Webcast on November 8,
2022
LAKEWOOD, Colo., Nov. 4, 2022
/PRNewswire/ - Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU)
(TSX: EFR) ("Energy Fuels" or the "Company") today reported
its financial results for the quarter ended September 30,
2022. The Company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q 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:
- At September 30, 2022, the
Company had a robust balance sheet with $122.3 million of working capital, including
$77.1 million of cash and cash
equivalents, $11.6 million of
marketable securities, $27.3 million
of inventory, and no short term (or long term) debt. At current
commodity prices, the Company's product inventory has a value of
$44.1 million.
- During the quarter ended September 30,
2022, the Company incurred a net loss of $9.3 million, which includes increases in
development, permitting and land holding costs and selling, general
and administration costs associated with the Company's efforts to
enhance its business processes and operational readiness for the
current and future growth and activity in our uranium and rare
earth element ("REE") operations.
- With recent uranium market strength and having secured three
long-term uranium contracts with major U.S. utilities earlier this
year, the Company has hired over 20 new employees and is beginning
to perform the work needed to recommence production at one or more
of our mines and ISR facilities, starting as soon as 2023. Until
such time when the Company has ramped back up to commercial uranium
production, we can rely on our significant uranium inventories to
fulfill our new contract requirements.
- In June 2022, the U.S. Department
of Energy ("DOE") issued a Request for Proposals
("RFP") to purchase uranium
("U3O8") for the new U.S. Uranium
Reserve Program. The DOE states that they expect to purchase up to
1 million pounds of U3O8 inventory from up to
four (4) qualified U.S. uranium producers with individual awards
ranging from 100,000 pounds to 500,000 pounds. The uranium must be
physically located at Honeywell's Metropolis Works conversion
facility (the "U.S. Converter"). Energy Fuels believes it
meets all qualifications to supply the Reserve, and the Company
currently holds about 610,000 pounds of U3O8
at the U.S. Converter. The Company has submitted a bid to sell
U3O8 to the Reserve, taking into
consideration our long-term contract commitments and current and
expected market conditions. There are no guarantees the DOE will
purchase uranium from the Company under this RFP. Assuming the bid
review process is not extended by DOE, the Company expects the DOE
to issue the awards by mid-November
2022, with deliveries expected to occur by the end of 2022
or early 2023.
- During the first nine months of 2022, the Company produced
approximately 205 tonnes of mixed partially separated carbonate
("RE Carbonate"), containing approximately 95 tonnes of
total rare earth oxides ("TREO"). Energy Fuels' partially
separated RE Carbonate contains a higher concentration of valuable
NdPr, roughly 32% - 34% NdPr, compared to our previously produced
non-separated RE Concentrate which contained approximately 22%
NdPr, and is the most advanced REE material being produced in the
U.S. today. During Q4-2022, the Company expects to receive
approximately 640 tonnes of monazite, which will be processed into
partially separated RE Carbonate during Q4-2022 and Q1-2023.
- In May 2022, the Company
announced it had entered into agreements to acquire a 58 square
mile rare earth land position in Brazil (the "Bahia Project"). The Bahia
Project is a well-known heavy mineral sand ("HMS") deposit
that has the potential to feed the Company's White Mesa Mill with
REE and uranium-bearing monazite sand for decades. Due diligence on
the Bahia Project was completed at the end of August, at which time
the Company advised the sellers that it intended to proceed with
the purchases and was ready to commence closing procedures. After
completion of a number of administrative logistics required in both
the U.S. and Brazil, the mineral
transfers were initiated in mid-October, and closing is currently
expected to occur in late 2022 or early 2023 upon approval of the
Brazilian governmental authorities reviewing the pending transfers.
Upon acquisition, the Company plans to conduct an extensive
exploration program to better define the HMS and monazite resource,
including comprehensive sonic drilling (for a total phase 1 program
of 2,250 meters) and geophysical mapping, with the intent to
undertake an Initial Assessment under SK-1300 (U.S.) and a
Technical Report under NI 43-101 (Canada) during Q4-2023, to be completed in
early Q1-2024.
- The Company is currently in active discussions with several
additional sources of natural monazite sands around the world to
significantly increase the supply of feed for our growing REE
initiative.
- The Company continues to make excellent progress toward
installing full REE separation capabilities at the Mill to produce
both "light" and "heavy" separated REE oxides in the coming years.
