Move Intensifies Energy Fuels' Pursuit of
Commercially Viable Rare Earth Production Capacity in the U.S. that
Could Process Multiple Ore Inputs and Recycle Contained Uranium to
Generate Clean Nuclear Power
LAKEWOOD, CO, May 21, 2020 /CNW/ - Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE
American: UUUU; TSX: EFR) ("Energy Fuels"), the leading
producer of uranium in the United States, is pleased to
announce that it has entered into consulting agreements with
Constantine Karayannopoulos and
Brock O'Kelley, two rare earth
element ("REE") industry experts who each have decades of
experience producing commercially viable rare earth products, to
aid in the development and implementation of commercial and
technical REE strategies for the new U.S. REE program Energy Fuels
is pursuing.
A chemical engineer by training with more than 25 years of
experience in the rare earth industry, Mr. Karayannopoulos is
Chairman of Neo Performance Materials (TSX:NEO), one of the world's
leading producers of rare earth engineered and magnetic materials,
with integrated supply chains across the globe. Mr. O'Kelley played
a key role in the operation of the Mountain Pass, California rare earth processing facility
during the 1990s and 2000s. Both are industry veterans with
extensive knowledge of REE processing facility design, start-up,
operations, and downstream value-added manufacturing of advanced
REE products.
Energy Fuels is currently evaluating minor modifications to its
operations, complementary to its uranium business, to enable the
processing uranium- and thorium-bearing rare earth ores at its
fully licensed and operational White Mesa Mill (the "Mill) in
Utah. These ores are expected to
come from third parties, either through ore purchase, tolling, or
other arrangements, and Energy Fuels expects to produce a
commercially viable rare earth concentrate or concentrates, while
also recycling and recovering uranium from these ores. The rare
earth concentrates would then be available for commercial sale to
third party REE oxide separation and recovery facilities in the
U.S. and elsewhere, and/or potentially for further refinement and
REE separation and recovery at the Mill.
Removal and recovery of the uranium and thorium from rare earth
ores is the key aspect of Energy Fuels' value proposition, as many
rare earth separation and recovery facilities are not able to
handle uranium or thorium from a technical or regulatory
standpoint. The White Mesa Mill has a 40 year history of
responsibly handling, processing and recycling uranium and thorium
bearing materials. Therefore, it has the potential to provide a
crucial link in a commercially viable U.S rare earth supply chain.
It should be noted that Energy Fuels intends to continue to focus
on its current uranium mining and production operations, and
possibly enhance that production by recovering the contained
uranium from REE ores for sale into the nuclear fuel cycle.
Presentation at Mining Conference: Energy Fuels is
also pleased to announce that CEO Mark
Chalmers will be a keynote speaker at
VirtualInvestorConferences.com today (Thursday, May 21, 2020) at 1:30 pm Eastern. Mr. Chalmers intends to discuss
this rare earth opportunity further. Mr. Chalmers' presentation can
be viewed by clicking this link.
"Energy Fuels is extremely excited to bring Constantine Karayannopoulos and Brock O'Kelley on board to advance our entry
into the rare earth space in the U.S.," stated Mark S. Chalmers, President and CEO of Energy
Fuels. "Over the past year or so, Energy Fuels has been actively
evaluating this rare earth opportunity. We are quickly coming to
the conclusion that the White Mesa Mill may be an ideal U.S.
facility to process rare earth element ore streams and produce rare
earth concentrates. Mr. Karayannopoulos and Mr. O'Kelley will
assist Energy Fuels in the commercial and technical aspects of this
endeavor. Mr. Karayannopoulos established Neo Material Technologies
into a unique REE materials company, which is currently one of the
World's leading producers of REEs and a broad range of light and
heavy rare earth engineered products outside of China. Neo was acquired for Cdn$1.3 billion in 2012 by Molycorp, the operator
of the rare earth mine and processing facility in Mountain Pass,
California. Neo maintained its
cash flow and profitability, despite Molycorp's 2015
reorganization. Mr. O'Kelley worked with Mr. Karayannopoulos at
Molycorp as Technology Fellow and Vice President of Technology. He
is currently an associate professor at the Colorado School of Mines working with REE related
projects. Energy Fuels looks forward to working with these two
industry veterans in developing our REE business in the U.S. and in
advancing our relationships in this sector. Between Mr.
Karayannopoulos, Mr. O'Kelley, and ANSTO of Sydney, Australia, we believe Energy Fuels is
truly assembling a top flight team capable of building a successful
U.S. REE business."
Mr. Chalmers continued: "We are also very excited about how this
project will further the Company's sustainability program, which we
believe is one of Energy Fuels' defining features and what sets us
apart from our peers. At Energy Fuels, we are proud to be able to
say that the very heart of our business – uranium production at
state-of-the-art U.S. processing facilities – helps address global
climate change, reduces air pollution, and makes the world a
healthier and cleaner place. Uranium is the fuel for carbon-free,
emission-free baseload nuclear power – one of the cleanest forms of
energy in the world. We also recycle uranium and vanadium, thereby
helping to ensure that the world's resources are not wasted. Under
our planned U.S. rare earth business, we will not only be recycling
uranium from rare earth ore streams that would otherwise be lost,
we will be helping to produce rare earth elements, which are key
components of numerous modern technologies. From a
sustainability perspective, not only will Energy
Fuels provide critical rare earth elements used in many advanced
technologies and clean energy applications, we will also provide
recycled uranium to fuel carbon-free nuclear energy and power these
technologies. This is a remarkable clean energy story."
