Webcast on March 17,
2022
LAKEWOOD, Colo., March 15, 2022 /CNW/ - Energy Fuels
Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) ("Energy Fuels"
or the "Company") today reported its financial results for
the year ended December 31, 2021. The
Company's annual report on Form 10-K has been filed with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and may be viewed
on the Electronic Document Gathering and Retrieval System
("EDGAR") at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml, on the System for
Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR") at
www.sedar.com, and on the Company's website at www.energyfuels.com.
Unless noted otherwise, all dollar amounts are in U.S. dollars.
Highlights:
- Energy Fuels reported a net income of $1.5 million for 2021.
- At December 31, 2021, the Company
had a robust balance sheet with $143.2
million of working capital, including $113.0 million of cash and marketable securities,
$30.8 million of inventory, and no
short term (or long term) debt. At current commodity prices, the
Company's December 31, 2021 product
inventory would have a value of approximately $60.6 million.
- During 2021, prices for all the commodities Energy Fuels
produces, or has the ability to produce, rose significantly.
Uranium oxide ("U3O8") prices
increased approximately 38%, neodymium-praseodymium oxide
("NdPr") prices increased approximately 112%, and vanadium
oxide ("V2O5") prices increased
approximately 62%. Prices for each of these commodities have
continued to show significant strength to date in 2022. The Company
continues to closely follow developments related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as Russia is a major supplier of uranium and
nuclear fuel to U.S. and European customers. Prices of uranium have
risen sharply in recent days.
- While the Company chose to not sell any uranium during 2021, it
is now actively engaged in pursuing selective long-term uranium
sales contracts.
- The Company produced approximately 270 metric tonnes of mixed
rare earth element ("REE") carbonate ("RE
Carbonate"), containing 120 metric tonnes of total rare earth
oxides ("TREO") during 2021, as it commenced ramping up its
REE recovery infrastructure. Energy Fuels' RE Carbonate is the most
advanced REE material being produced in the U.S. today.
- The Company is currently in active discussions with several
sources of natural monazite sands around the world to significantly
increase the supply of feed for its growing REE initiative.
- During Q1-2022, the Company began commercially separating
Lanthanum (La) and Cerium (Ce) on a small scale from its RE
Carbonate, using an existing solvent extraction circuit at the
Mill. This represents the first commercial level REE separation to
occur in the U.S. in many years.
- The Company is planning to install a full separation circuit at
its White Mesa Mill (the "Mill") to produce both "light" and
"heavy" separated REE oxides in the coming years, subject to
successful licensing, financing, and commissioning, and continued
strong market conditions. The Company has hired Carester SAS
("Carester"), a global leader in producing separated REE
oxides, to support these REE separation initiatives.
- On December 15, 2021, the Company
announced a strategic venture with Nanoscale Powders LLC
("NSP") for the development of a novel technology that would
potentially produce REE metals. The technology has the potential to
reduce the costs of production, energy consumption, and greenhouse
gas emissions versus existing technologies.
- In 2021, the Company sold small quantities of its existing
V2O5 inventory to capitalize on recent market
strength. The Company expects to continue to sell vanadium as
prices increase and is evaluating the potential to resume vanadium
recovery at the Mill, where its tailings pond solutions contain an
estimated additional 1.0 to 3.0 million recoverable pounds of
V2O5.
- In July 2021, the Company
announced the execution of a Strategic Alliance Agreement with
RadTran, LLC to evaluate the potential recovery of thorium and
radium from the Company's existing RE Carbonate and uranium process
streams for use in the production of medical isotopes for emerging
targeted alpha therapy ("TAT") cancer therapeutics. This
initiative complements the Company's existing uranium and RE
Carbonate businesses, as it investigates the potential recovery of
isotopes in existing process streams at the Mill for medical
purposes.
- In September 2021, the Company
announced its establishment of the San Juan County Clean Energy
Foundation (the "Foundation"), a fund specifically designed
to contribute to the communities surrounding the Mill in
southeastern Utah by providing
funding to support local economic development and local
priorities.
- In October 2021, the Company
completed the sale of certain, permitted non-core conventional
uranium assets to Consolidated Uranium Inc. ("CUR"),
including the Daneros mine, the Tony M mine, and the Rim mine. The
Company reported a gain on the value of this transaction of
$35.7 million, resulting in a
significant improvement in the Company's results of operations and
net income for 2021.