The Company plans to initially install a "light" REE separation
circuit within the existing Mill facilities in the next 12-18
months with the expected ability to produce between 2,500 – 5,000
tonnes TREO (500 – 1,000 tonnes NdPr oxide or oxalates) per year.
As this circuit would be constructed within existing Mill
facilities, capital expenditures are expected to be low. The
Company is also proceeding with the design, engineering and
permitting of a separate crack and leach circuit and a second
larger "light" and "heavy" separations circuit with capacity in the
order of 10,000 – 15,000 tonnes TREO per year to provide additional
REE processing capacity at the Mill in the coming years.
- During the first nine months of 2022, the Company sold
approximately 642,000 pounds of existing inventory of vanadium
("V2O5") (as ferrovanadium,
"FeV"), for an average weighted net price of $13.69 per pound of V2O5.
Vanadium markets have dropped in recent months. Therefore, the
Company has halted sales of its inventory which currently stands at
approximately 987,000 pounds of V2O5.
However, the Company expects to resume sales as markets may improve
in the future. The Company is evaluating the potential to resume
vanadium recovery at the Mill in the future as market conditions
may warrant for future sale and to replace sold inventory, where
its tailings pond solutions contain an estimated additional 1.0 to
3.0 million recoverable pounds of V2O5.
Mark S. Chalmers, Energy
Fuels' President and CEO, stated:
"Energy Fuels continues to strengthen our U.S. market leading
position in uranium and rare earth elements, which are both
critical to the clean energy transition. Energy Fuels has
'one-of-a-kind' competencies that are critical to uranium, rare
earth elements, medical isotopes, and vanadium markets; namely our
ability to process feedstocks that are naturally radioactive and
recover critical materials needed for the clean energy transition.
No other company in the U.S. can do the things Energy Fuels does.
We are committed to advancing each of these initiatives in a
disciplined manner, while working toward profitability and
sustained cash flow.
"Uranium is the fuel for carbon-free nuclear energy, and nations
around the world are embracing nuclear, as it provides reliable,
carbon-free, baseload electricity. Governments in numerous
countries, including the U.S., are supporting both existing and new
nuclear to help solve national security, energy security, and
carbon reduction challenges. We are saddened by the continuing
atrocities being committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, and we stand by our partners in the
U.S. nuclear industry and the U.S. government to shift away from
Russian uranium and nuclear fuel imports as soon as practicable. As
previously disclosed, Energy Fuels has signed new long-term uranium
sales contracts with major U.S. nuclear utilities, with sales – and
sales revenues – beginning in 2023. We are also excited to announce
that we are making significant investments in a number of our
existing mines and production facilities, including hiring people,
with an eye toward resuming large-scale uranium production very
soon. We have been the only U.S. company to continue to produce
uranium over the past several years, while maintaining several of
our projects on standby status, which provides an excellent
foundation from which we can build our production in the coming
years. We look forward to maintaining our position as the largest
U.S. uranium producer and being a long-term supplier of secure and
responsibly sourced U.S. uranium that is insulated from
geopolitical, transport, and other supply chain issues. We are also
pleased to have been able to submit a bid to sell uranium to the
U.S. government under the new U.S. Uranium Reserve, a program that
resulted from the Company's 2018 Section 232 Petition, and we
eagerly await the results of that bidding process.
"We also continue to make spectacular progress on rare earth
elements. Indeed, we are pleased to announce that we plan to
install a commercial-scale "light" rare earth separation circuit
within the existing footprint of our White Mesa Mill in
Utah that we expect to be
operational in the next 12 – 18 months. We are already producing
the most advanced rare earth product in the U.S. today, a
high-purity, partially separated mixed rare earth carbonate. We
expect to go one step further by producing up to 500 – 1,000 tonnes
of NdPr oxide (or oxalates) per year by late-2023 or early-2024. If
successful, we hope to be the 'first to market' in the U.S. for
this high-value, advanced material. We anticipate selling our
separated NdPr oxide (or oxalate) to major electric vehicle
manufacturers in the U.S. and Europe, with a goal to significantly increase
this capacity in coming years. This should position Energy Fuels as
one of the 'go to' suppliers of advanced rare earth materials in
the U.S. and one of the first companies that electric vehicle (EV)
and other clean technology manufacturers look to for the raw
materials they need. Ultimately, we plan to install the capacity to
produce over 3,000 tonnes of NdPr oxide, plus 250 tonnes of
dysprosium oxide and 100 tonnes of terbium oxide per year, in the
next 3-4 years, subject to licensing, commissioning, financing,
offtake, market conditions, and sufficient monazite feedstock.
