Paper Ignores Data Presented to U.S.
Department of Commerce
Demonstrating That Industry Can
Meet Increased Production Requirements
DENVER, CO, July 17, 2018 /CNW/ - A utility-sponsored paper
released yesterday misses the mark in its analysis of the remedies
that Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU; TSX: EFR) ("Energy
Fuels") and Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSE American: URG; TSX: URE)
("Ur-Energy") proposed in their Section 232 petition to the
U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC). For decades, the U.S. has
increased its dependence on uranium from state-sponsored
enterprises subject to neither environmental nor worker safety
standards.
Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy welcome all interested parties,
including utilities, to carefully analyze the economic impacts of
the proposed remedies. We believe the remedies are sound and will
result in minimal impacts to the U.S. nuclear utility industry and
consumers of electricity, while also bolstering U.S. national
security. However, the utilities' analysis misses the mark on
several fronts.
Most critically, the paper ignores evidence that Energy Fuels
and Ur-Energy included in their petition for relief under Section
232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 demonstrating that the
industry has sufficient licensed capacity and resources – and all
at a cost consistent with the unsubsidized global standard – to
meet U.S. production requirements if the quotas recommended in the
petition are imposed. The U.S. uranium industry has produced at
well over those levels in the past, and the proposed remedies would
allow the industry to get back to those production levels at
minimal cost to the nuclear utility industry.
The paper also fails to address the serious threat to U.S.
national security caused by our dependence on Russia and its allies for a significant
portion of our uranium supply. Russia's actions in Eastern Europe prove its willingness to use
energy exports as a geopolitical weapon.
Finally, the authors at The NorthBridge Group did not consider
or fully understand a number of exhibits the companies included in
their petition for relief. The most relevant include:
- Exhibit 17 of the petition shows that during a period of
uranium price increases between 2007 and 2012, domestic uranium
mining companies endeavored to bring considerable new production
capacity online. Unfortunately, state and federal permitting delays
forced U.S. companies to miss the price hike. Since that period,
the industry has increased its licensed capacity by 74 percent,
with additional capacity expected in the near term.
- Exhibit 23 of the petition shows that the mining operations
necessary to reach the required production rate are already in
place and ready to resume production. In addition, the number of
required facilities is relatively small and spread over several
states – meaning that the industry can meet labor and other
capacity needs.
In addition, the authors vastly overstate the costs to expand
production to the level needed to support the quota, while ignoring
the effect of direct and indirect subsidies received by
state-sponsored enterprises in Russia, Kazakhstan, China and elsewhere. Domestic industry costs
for current operating and near-term production are consistent with
the worldwide, all-in production costs cited in Exhibit 3 of the
petition.
Above all, the U.S. cannot and should not put a price on our
national security. We must not surrender the entire front end of
our nuclear fuel supply chain because of an addiction to
government-subsidized uranium from Russia and its allies.
Energy Fuels' and Ur-Energy's January press releases provide
further details on the background and legal basis for the petition.
Additional information regarding the trade action, including the
petition and its exhibits, can also be readily found on the
companies' websites (Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy).
In any governmental investigation, there can be no certainty of
the outcome. The purpose of this investigation is to shine a light
on the facts and discover the truth about the national security
impact of uranium imports from state-sponsored enterprises in
adversarial nations.
About Energy Fuels: Energy Fuels is a leading
integrated U.S. uranium mining company, supplying
U3O8 to major nuclear utilities. Its
corporate offices are in Denver,
Colorado, and all of its assets and employees are in the
western United States. Energy
Fuels holds three of America's key uranium production centers, the
White Mesa Mill in Utah, the
Nichols Ranch Processing Facility in Wyoming, and the Alta Mesa Project in
Texas. The White Mesa Mill is the
only conventional uranium mill operating in the U.S. today and has
a licensed capacity of over 8 million pounds of
U3O8 per year. The Nichols Ranch Processing
Facility is an in-situ recovery production center with a licensed
capacity of 2 million pounds of U3O8 per
year. Alta Mesa is an in-situ
recovery production center with a licensed capacity of 1.5 million
pounds of U3O8 per year, which is currently
on care and maintenance due to low uranium prices. Energy Fuels
also has the largest uranium resource portfolio in the U.S. among
producers, and uranium mining projects located in a number of
Western U.S. states, including one producing in-situ recovery
project, mines on standby, and mineral properties in various stages
of permitting and development. Energy Fuels also produces vanadium
as a by-product of its uranium production from certain of its mines
on the Colorado Plateau, as market conditions warrant. 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.