- On January 25, 2022, the Board
appointed Dr. Ivy Estabrooke as a
Director of Energy Fuels, bringing to the Company experience in
commercial-stage biotech, research and development program
leadership, and technology solutions for national security and
public health challenges.
Mark S. Chalmers, Energy
Fuels' President and CEO, stated:
"In 2021, we believe Energy Fuels further strengthened its
position as America's leading multi-commodity, critical mineral
company, as we made excellent progress on our uranium, REEs,
vanadium and medical isotope initiatives. We are deploying our
'one-of-a-kind' licenses, facilities, and expertise to responsibly
recover the critical elements needed for carbon-free nuclear
energy, electric vehicle powertrains, wind generation, advanced
electronics, grid-scale batteries, other clean energy and advanced
technologies, and potentially cancer therapeutics.
"We are particularly proud of our accomplishments in REEs. We
announced our entry into the REE business less than two years ago,
and today we are ramping up our production of commercial quantities
of RE Carbonate, which is a more advanced REE material than any
other U.S. company is producing, as we are chemically recovering
the REEs in a high-purity material that is ready for REE
separation. We are also moving toward licensing and installing the
infrastructure needed to produce separated REE oxides on a full
commercial scale in the coming years. The proven processing
technology for producing separated REE oxides is solvent
extraction, or 'SX,' and our White Mesa Mill has over 40 years of
experience producing uranium and vanadium using SX. With the
support of Carester, a leading global consultant in the production
of separated REE products, we believe it is a logical 'next step'
for Energy Fuels to produce separated REE oxides on a full
commercial scale at the Mill. We have already successfully
performed La, Ce, and NdPr separations at pilot scale in the Mill's
lab over the past several months, and we recently began ramping up
our commercial separation of La and Ce from our RE Carbonate on a
small scale using an existing SX circuit at the Mill. Our primary
REE focuses in 2022 will be building our supply of monazite ore,
designing and licensing a new full commercial scale REE separation
circuit at the Mill, and advancing our innovative REE metal
initiative with NSP.
"With the recent events in Ukraine, security of supply in the U.S. for
uranium is crucial. Energy Fuels continues to be the leading
low-cost U.S. uranium producer with more production facilities and
capacity than any other U.S. company, and we stand ready to be a
reliable, large-scale supplier to U.S. nuclear utilities. We are
seeing an increase in utility interest for long-term contracts. We
are pursuing uranium sales contracts with pricing and terms that
return acceptable project margins and maintain exposure to further
uranium market upside.
"Vanadium prices are rising, as well. In 2019, we built a
significant inventory of vanadium to sell into the abrupt upside
price volatility that vanadium markets often experience, most
recently in late 2018. The next upward cycle may have begun, as
prices have risen sharply in the first months of 2022, and we are
selling some of our inventory. As we sell, we will evaluate the
potential to resume production from the Mill's pond solutions or
our conventional deposits to replace our sold inventory. We
estimate our pond solutions alone contain another 1.0 to 3.0
million pounds of recoverable V2O5 and would
be first and lowest cost to market.
"A few words on our medical isotope initiative. This is another
area where we are able to deploy our unique facilities, licenses,
and expertise to potentially help create a domestic supply chain
for emerging cancer therapies. Recovering radioisotopes for use in
cancer treatments from our existing process streams, thereby
recycling valuable material that would otherwise be lost to direct
disposal, would, if successful, be a great way to maximally use all
of our feeds. And we would be accomplishing this in a way that is
environmentally beneficial and highly congruent with Energy Fuels'
recycling and sustainability goals.
"We are also very pleased to announce that, on January 25, 2022 Dr. Ivy
Estabrooke was appointed to the Board of Energy Fuels. Dr.
Estabrooke brings to the Company an impressive background that is
highly pertinent, not only to our new REE and TAT cancer
therapeutics initiatives, but also to our core uranium business,
which is of the utmost importance to national security at this
time."
Webcast at 1:00 pm EDT on
March 17, 2022:
Energy Fuels will be hosting a video webcast on March 17, 2022 at 1:00 pm
EDT (11:00 am MDT) to
discuss its FY-2021 financial results, the outlook for 2022,
uranium, rare earths, vanadium, and medical isotopes. To join the
webcast and access the presentation and viewer-controlled webcast
slides, please click on the link below:
Webcast Link
If you would like to participate in the webcast and ask
questions, please dial in to 1-888-664-6392 (toll free in the U.S.
and Canada).