"On the monazite feedstock front, we continue to make excellent
progress. With regard to our Bahia Project in Brazil, we continue to move diligently toward
closing. The mineral transfers were initiated in mid-October after
a number of administrative logistics required for closing were
completed in both the U.S. and Brazil. Closing is scheduled to occur as soon
as the transfers have been approved by the Brazilian governmental
authorities reviewing the pending transfers, which we expect by the
end of 2022 or in early 2023. Upon acquisition, the Company plans
to conduct an initial phase of exploration drilling on the
properties, totaling 2,250 meters, in order to maintain expected
production timelines. In addition, we continue discussions with a
number of monazite suppliers from around the world interested in
partnering with Energy Fuels, and we are confident in our ability
to secure monazite supply deals that ensure a 'win-win' for both
Energy Fuels and our partners.
"Finally, we continue to make progress on medical isotopes with
major players in the space. If we can successfully recover
radioactive isotopes needed for emerging cancer treatments from our
existing process streams, we will have secured yet another
opportunity to generate significant cash flows in the next 5 to 10
years. We also continue to track vanadium markets to determine when
to resume sales of our existing inventories and when to resume
production."
Webcast at 4:00 pm ET on
November 8, 2022:
Energy Fuels will be hosting a video webcast on November 8, 2022 at 4:00
pm ET (2:00 pm MT) to
discuss its Q3-2022 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 619525#. The
recording will be available until November
22, 2022.
Selected Summary Financial Information:
|
Three months
ended
|
|
Nine months
ended
|
|
September
30,
|
|
September
30,
|
$000's, except per
share data
|
2022
|
|
2021
|
|
2022
|
|
2021
|
Results of
Operations:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
revenues
|
$
2,933
|
|
$
715
|
|
$
12,337
|
|
$
1,524
|
Gross
profit (loss)
|
1,404
|
|
(13)
|
|
4,497
|
|
796
|
Operating
loss
|
(13,664)
|
|
(8,381)
|
|
(30,584)
|
|
(25,570)
|
Net loss
attributable to the company
|
(9,167)
|
|
(7,870)
|
|
(41,950)
|
|
(29,562)
|
Basic and
diluted net loss per common share
|
(0.06)
|
|
(0.05)
|
|
(0.27)
|
|
(0.21)
|
|
As at
|
|
As at
|
$000's
|
September 30,
2022
|
|
December 31,
2021
|
Financial
Position:
|
|
|
|
Working
capital
|
$
122,334
|
|
$
143,190
|
Property,
plant and equipment, net
|
20,899
|
|
21,983
|
Mineral
properties
|
83,539
|
|
83,539
|
Total
assets
|
279,084
|
|
315,446
|
Total
long-term liabilities
|
14,531
|
|
13,805
|
Financial Discussion:
At September 30, 2022, the Company had $122.3 million of working capital, including
$88.7 million of cash and cash
equivalents and marketable securities and $27.3 million of inventory, including
approximately 692,000 pounds of uranium and 987,000 pounds of
high-purity vanadium, both in the form of immediately marketable
product. The current spot price of U3O8,
according to TradeTech, is $52.50 per
pound, and the current mid-point spot price of
V2O5, according to Metal Bulletin, is
$7.80 per pound. Based on those spot
prices, the Company's uranium and vanadium inventories have a
current market value of $36.3 million
and $7.7 million, respectively,
totaling $44.0 million. The Company
also holds RE Carbonate inventory with a current value of
$0.1 million, for total product
inventory of $44.1 million at current
commodity prices.
During the quarter ended September 30, 2022, the Company
incurred a net loss of $9.3 million,
compared to a net loss of $8.0
million for the third quarter of 2021, and a net loss of
$42.0 million for the nine months
ended September 30, 2022 compared to
a net loss of $29.7 million during
the first nine months of 2021. The increased net losses in 2022 are
due primarily to a non-cash mark-to-market decrease in the value of
investments accounted for at fair value of $13.7 million for the nine months ended
September 30, 2022.