About Ur-Energy: Ur-Energy is a U.S.
uranium mining company with corporate and operations offices in
Denver, Colorado, and Casper, Wyoming, respectively. Ur-Energy
operates the Lost Creek in-situ recovery uranium
facility in south-central Wyoming.
Ur-Energy has produced, packaged and shipped more than 2 million
pounds from Lost Creek since the commencement of operations.
Applications are under review by various agencies to incorporate
Ur-Energy's LC East project area into the Lost Creek permits, and
the company has begun to submit applications for permits and
licenses to construct and operate its Shirley Basin Project.
Ur-Energy is engaged in uranium mining, recovery and processing
activities in the United
States, including the acquisition, exploration, development
and operation of uranium mineral properties. The primary trading
market for Ur-Energy's common shares is the NYSE American under the
trading symbol "URG;" Ur-Energy's common shares also trade on the
Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "URE." Ur-Energy's
website is www.ur-energy.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements: Certain information contained in this news
release, including any information relating to: the status of
current or expected licensed U.S. production capacity and whether
the industry has or will have sufficient licensed capacity to meet
increased U.S. production requirements; expected costs of U.S.
production and whether they will be consistent with world
production costs; the status of construction of facilities; whether
or not the industry can meet labor capacity needs; the economic
impacts of the proposed remedies on nuclear utility industry
requirements; threats to U.S. national security; the outcome of the
Department of Commerce Section 232 investigation, including whether
or not the Secretary of Commerce will make a recommendation to the
President and the nature of the recommendation; whether or not the
President will act on the recommendation and, if so, the nature of
the action and remedy; and any other statements regarding Energy
Fuels' or Ur-Energy's future expectations, beliefs, goals or
prospects; constitute forward-looking information within the
meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively,
"forward-looking statements"). All statements in this news release
that are not statements of historical fact (including statements
containing the words "expects," "does not expect," "plans,"
"anticipates," "does not anticipate," "believes," "intends,"
"estimates," "projects," "potential," "scheduled," "forecast,"
"budget" and similar expressions) should be considered
forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements are
subject to important risk factors and uncertainties, many of which
are beyond Energy Fuels' and Ur-Energy's ability to control or
predict. A number of important factors could cause actual results
or events to differ materially from those indicated or implied by
such forward-looking statements, including without limitation
factors relating to the status of current or expected licensed U.S.
production capacity and whether the industry has or will have
sufficient licensed capacity to meet increased U.S. production
requirements; expected costs of U.S. production and whether they
will be consistent with world production costs; the status of
construction of facilities; whether or not the industry can meet
labor capacity needs; the economic impacts of the proposed remedies
on nuclear utility industry requirements; threats to U.S. national
security; the outcome of the Department of Commerce Section 232
investigation, including whether or not the Secretary of Commerce
will make a recommendation to the President and the nature of the
recommendation; whether or not the President will act on the
recommendation and, if so, the nature of the action and remedy; and
other risk factors as described in each of Energy Fuels' and
Ur-Energy's most recent annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly
financial reports. Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy assume no obligation
to update the information in this communication, except as
otherwise required by law. Additional information identifying risks
and uncertainties is contained in Energy Fuels' and Ur-Energy's
respective filings with the various securities commissions which
are available online at www.sec.gov and www.sedar.com.
Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of
providing information about the current expectations, beliefs and
plans of the management of Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy relating to
the future. Readers are cautioned that such statements may not be
appropriate for other purposes. Readers are also cautioned not to
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, that
speak only as of the date hereof.
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content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ur-energy-and-energy-fuels-utility-sponsored-paper-misses-the-mark-on-economic-impact-of-remedies-proposed-in-section-232-petition-300681876.html
SOURCE Energy Fuels Inc.