A link to a recorded version of the proceedings will be
available on the Company's website shortly after the webcast by
calling 1-888-390-0541 (toll free in the U.S. and Canada) and by entering the code 179864#. The
recording will be available until March 31,
2022.
Selected Summary Financial Information:
|
|
|
|
$000's, except per
share data
|
Year ended
December 31, 2021
|
Year ended
December 31, 2020
|
Year ended
December 31, 2019
|
Total
revenues
|
$
|
3,184
|
$
|
1,658
|
$
|
5,865
|
Gross profit
(loss)
|
1,370
|
14
|
(12,433)
|
Operating profit
(loss)
|
(35,425)
|
(24,627)
|
(40,581)
|
Net income (loss)
attributable to the company
|
1,541
|
(27,776)
|
(37,978)
|
Basic and diluted net
income (loss) per common share
|
0.01
|
(0.23)
|
(0.40)
|
|
|
|
$000's
|
As at December
31,
2021
|
As at December
31,
2020
|
Financial
Position:
|
|
|
Working
capital
|
$
|
143,190
|
$
|
40,158
|
Property, plant and
equipment, net
|
21,983
|
23,621
|
Mineral properties,
net
|
83,539
|
83,539
|
Total
assets
|
315,446
|
183,236
|
Total long-term
liabilities
|
13,805
|
13,376
|
Financial Discussion:
At December 31, 2021, the Company had $143.2 million of working capital, including
$113.0 million of cash and marketable
securities and $30.8 million of
inventory, including approximately 691,000 pounds of uranium and
1,650,000 pounds of vanadium, both in the form of immediately
marketable product. The spot price of U3O8 at
March 11, 2022 was $58.50 per pound, according to TradeTech (up from
$42.00 per pound at December 31, 2021. The current mid-point spot
price of V2O5 at March
11, 2022 was $12.25 per pound
after remaining relatively flat near the 2021 year-end, according
to FastMarkets. Based on today's spot prices, the Company's
December 31, 2021 uranium and
vanadium inventories would have a current market value of
$40.4 million and $20.2 million, respectively, totaling
approximately $60.6 million. On
October 27, 2021, the Company
completed the sale of certain non-core conventional assets to CUR.
In addition to receiving $2 million
cash at closing, the Company now holds 19.1% of the outstanding
shares of CUR as of December 31,
2021, for a total value to the Company of $32.2 million as at December 31, 2021.
During the year ended December 31,
2021, the Company realized net income of $1.5 million, compared to a net loss of
$27.9 for the year ended December 31, 2020. The net income in 2021 was
primarily due to the sale of non-core conventional uranium assets
to CUR. The Company spent $10.75
million for development of the Company's properties,
primarily due to the development and ramping up of the RE Carbonate
production program at the Mill. The Company also incurred
underutilized capacity production costs applicable to rare earth
concentrates during the year of $0.53
million. The underutilized capacity production costs are due
to low throughput rates as the Mill ramps-up to commercial-scale
production at full capacity. To date, the Mill has focused on
producing commercially salable RE Carbonate at low throughput rates
and has been very pleased with the resulting product it is shipping
for separation. The Mill expects to increase its throughput rates
as its supplies of monazite sands increase. The Company is in
advanced discussions with several additional sources of monazite
sands that, if successfully secured, we expect to result in
sufficient throughput to reduce underutilized capacity production
costs and allow the Company to realize its expected margins on a
continuous basis.
Rare Earth Achievements in 2021 and To Date in 2022:
On March 1, 2021, the Company and
Neo Performance Materials Limited ("Neo") announced a new
rare earth production initiative spanning European and North
American critical material supply chains. Under an agreement in
principle signed on March 1, 2021 and
finalized into a definitive agreement in July 2022, Energy Fuels will process natural
monazite sands, currently being mined in the state of Georgia by The Chemours Company, into an RE
Carbonate at the Mill and ship a portion of the produced RE
Carbonate to Neo's rare earth separations facility in Sillamäe,
Estonia ("Silmet"). Silmet
will then process the RE Carbonate into separated rare earth
materials for use in rare earth permanent magnets and other rare
earth-based advanced materials.
