Energy Fuels Commencing Vanadium Production; Testing New Approaches to Mining in Tight Vanadium Market
Date: Sep 28, 2018
Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU; TSX: EFR) (“Energy Fuels” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that the Company expects to resume vanadium production at its 100% owned White Mesa Mill (the “Mill”) in mid-November 2018, producing significant quantities of salable V2O5 product by the end of December 2018. When production begins, Energy Fuels will be the newest vanadium producer in the World and the only primary producer of V2O5 in North America. In addition, the Company is currently preparing to conduct a test-mining program that selectively targets high-grade V2O5 resources at its 100%-owned La Sal Complex of uranium/vanadium mines in Utah, with the goal of significantly increasing productivity and mined grades and reducing mining costs per pound of V2O5 and U3O8 recovered.
Energy Fuels’ White Mesa Mill, located near Blanding, Utah, is currently the only facility in the United States capable of processing conventional mined vanadium resources. As a result, no other company in the United States is likely to enter primary vanadium production in the near-term, because no other company has access to the Mill at this time.
Vanadium prices have risen by over 150% in the past year due to a number of factors, including production cuts and significant increases in demand due to the implementation on November 1, 2018 of new rebar standards in China that can only be achieved through increased use of vanadium (with limited substitution). In addition, vanadium demand could increase significantly in the coming years due to the commercialization of vanadium batteries used in connection with renewable energy generation. As of September 23, 2018, the mid-point price of V2O5 as reported by Metal Bulletin was $22.63 per pound, as compared to $9.00 per pound on September 29, 2017.
As previously announced, and starting in November 2018, Energy Fuels expects to begin vanadium production from the pond solutions at the White Mesa Mill, which the Company estimates contain approximately four (4) million pounds of recoverable V2O5. Historically, the Mill has been a significant producer of vanadium, and the Company estimates that the Mill has produced about 45 million pounds of V2O5 since it was constructed in the early-1980’s, having last produced over 1.5 million pounds of V2O5 mined from the La Sal Complex in 2013 (see further update below on the La Sal Complex). The Company has spent the past several months retrofitting and upgrading the Mill’s vanadium recovery circuit in preparation of this upcoming production run. Once production reaches a steady state, the Company expects to produce approximately 200,000 to 225,000 pounds of V2O5 per month from the pond solutions for a period of 16 to 20 months, subject to market conditions, costs, and recoveries. Further, the Mill has historically produced a relatively high-purity vanadium product, which if achieved again, offers the potential in today’s market to command a premium above standard V2O5 prices. The pond project also offers the Company excellent flexibility, including the ability to turn production on-and-off quickly and at limited cost, in response to evolving market conditions. While the Mill has never to date attempted to commercially recover vanadium dissolved in the ponds, extensive on-site test work indicates that the project has a high probability for success.
In addition, Energy Fuels is commencing limited conventional vanadium production at its 100% owned and fully licensed, permitted, and constructed La Sal Complex of uranium/vanadium mines in Utah. In Q4 2008, the Company expects to begin a test-mining program to evaluate different approaches 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 recovered. The Company also expects to conduct additional exploration and in-fill drilling at the La Sal Complex, with specific analysis for vanadium, which was not normally done in the past, with the goal of expanding and upgrading the vanadium resources at this project.