About Constantine
Karayannopoulos: Mr. Karayannopoulos is currently the
Chairman of the Board of Neo Performance Materials Inc. ("Neo"), a
position he has held since 2016. He began his career in REE's in
1994, when he helped found Advanced Material Resources ("AMR"). Mr.
Karayannopoulos later became North American Sales Manager, Global
Sales Manager/Chair of AMR's China
joint ventures, Vice President/General Manager of AMR's REE
Business Unit, and eventually Chief Operating Officer. In 2005, Mr.
Karayannopoulos became CEO of the company, which was renamed Neo
Material Technologies Inc. Neo established itself as a unique
global REE specialty value-added materials company and, with strong
cash flow, grew to 11 plants and 1,500 employees around the world,
with sales in excess of $800 million
and EBITDA of approximately $300
million in 2011. In June 2012,
Neo was acquired by Molycorp for Cdn$1.3
billion. At that time, Mr. Karayannopoulos joined the board
of Molycorp as Vice Chair. He became interim CEO of Molycorp in
December 2012 and Chair in
December 2013. While Neo stayed
profitable and cash flow positive, Moycorp began a Chapter 11
reorganization in 2015. Following Molycorp's restructuring, Neo,
renamed Neo Performance Materials, emerged under the ownership of
Oaktree, a Los Angeles-based fund
who appointed Mr. Karayannopoulos Chairman of the Board in
September 2016. Neo again became a
public company with a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange in
November 2017. Mr. Karayannopoulos is
also a co-founder and Chair of Neo Lithium Corp. He is a member of
the Advisory Board at the University of
Toronto's Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied
Chemistry, a Director of the Canada China Business Council, a
member of the Advisory Board of KES7, a private merchant bank
specializing in energy and technology transactions, and Lithium
Royalties Corp. He holds Bachelor and Master of Applied Science
degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto.
About Brock O'Kelley: Mr.
O'Kelley's career in REE's has spanned 30 years, beginning in 1985
with Molycorp at the Louviers,
Colorado separation facility as a process engineer. In 1990,
Mr. O'Kelley was transferred to Molycorp's Mountain Pass,
California REE mine as Superintendent of the Rare Earth Separations
plant. Over the years, he held a variety of positions of increasing
responsibility at Mountain Pass, including Operations Manager,
Technology Manager, Director of Technology, and Technology Fellow
and Vice President of Technology. Mr. O'Kelley is a graduate of the
Colorado School of Mines with a
Bachelor of Science in Mineral Processing and Extractive
Metallurgy. In 2016, Mr. O'Kelley returned to the Colorado School of Mines as a Research Associate
Professor for the Kroll Institute for Extractive Metallurgy where
he has assisted graduate students with REE-related projects.
About Energy Fuels: Energy Fuels is a leading
US-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 near Denver, Colorado, 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 on standby 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 www.energyfuels.com.
Cautionary Notes: 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 is not limited to, statements
with respect to: any expectation that the Company will be
successful in entering the REE space and will have the
opportunity to process uranium-bearing ores for the creation
of rare earth concentrates or recovery of REEs, at all or on
commercial terms; any expectation that Mr.
Karayannopoulos and Mr. O'Kelley will aid in the development and
implementation of commercial and technical REE strategies for the
Company's new REE program; any expectation as to the duration
of Mr. Karayannopoulos' and Mr. O'Kelley's engagement
with the Company; any expectation that the Company will be able to
advance its relationships in the REE sector; any
expectation that the Mill might be an ideal U.S. facility, or
crucial link, capable of processing rare earth element ore
streams, either through ore-purchase, tolling or other
arrangements, or that the Mill can play a key role in
bringing the REE supply chain back to the U.S.; any expectation
that the Company can leverage its existing licenses, infrastructure
and capabilities at the Mill to also produce rare earth
concentrates or REE's; and any expectation that the Company will
maintain its position as a leading US-based uranium mining
company. 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: any
expectation that the Company will be successful in entering the REE
space and will have the opportunity to process
uranium-bearing ores for the creation of rare earth
concentrates or recovery of REEs, at all or on commercial
terms; any expectation that Mr. Karayannopoulos and
Mr. O'Kelley will aid in the development and implementation of
commercial and technical REE strategies for the Company's new REE
program; any expectation as to the duration of Mr.
Karayannopoulos' and Mr. O'Kelley's engagement with the Company;
any expectation that the Company will be able to advance its
relationships in the REE sector; any expectation that
the Mill might be an ideal U.S. facility, or crucial link, capable
of processing rare earth element ore streams, either through
ore-purchase, tolling or other arrangements, or that the
Mill can play a key role in bringing the REE supply chain back to
the U.S.; any expectation that the Company can leverage its
existing licenses, infrastructure and capabilities at the Mill to
also produce rare earth concentrates or REE's; any expectation that
the Company will maintain its position as a leading US-based
uranium mining company; 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.
It should further be noted that the ability of the Company to
successfully enter into the rare earth sector is subject to a
number of technical, regulatory, commercial and government funding
factors, and there can be no certainty with respect to those
factors. Therefore, the outcome of this initiative remains
uncertain.
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SOURCE Energy Fuels Inc.