On July 7, 2021, the Company
announced that the first container (approximately 20 tonnes of
product) of an expected 15 containers of mixed RE Carbonate had
been successfully produced by Energy Fuels at the Mill and was
en route to Silmet. This commercial-scale production of RE
Carbonate by Energy Fuels from a U.S. mined rare earth resource
positions Energy Fuels as the only company in North America that currently produces a
monazite-derived, enhanced rare earth material. The physical
delivery of this product also represents the launch of a new,
environmentally responsible rare earth supply chain that allows for
source validation and tracking from mining through to final end-use
applications for manufacturers in North
America, Europe,
Japan, and other nations.
The Company also announced on March 1,
2021 that, in addition to supplying RE Carbonate to Neo,
Energy Fuels is evaluating the potential to develop U.S. separation
capabilities at the Mill, or nearby, as it works to increase its
monazite sand supplies, thereby fully integrating a U.S. rare earth
supply chain in the coming years, in addition to supplying RE
Carbonate to European markets. On April 27,
2021, the Company announced it had engaged Carester to
prepare a scoping study for the development of a solvent extraction
REE separation circuit at the Mill utilizing the Mill's existing
equipment and infrastructure to the extent applicable, to create a
continuous, integrated and optimized rare earth production
sequence. Based in Lyon, France,
Carester is one of the world's leading global consultants on rare
earth supply chains, with expertise in designing, constructing,
operating and optimizing REE production facilities globally.
Carester's scoping work included an evaluation of the Mill's
current monazite leaching process, preparation of an REE separation
flow sheet, capital and operating expense estimates, incorporation
of new technologies where applicable, and recommendations on
equipment vendors. The Company is planning to install a full
separation circuit at its White Mesa Mill to produce both "light"
and "heavy" separated REE oxides in the coming years, subject to
successful licensing, financing, and commissioning, and continued
strong market conditions. The Company has hired Carester to perform
a second scoping study to support these REE separation
initiatives.
During Q1-2022, the Company began commercially separating La and
Ce from its RE Carbonate on a small scale using an existing solvent
extraction circuit at the Mill. This represents the first
commercial level REE separation to occur in the U.S. in many years.
The Company has been performing laboratory-scale REE separations
for the last several months on a 24/7 basis, successfully executing
the La, Ce, and NdPr separations at high-purities and with
excellent recoveries.
On December 15, 2021, the Company
announced the execution of an MOU with NSP for the development of a
novel technology for the potential production of REE metals,
subject to the finalization of definitive agreements. We believe
this technology, which was initially developed by NSP, and will be
advanced by the Company and NSP working together, has the potential
to revolutionize the rare earth metal making industry by reducing
costs of production, reducing energy consumption, and significantly
reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Producing REE metals and alloys
is a key step in a fully integrated REE supply chain, after
production of separated REE oxides and before the manufacture of
neodymium iron boron ("NdFeB") magnets used in electric
vehicles, wind generation and other clean energy and advanced
technologies.
In addition, during 2022, the Company announced the execution of
a non-binding memorandum of understanding ("MOU") for the
supply of natural monazite sands from IperionX Limited's
("IperionX's", formerly known as Hyperion Metals Limited)
Titan Project in Tennessee, if and
when the project is developed and mined. IperionX's Titan Project
covers a large area of heavy mineral sands properties in
Tennessee prospective for
titanium, zircon, monazite and other valuable minerals such as
high-grade silica sand and other refractory minerals.
In 2021, the Company also announced that the U.S. Department of
Energy ("DOE") Office of Fossil Energy and National Energy
Technology Laboratory had exercised its option to award Energy
Fuels, working with a team from Penn State
University, an additional $1.75
million to complete a feasibility study on the production of
REE products from natural coal-based resources, as well as from
other materials such as REE-containing ores like the natural
monazite sands the Company is currently processing at the Mill.
This award follows the DOE providing Energy Fuels a $150,000 contract in 2020 for the successful
completion of a conceptual design for the same initiative,
resulting in a total award to Energy Fuels of $1.9 million.