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. Having recently
secured three long-term uranium contracts with major U.S.
utilities, the Company is beginning to perform the work needed to
recommence production at one or more of its mines and ISR
facilities, starting as soon as 2023. Until such time when the
Company has ramped back up to commercial uranium production, it can
rely on its significant uranium inventories to fulfill its new
contract requirements. To that end, the Company purchased an
additional 68,552 pounds of U. S. origin U3O8
on the spot market in October 2022.
The Company also continues to evaluate selling a portion of its
inventories on the spot market in response to future upside price
volatility, into the newly created U.S. Uranium Reserve Program, or
for delivery into additional long-term supply contracts if
procured. During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company also sold a
portion of its vanadium inventory into then strengthening
markets.
The Company will also continue to seek new sources of revenue,
including through its emerging REE business, as well as new sources
of Alternate Feed Materials and new fee processing opportunities at
the Mill that can be processed without reliance on current uranium
sales prices. The Company is also seeking new sources of natural
monazite sands (in addition to the pending acquisition of the Bahia
Project) for its emerging REE business, is evaluating the potential
to recover radioisotopes for use in the development of targeted
alpha therapy 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 new U.S. Uranium
Reserve Program and other efforts to restore domestic nuclear fuel
capabilities.
Extraction and Recovery Activities Overview
During 2022, the Company plans to recover 130,000 to 140,000
pounds of uranium, which is an increase over our previous guidance
of 100,000 to 120,000 pounds of uranium in 2022. This increased
uranium production in 2022, combined with other factors, has
resulted in a delayed start of our second REE processing campaign
in 2022, which is now expected to commence in November 2022 and carry over into Q1 2023. As a
result, the Company now expects to produce approximately 205 tonnes
of partially separated RE Carbonate in 2022 containing
approximately 95 tonnes of high-value partially separated TREO,
with the remaining production from the second 2022 REE processing
campaign of approximately 410 tonnes of partially separated RE
Carbonate containing approximately 200 tonnes of high-value
partially separated TREO being packaged in and attributable to Q1
2023. The total expected production from this second 2022 campaign
plus production to date in 2022 is equivalent to approximately 831
tons of non-separated RE Carbonate containing approximately 400
tonnes of non-separated TREO, which falls within our 2022 guidance
of 650-1,000 tons of non-separated RE Carbonate containing 300-650
tonnes of non-separated TREO, although a portion of that total
expected production will carry over into 2023.
No vanadium production is currently planned during 2022, though
the Company sold some of its existing vanadium inventory into
recent strong markets and is evaluating the potential to recommence
vanadium production in 2023 or later years as market conditions may
warrant for future sale and to replace sold inventory.
The Company secured three new long-term sales contracts with
U.S. nuclear utilities in May 2022
and is continuing to strategically pursue additional uranium sales
commitments with pricing expected to have both fixed and
market-related components. The Company believes that recent price
increases, volatility and focus on security of supply in light of
Russia's ongoing invasion of
Ukraine have increased the
potential for the Company to make uranium sales and procure
additional term sales contracts with utilities at pricing that
sustains production and covers corporate overhead. Therefore,
existing inventories may increase from 760,000 pounds of
U3O8 (692,000 pounds as of September 30,
2022 plus 68,552 pounds acquired after quarter end) to 890,000 to
900,000 pounds of U3O8 at year-end 2022 or
may increase to a lesser extent, or be reduced, in the event the
Company sells a portion of its inventory on the spot market, to the
U.S. Uranium Reserve Program, or pursuant to term contracts in
2022.
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 U.S. Uranium Reserve Program is expanded, the
Company expects to maintain the Nichols Ranch Project on standby
and defer development of further wellfields and header houses. The
Company currently holds 34 fully permitted, undeveloped wellfields
at Nichols Ranch, including four additional wellfields at the
Nichols Ranch wellfields, 22 wellfields at the adjacent Jane Dough
wellfields, and eight wellfields at the Hank Project, which is
fully permitted to be constructed as a satellite facility to the
Nichols Ranch Plant. 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 U.S. Uranium Reserve Program is expanded.
