Energy Fuels encouraged by early results from vanadium test-mining programme
Date: Oct 29, 2018
“The ability to target higher-grade vanadium zones, separately and independently from higher-grade uranium zones in these mines may be, we believe, a true paradigm shift in the way these mines can be mined,” said Mark Chalmers, the president and chief executive officer of Energy Fuels.
Energy Fuels Inc. (TSE:EFR, NYSEMT:UUUU) has teased its shareholders with some early results from its vanadium mining program at the La Sal complex in Utah.
Historically, when uranium was targeted for production at the La Sal complex of uranium/vanadium mines, the recovered vanadium-to-uranium ratio was roughly 5-to-1. By targeting vanadium, the samples in the above table show a ratio of over 16-to-1 vanadium-to-uranium, including an average vanadium grade of 1.675% and an average uranium grade of 0.102% U3O8 (triuranium octoxide).
Energy Fuels extrapolated from these results that, assuming average historic recoveries at the company’s White Mesa uranium/vanadium mill of roughly 95% uranium and 70% vanadium, the company would expect to recover roughly 23.5 pounds of V2O5 (vanadium pentoxide), and 1.9 pounds of U3O8, per ton of the mineralized material that has been mined to date under this program.
“While not intended to represent a resource or reserve estimate or economic evaluation, this test mining program is demonstrating two key points to the company,” Energy Fuels said.
“First, high-grade vanadium associated with lower grade uranium exists in the La Sal mine complex. This mineralized material was either not detected in the past or not mined due to its relatively lower uranium grade.
“Second, the company now has the technology to identify this mineralization, which was not available historically. This material is attractive at current vanadium prices, and would have been attractive during previous mining campaigns had the vanadium grades been identified at those times,” it added.