Update on Medical Isotope Initiative:
On July 28, 2021, the Company
announced the execution of a Strategic Alliance Agreement with
RadTran, LLC, a technology development company focused on closing
critical gaps in the procurement of medical isotopes for emerging
TAT cancer therapeutics and other applications. Under this
strategic alliance, the Company is evaluating the feasibility of
recovering Th-232, and Ra-226 from its existing RE Carbonate and
uranium process streams at the Mill and, together with RadTran, is
evaluating the feasibility of recovering Ra-228 from the Th-232,
Th-228 from the Ra-228 and concentrating Ra-226 at the Mill using
RadTran technologies. Recovered Ra-228, Th-228 and Ra-226 would
then be sold to pharmaceutical companies and others to produce
Pb-212, Ac-225, Bi-213, Ra-224 and Ra-223, which are the leading
medically attractive TAT isotopes for the treatment of cancer.
Existing supplies of these isotopes for TAT applications are in
short supply, and methods of production are costly and currently
cannot be scaled to meet the demand created as new drugs are
developed and approved. This is a major roadblock in the research
and development of new TAT drugs as pharmaceutical companies wait
for scalable and affordable production technologies to become
available. Under this initiative, the Company has the potential to
recover valuable isotopes from its existing process streams,
therefore recycling back into the market material that would
otherwise be lost to disposal for use in treating cancer.
Establishment of San Juan County Clean Energy
Foundation:
On September 16, 2021, the Company
announced its establishment of the San Juan County Clean Energy
Foundation, a fund specifically designed to contribute to the
communities surrounding the Mill in Southeastern, Utah. The Company made an initial deposit of
$1 million into the Foundation and
anticipates providing ongoing annual funding equal to 1% of the
Mill's future revenues, providing funding to support local economic
development and local priorities. The Foundation will focus on
supporting education, the environment, health/wellness, and local
economic development in the City of
Blanding, San Juan County,
the White Mesa Ute Community, the Navajo Nation and other area
communities.
Sale of Non-Core Assets to Consolidated Uranium Inc.:
On October 27, 2021, CUR and the
Company jointly announced the closing of a transaction whereby CUR
acquired a portfolio of Energy Fuels' non-core conventional uranium
projects located in Utah and
Colorado, including the Daneros
mine, the Tony M mine (formerly a part of the Henry Mountains
Project), the Rim mine, the Sage Plain project, and several DOE
leases located in Colorado, in
consideration for a 19.9% share ownership interest in CUR (as of
the 2021 year-end, 19.1%) and other consideration. The Company
reported a gain on the value of this transaction of $35.7 million, resulting in a significant
improvement in the Company's results of operations and net income
for 2021.
Proposed U.S. Uranium Reserve:
On December 27, 2020, Congress
passed the COVID-Relief and Omnibus Spending Bill, which includes
$75 million for the proposed
establishment of a strategic U.S. Uranium Reserve (the "U.S.
Uranium Reserve") and was signed into law by the president then
serving. This key funding opens the door for the U.S. government to
purchase domestically produced uranium to guard against potential
commercial and national security risks presented by the country's
near-total reliance on foreign imports of uranium. Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine has raised concerns about the United States' reliance on imports of
Russian uranium and enrichment services, which could provide
further impetus for the U.S. government to bring this program into
effect.
The Company stands ready to benefit from this program through
future production from its mines and facilities and potentially
sales out of its existing uranium inventories. However, because the
U.S. Uranium Reserve has yet to be established at this time, the
details of implementation of activities pursuant to the new law
have not yet been defined. As a result, there can be no certainty
as to the outcome of the U.S. Uranium Reserve, including the
process for and details of its development, and any resulting
support for the Company's ongoing and planned activities or for any
further evaluations of the Working Group.
Appointment of New Director:
On January 25, 2022, the Board
appointed Dr. Ivy Estabrooke as a
Director of Energy Fuels, bringing to the Company experience in
commercial-stage biotech, research and development program
leadership, and technology solutions for national security and
public health challenges. Dr. Estabrooke is currently the Vice
President of Operations and Corporate Affairs at IDbyDNA Inc., a
venture backed commercial stage biotech company. She has led
innovative research and development programs in both the public and
private sectors delivering technology solutions for national
security and public health challenges. Prior roles include as a
technical program manager for the U.S. Department of the
Navy, the executive director of the
State of Utah's technology-based
economic development agency, and science advisor to the Governor of
Utah. She earned her doctorate in
neuroscience at Georgetown University
in 2005, received a master's degree in national resource strategy
from the National Defense University in
2013, and a bachelor's degree in biological sciences from
Smith College in 1998. Dr. Estabrooke
is also an engaged member in her local community, serving on the
board of the Girl Scouts of Utah
and as a member of the Utah District Export Council.
