LAKEWOOD, CO,
May 6, 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 an agreement to acquire from
GeoInstruments Logging LLC ("GIL") all of its Prompt Fission
Neutron ("PFN") technology and equipment, including all of its
related intellectual property, which will give Energy
Fuels the exclusive right to use, license, and service this
particular PFN technology globally. PFN is critical to successfull
uranium production particularly from many in situ recovery
("ISR") deposits, as it more accurately measures downhole in-situ
U3O8 ore grade versus traditional Total Gamma
and Spectral Gamma methods.
The PFN equipment and technology to be acquired by Energy Fuels
includes: four (4) PFN tools; nine (9) gamma tools with point
resistivity, spontaneous potential and deviation; two (2)
low-mileage, heavy-duty logging trucks with logging and associated
equipment; power supplies, computers, communication, and other
technology; and all associated intellectual property, including all
internal details of the tools, circuit board diagrams, firmware
code, software, manuals, instructions, patents and the sole right
to utilize and license the acquired PFN technology globally. The
total consideration to be paid by Energy Fuels to GIL will be
US$500,000.00 cash. Closing of the
transaction is expected to occur within approximately two weeks,
after completion of a due diligence inspection of the
equipment.
Energy Fuels currently has some PFN equipment in various states
of repair, which it has used for its mining operations in the past,
as do other companies in the U.S. and around the world. With the
acquisition of this additional PFN equipment and technology from
GIL, Energy Fuels will, not only be able to utilize the additional
equipment to ramp-up production from its ISR properties more
quickly and efficiently in the event of improved market conditions,
it will also secure the ability to service, repair and maintain PFN
equipment currently held by the Company and others, as well as
license this technology to others in the future.
"Energy Fuels' acquisition of this PFN equipment and technology
will further solidify Energy Fuels' position as the leading uranium
miner in the United States,
especially in the ISR space" stated Mark S.
Chalmers, President and CEO of the Company. "We believe that
acquiring PFN technology is now more important than ever, as we
believe a revival of the U.S. uranium industry is imminent. On
April 23, 2020, the U.S. Nuclear Fuel
Working Group (NFWG) conclusively described why the U.S. needs
healthy uranium and nuclear fuel industries in order to secure U.S.
energy and national security and prevent Russia, China
and other geopolitical rivals from gaining control of global – and
U.S. – nuclear markets. We believe the NFWG report represents the
strongest U.S. government commitment to supporting U.S. uranium
miners in decades. The NFWG report also provides a menu of actions
the U.S. government can take to support domestic uranium mining,
including creating a U.S. uranium reserve, and potentially
increasing the size of the American Assured Fuel Supply. We believe
the NFWG report is an emphatic call for the U.S. government to take
whatever actions are necessary to bring back U.S. uranium and
nuclear fuel production. In response to the NFWG Report
recommendations, President Trump has already announced a budget
that seeks $150 million per year over
the next 10 years (totaling $1.5
billion over that timeframe) to establish a strategic
uranium reserve intended "to provide additional assurances of
availability of uranium in the event of a market disruption." ("A
Budget for America's Future", Page 46; "Table 25-1. Federal Budget
by Agency and Account, FY-2021 President's Budget Policy", Page
127).
"We believe PFN technology is critical, as the technology
provides significant advantages to miners that operate primarily
ISR uranium projects, many of which are in a state of radioactive
disequilibrium. PFN is able to more accurately detect and define
uranium content and location versus traditional downhole gamma
measurements. In fact without PFN, a uranium miner may miss large
areas of high-grade uranium resources within a deposit. As a
result, PFN can provide a uranium miner with the opportunity to
gain a significant advantage by reducing uranium production,
drilling, exploration, analytical costs and time."
Why PFN Is Important
PFN technologies have played an important part in discovering,
and bringing to production, some of the best uranium deposits in
the world, including the low-cost Beverly and Four Mile uranium
mines currently operating in South
Australia. Energy Fuels' Alta Mesa ISR Project in
South Texas, which produced nearly
5 million pounds of U3O8 between 2005 and
2012, also deployed PFN technology while in production.
