U3O8 per year. The Alta Mesa ISR
Project is currently on standby. In addition to the above
production facilities, Energy Fuels also has one of the largest NI
43-101 compliant uranium resource portfolios in the U.S. and
several uranium and uranium/vanadium mining projects on standby and
in various stages of permitting and development. The primary
trading market for Energy Fuels' common shares is the NYSE American
under the trading symbol "UUUU," and the Company's common shares
are also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading
symbol "EFR." Energy Fuels' website is.
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; scalability,
and the Company's ability and readiness to re-start or expand any
of its existing projects to respond to any improvements in uranium
market conditions; any expectation that the Company may be able to
recover copper from its Canyon project at the White Mesa Mill or
otherwise; any expectation regarding potentially increasing
productivity and mined grades for vanadium and decreasing mining
costs per pound of V2O5 and
U3O8 as a result of the vanadium test-mining
program or otherwise; any expectations regarding vanadium
opportunities, the Company's program for the recovery of vanadium
from pond solutions, remaining dissolved vanadium in tailings
facility solutions, future production opportunities, or the
Company's ability to sell any of its vanadium product at a premium
to spot prices or otherwise; the ability of the Company to secure
any new sources of alternate feed materials or other processing
opportunities at the White Mesa Mill; expected timelines for the
permitting and development of projects; the Company's expectations
as to longer term fundamentals in the market and price projections;
expectations to become or maintain its position as a leading
uranium company in the United
States; any expectation as to how the President's Budget
will be implemented and the timing of implementation; any
expectation with respect to timelines to production; any
expectation that Energy Fuels is well-positioned to be a
primary supplier of the uranium needed for the Uranium Reserve; any
expectation that the Company may be able to sell its uranium and
vanadium inventories at potentially higher prices in the future;
any expectation that Congress will make the requested
appropriations; any expectations relating to the Company's
flexibility regarding the repayment of its existing convertible
debentures; and any expectations as to the Company's ability to
implement any additional cost-cutting measures. 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:
production and sales forecasts; costs of production; scalability,
and the Company's ability and readiness to re-start or expand any
of its existing projects to respond to any improvements in uranium
market conditions; any expectation that the Company may be able to
recover copper from its Canyon project at the White Mesa Mill or
otherwise; any expectation regarding potentially increasing
productivity and mined grades for vanadium and decreasing mining
costs per pound of V2O5 and
U3O8 as a result of the vanadium
test-mining program or otherwise; any expectations regarding
vanadium opportunities, the Company's program for the recovery of
vanadium from pond solutions, remaining dissolved vanadium in
tailings facility solutions, future production opportunities, or
the Company's ability to sell any of its vanadium product at a
premium to spot prices or otherwise; the ability of the Company to
secure any new sources of alternate feed materials or other
processing opportunities at the White Mesa Mill; expected timelines
for the permitting and development of projects; the Company's
expectations as to longer term fundamentals in the market and price
projections; expectations to become or maintain its position as a
leading uranium company in the United
States; any expectation as to how the President's Budget
will be implemented and the timing of implementation; any
expectation with respect to timelines to production; any
expectation that Energy Fuels is well-positioned to be a
primary supplier of the uranium needed for the Uranium Reserve; any
expectation that the Company may be able to sell its uranium and
vanadium inventories at potentially higher prices in the future;
any expectation that Congress will make the requested
appropriations; any expectations relating to the Company's
flexibility regarding the repayment of its existing convertible
debentures; any expectations as to the Company's ability to
implement any additional cost-cutting measures; 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.