Operations Update and Outlook for 2022:
Overview
The Company continues to believe that uranium supply and demand
fundamentals point to higher sustained uranium prices in the
future. In addition, Russia's
recent invasion of Ukraine and the
recent entry into the uranium market by financial entities
purchasing uranium on the spot market to hold for the long-term has
the potential to result in higher sustained spot and term prices
and, perhaps, induce utilities to enter into more long-term
contracts with non-Russian producers like Energy Fuels to ensure
security of supply and more certain pricing. However, the Company
has not yet entered into sufficient long-term supply agreements to
justify commencing uranium production at the Company's mines and
in-situ recovery ("ISR") facilities. As a result, the
Company expects to maintain uranium recovery at reduced levels
until such time when sustained increased market strength is
observed, additional suitable term sales contracts can be procured,
or the U.S. government buys uranium from the Company following the
establishment of the proposed U.S. Uranium Reserve. The Company
also holds significant uranium inventories and is evaluating
selling all or a portion of these inventories on the spot market in
response to future upside price volatility or for delivery into
contracts.
The Company will also continue to seek new sources of revenue,
including through its emerging REE business, as well as new sources
of other uranium-bearing materials not derived from conventional
material and sourced by third parties ("Alternate Feed
Materials") and new fee processing opportunities at the White
Mesa Mill that can be processed under existing market conditions
(i.e., without reliance on current uranium sales prices). The
Company is also seeking new sources of natural monazite sands for
its emerging REE business, is evaluating the potential to recover
radioisotopes for use in the development of TAT medical isotopes
for the treatment of cancer, and continues its support of U.S.
governmental activities to assist the U.S. uranium mining industry,
including the proposed establishment of the U.S. Uranium
Reserve.
Extraction and Recovery Activities Overview
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company did
not package any significant quantities of its final uranium
product, U3O8, at any of its
facilities. At the Mill, the Company focused on ramping
up its mixed RE Carbonate production and produced approximately 120
tonnes of mixed RE Carbonate during 2021. The Company recovered
small quantities of uranium at the Mill during 2021, but such
uranium was retained in-circuit and was not packaged in 2021. The
Company also continued to maintain its Nichols Ranch and Alta Mesa ISR facilities on
standby.
During 2022, the Company plans to recover 100,000 to 120,000
pounds of uranium at the Mill. The Company does not plan to extract
and/or recover any amounts of uranium of any significance from its
Nichols Ranch Project in 2022, which was placed on standby in the
second quarter of 2020 due to the depletion of its seven
constructed wellfields. In addition, the Company expects to keep
the Alta Mesa Project and its conventional mining properties on
standby during 2022.
During 2022, the Company expects to recover approximately 650 to
1,000 tonnes of mixed RE Carbonate containing approximately 300 to
450 tonnes of TREO at the Mill, subject to the receipt of
sufficient quantities of natural monazite ore. No vanadium
production is currently planned during 2022, though the Company is
currently evaluating potential vanadium production in light of
recent market improvements in vanadium pricing.
ISR Activities
The Company expects to produce insignificant quantities of
U3O8 in the year ending December 31,
2022 from Nichols Ranch. Until such
time when market conditions improve sufficiently, suitable term
sales contracts can be procured, or the proposed U.S. Uranium
Reserve is established, the Company expects to maintain the Nichols
Ranch Project on standby and defer development of further
wellfields and header houses. The Company expects to continue to
keep the Alta Mesa Project on standby until such time that market
conditions improve sufficiently, suitable term sales contracts can
be procured, or the proposed U.S. Uranium Reserve is
established.
Conventional Activities
Conventional Extraction and Recovery Activities
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Mill did not
package any material quantities of U3O8,
focusing instead on developing its REE recovery business. During
the year ended December 31, 2021, the
Mill produced approximately 270 tonnes of RE Carbonate, containing
approximately 120 tonnes of TREO. The Mill recovered small
quantities of uranium in 2021, which were retained in circuit.