Many geologically younger ISR uranium deposits in the U.S., and
particularly in Texas, have a
certain degree of disequilibrium, whereby the radioactivity
measured in drill holes using traditional Total Gamma and Spectral
Gamma methods does not accurately correspond to ore grade, due to
the continued decay of uranium daughter products including
potassium, thorium, lead and bismuth relative to radium
(Ra226), a significant gamma emmiter. Traditionally,
disequilibrium is calculated using mud rotary coring techniques and
laboratory gamma and alpha spectometry. All of which are expensive
and time consuming. Without accurate in-situ measurement of
uranium, significant high-grade ore has been missed using the
traditional downhole techniques. PFN technology solves this issue
by instead using neutron activation to detect uranium in drill
holes. The PFN tool creates very fast neutrons (14MeV) and fires
108 neutrons per second. Therefore, the neutrons emitted
by the PFN tool excite, at an atomic level, in-situ uranium atoms
in the drill hole, creating fast (epithermal) neutrons and slow
(thermal) neutrons. The ratio of epithermal to thermal neutrons is
proportional to uranium, allowing the U3O8
ore grade to be accurately calculated. This provides a relatively
inexpensive and instantaneous means for accurate assaying in-situ
ore grades over large areas, and allows for accurate ore body
mapping, resource estimation, and wellfield planning.
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 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 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 this transaction will close
and the timing of any such closing; any expectation that the
Company will be able to utilize the additional
equipment to ramp-up production from its ISR properties more
quickly and efficiently in the event of improved market conditions;
any expectation that the completion of this transaction
will secure the Company's ability to to service, repair and
maintain PFN equipment currently held by the Company and others, as
well as license this technology to others in the future; any
expectation that PFN is critical to successfull uranium
production particularly from many ISR deposits; any
expectation that a revival of the U.S. uranium industry is
imminent; any expectation that the NFWG report is an
emphatic call for the U.S. government to take whatever actions are
necessary to bring back U.S. uranium and nuclear fuel
production; any expectation that the NFWG's
recommendations will revive and expand the production of U.S.
nuclear fuel, including uranium mining; any expectation that the
Company will be a beneficiary of U.S. government actions to support
U.S. uranium miners; any expectation as to how the President's
fiscal 2021 budget will be implemented and the timing of
implementation; any expectation that Congress will make the
requested appropriations; and any expectation with respect to the
Company's ability to maintain its leading position as a
producer. 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 this transaction will close and the timing of any
such closing; any expectation that the Company will be
able to utilize the additional equipment to ramp-up production from
its ISR properties more quickly and efficiently in the event of
improved market conditions; any expectation that the
completion of this transaction will secure the Company's
ability to service, repair and maintain PFN equipment currently
held by the Company and others, as well as license this technology
to others in the future; any expectation that PFN is
critical to successfull uranium production particularly from many
ISR deposits; any expectation that a revival of the
U.S. uranium industry is imminent; any expectation that the
NFWG report is an emphatic call for the U.S. government to take
whatever actions are necessary to bring back U.S. uranium and
nuclear fuel production; any expectation that the
NFWG's recommendations will revive and expand the production of
U.S. nuclear fuel, including uranium mining; any expectation that
the Company will be a beneficiary of U.S. government actions to
support U.S. uranium miners; any expectation as to how the
President's fiscal 2021 budget will be implemented and the timing
of implementation; any expectation that Congress will make
the requested appropriations; any expectation with respect to the
Company's ability to maintain its leading position as a
producer; 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 U.S. President's proposed
budgeted activities are subject to appropriation by the Congress of
the United States, and there can
be no certainty of the outcome of his proposed budget activities or
the NFWG's recommendations. Therefore, the outcome of this process
remains uncertain.
View original content to download
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/energy-fuels-enters-into-agreement-to-acquire-prompt-fission-neutron-pfn-borehole-logging-technology-and-equipment-securing-control-over-this-critical-technology-for-us-isr-uranium-production-301053254.html
SOURCE Energy Fuels Inc.