During 2022, the Company expects to recover 100,000 to 120,000
pounds of uranium at the Mill. The Company expects to recover
approximately 650 to 1,000 tonnes of mixed RE Carbonate containing
approximately 300 to 450 tonnes of TREO at the Mill, subject to the
receipt of sufficient quantities of natural monazite ore. The
Company is in advanced discussions with several sources of natural
monazite sands, including the Company's existing supplier, to
secure additional supplies of monazite sands, which if successful,
would be expected to allow the Company to increase RE Carbonate
production. In addition to its 691,000 pounds of finished uranium
inventories currently located at a North American conversion
facility and at the Mill, the Company has approximately 355,000
pounds of U3O8 contained in stockpiled
Alternate Feed Material and mineralized material inventory at the
Mill that can be recovered relatively quickly in the future, as
general market conditions may warrant (totaling about 1,046,000
pounds of U3O8 of total uranium
inventory).
In addition, there remains an estimated 1.0 to 3.0 million
pounds of solubilized recoverable V2O5
inventory remaining in tailings solutions awaiting future recovery,
as market conditions may warrant.
Conventional Standby, Permitting and Evaluation Activities
During the year ended December 31,
2021, standby and environmental compliance activities
continued at the Company's fully permitted and substantially
developed Pinyon Plain Project.
The Company is selectively advancing certain permits at its
other major conventional uranium projects, such as the Roca Honda
Project, which is a large, high-grade conventional project in
New Mexico. The Company is also
continuing to maintain required permits at its conventional
projects, including the Sheep Mountain Project, La Sal Complex and
Whirlwind Project. In addition, the Company will continue to
evaluate the Bullfrog Project. All of these projects serve as
important pipeline assets for the Company's future conventional
production capabilities, as market conditions may warrant.
Uranium Sales
During the year ended December 31,
2021, the Company elected not to complete any sales of
uranium; however, the Company is now actively engaged in pursuing
selective long-term uranium sales contracts with suitable
quantities, pricing, and other terms.
Vanadium Sales
During the year ended December 31,
2021, the Company sold 5,000 pounds of ferrovanadium
("FeV") for an average, weighted price of $14.74 per pound. The Company expects to sell the
remaining finished vanadium product when justified into the
metallurgical industry, as well as other markets that demand a
higher purity product, including the aerospace, chemical, and
potentially the vanadium battery industries.
Rare Earth Sales
The Company commenced its ramp-up to commercial production of a
mixed RE Carbonate in March 2021 and
has shipped all of its RE Carbonate produced to-date to Silmet,
where it is currently being fed into their separation process. All
RE Carbonate produced at the Mill in 2022 is expected to be sold to
Neo for separation at Silmet. Until such time as the Company
expects to permit and construct its own separation circuits at the
Mill, production in future years is expected to be sold to Neo for
separation at Silmet and, potentially, to other REE separation
facilities outside the U.S. To the extent not sold, the Company
expects to stockpile mixed RE Carbonate at the Mill for future
separation and other downstream REE processing at the Mill or
elsewhere.
As the Company continues to ramp up its mixed RE Carbonate
production and additional funds are spent on process enhancements,
improving recoveries, product quality and other optimization,
profits from this initiative are expected to be minimal until such
time when monazite throughput rates are increased and optimized.
However, even at the current throughput rates, the Company is
recovering most of its direct costs of this growing initiative,
with the other costs associated with ramping up production, process
enhancements and evaluating future separation capabilities at the
Mill being expensed as development expenditures. Throughout this
process, the Company is gaining important knowledge, experience and
technical information, all of which will be valuable for current
and future mixed RE Carbonate production and expected future
production of separated REE oxides and other advanced REE materials
at the Mill.
About Energy Fuels: Energy Fuels is a
leading U.S.-based uranium mining company, supplying
U3O8 to major nuclear utilities. The Company
also produces vanadium from certain of its projects, as market
conditions warrant, and is ramping up to full commercial-scale
production of RE Carbonate. Its corporate offices are in
Lakewood, Colorado near
Denver, and all 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 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, as well as RE Carbonate
from various uranium-bearing ores. The Nichols Ranch ISR Project is
currently on standby and has a licensed capacity of 2 million
pounds of U3O8 per year. The Alta Mesa ISR
Project is also currently on standby. In addition to the above
production facilities, Energy Fuels also has one of the largest S-K
1300 and 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 Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements: 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 are not limited to, statements with respect to:
production and sales forecasts; costs of production; any
expectation that the Company will continue to be ready to supply
uranium into the proposed U.S. Uranium Reserve once it is
established; scalability, and the Company's ability and readiness
to re-start, expand or deploy any of its existing projects or
capacity to respond to any improvements in uranium market
conditions or in response to the proposed U.S. Uranium Reserve; any
expectation regarding any remaining dissolved vanadium in the
Mill's tailings facility solutions or the ability of the Company to
recover any such vanadium at acceptable costs or at all; the
ability of the Company to secure any new sources of Alternate Feed
Materials or other processing opportunities at the Mill; expected
timelines for the permitting and development of projects; the
Company's expectations as to longer term fundamentals in the market
and price projections; any expectation that the Company will
maintain its position as a leading uranium company in the United States; any expectation that the
proposed U.S. Uranium Reserve will be implemented and if
implemented the manner in which it will be implemented and the
timing of implementation; any expectation with respect to
timelines to production; any expectation that the Mill will
be successful in producing RE Carbonate on a full-scale commercial
basis; any expectation that Neo will be successful in separating
the Mill's RE Carbonate on a commercial basis; any expectation that
Energy Fuels will be successful in developing U.S. separation, or
other value-added U.S. REE production capabilities at the Mill, or
otherwise; any expectation that the Company and Neo will be
successful in jointly developing a fully integrated U.S.-European
REE supply chain; any expectation that the Company will be
successful in building a low-cost, fully
integrated U.S. rare earth supply chain; any
expectation with respect to the future demand for REEs; any
expectation with respect to the quantities of monazite sands to be
acquired by Energy Fuels, the quantities of RE Carbonate to be
produced by the Mill or the quantities of contained TREO in the
Mill's RE Carbonate; any expectation that
additional supplies of monazite sands will result in sufficient
throughput at the Mill to reduce underutilized capacity production
costs and allow the Company to realize its expected margins on a
continuous basis; any expectation that the Company's
strategic venture with NSP to develop technology for the production
of REE metals will be successful or that the technology has the
potential to reduce the costs of production, energy consumption, or
greenhouse gas emissions versus existing technologies; any
expectation that IperionX's Titan Project in Tennessee will be developed and mined, or that
the Company will receive any monazite sands from the project; any
expectation that the Company's evaluation of thorium and radium
recovery at the Mill will be successful; any expectation that the
potential recovery of medical isotopes from any thorium and radium
recovered at the Mill will be feasible; any expectation that any
thorium, radium and other isotopes can be recovered at the Mill and
sold on a commercial basis; any expectation as to
the value to the Company of its ownership interest in
CUR resulting from its sale of certain non-core assets in 2021; any
expectation that the Company will be successful in completing one
or more contracts for the sale of uranium to U.S. utilities; and
any expectation that the Company will generate net income in future
periods. 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: commodity
prices and price fluctuations; processing and mining difficulties,
upsets and delays; permitting and licensing requirements and
delays; changes to regulatory requirements; legal challenges; the
availability of sources of Alternate Feed Materials and other feed
sources for the Mill; competition from other producers; public
opinion; government and political actions; the appropriations for
the proposed U.S. Uranium Reserve not being allocated to that
program and the U.S. Uranium Reserve not being implemented; the
manner in which the proposed U.S. Uranium Reserve, if established,
will be implemented; the Company not being successful in selling
any uranium into the proposed U.S. Uranium Reserve at acceptable
quantities or prices, or at all; available supplies of monazite
sands; the ability of the Mill to produce RE Carbonate to meet
commercial specifications on a commercial scale at acceptable
costs; the ability of Neo to separate the RE Carbonate produced by
the Mill to meet commercial specifications on a commercial scale at
acceptable costs; market factors, including future demand for REEs;
the ability of the Mill to be able to separate thorium and radium
at reasonable costs or at all; the ability of the Company and
RadTran to be able to recover other isotopes from thorium and
radium recovered at the Mill at reasonable costs or at all; market
prices and demand for medical isotopes; 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.
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SOURCE Energy Fuels Inc.