Conventional Activities
Conventional Extraction and Recovery Activities
During the nine months ended September
30, 2022, the Mill did not package any material quantities
of U3O8, focusing instead on developing its
REE recovery business. During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Mill produced
approximately 205 tonnes of partially separated RE Carbonate,
containing approximately 95 tonnes of high value partially
separated TREO. The Mill recovered small quantities of uranium
during the Quarter, which were retained in circuit. During 2022,
the Company expects to recover 130,000 to 140,000 pounds of uranium
at the Mill as finished product. The Company expects to recover
approximately 205 tonnes of partially separated RE Carbonate
(equivalent to approximately 277 tonnes of non-separated RE
Carbonate) containing approximately 95 tonnes of high value
partially separated TREO (equivalent to approximately 128 tonnes of
non-separated TREO) at the Mill during 2022. The Company expects to
sell all or a portion of its mixed RE Carbonate to Neo Performance
Materials ("Neo") or other global separation facilities
and/or to stockpile it for future production of separated REE
oxides at the Mill or elsewhere. The Company is in advanced
discussions with several sources of natural monazite sands (in
addition to the Bahia Project) 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 760,000 pounds of finished uranium
inventories currently located at North American conversion
facilities and at the Mill (692,000 pounds as of September 30,
2022 plus 68,552 pounds acquired after quarter end) and the 130,000
to 140,000 pounds of U3O8 expected to be
produced in 2022, the Company has approximately 170,000 pounds of
U3O8 contained in stockpiled Alternate Feed
Materials and other ore inventory at the Mill that can be recovered
relatively quickly in the future, as general market conditions may
warrant (totaling about 1,060,000 to 1,070,000 pounds of
U3O8 of total uranium inventory). The Company
is also seeking to acquire additional ore inventory from third
party mine cleanup activities that can be recovered relatively
quickly in the future.
The Company currently holds approximately 987,000 pounds of
V2O5 in inventory, and there remains an
estimated 1.0 to 3.0 million pounds of additional solubilized
recoverable V2O5 remaining in tailings
solutions awaiting future recovery, as market conditions may
warrant.
Conventional Standby, Permitting and Evaluation Activities
During the nine months ended September
30, 2022, standby and environmental compliance activities
continued at the fully permitted and substantially developed Pinyon
Plain Project (uranium and, potentially, copper) and the fully
permitted and developed La Sal Complex (uranium and vanadium). The
Company increased its number of employees, and continued carrying
out engineering, procurement and construction management
activities, at its Pinyon Plain Project during the Quarter. The
timing of the Company's plans to extract and process mineralized
materials from these projects will be based on sustained
improvements in general market conditions, procurement of suitable
sales contracts and/or the expansion of the U.S. Uranium Reserve
Program.
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 Whirlwind Project, which is now in the
process of recommencing mining operations, and the Sheep Mountain
Project. In addition, the Company will continue to evaluate the
Bullfrog Project. Expenditures for certain of these projects have
been adjusted to coincide with expected dates of price recoveries
based on the Company's forecasts. 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 three months ended September
30, 2022, the Company did not enter into any new uranium
sales contracts, having just recently entered into three uranium
sale and purchase agreements with major U.S. utilities in
May 2022, constituting its first new
long-term supply contracts since 2018. Having observed a marked
uptick in interest from nuclear utilities seeking long-term uranium
supply, the Company remains actively engaged in pursuing additional
selective long-term uranium sales contracts. The Company submitted
an offer to sell a portion of its inventories currently located at
the ConverDyn conversion facility to the DOE's newly created U.S.
Uranium Reserve Program. If the offer is accepted, the Company may
complete some sales of uranium during 2022.
Vanadium Sales
As a result of strengthening vanadium markets, during the nine
months ended September 30, 2022, the
Company sold approximately 642,000 pounds of the Company's existing
inventory of V2O5 (as FeV) at a net weighted
average price of $13.69 per pound of
V2O5. The Company expects to sell its
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. The Company expects to
sell to a diverse group of customers in order to maximize revenues
and profits. The vanadium produced in the 2018/19 Pond Return
campaign was a high-purity vanadium product of 99.6%-99.7%
V2O5. The Company believes there may be
opportunities to sell certain quantities of this high-purity
material at a premium to reported spot prices. The Company may also
retain vanadium product in inventory for future sale, depending on
vanadium spot prices and general market conditions.
RE Carbonate 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 Neo's
Silmet facility in Estonia, 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 of 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. During the quarter ended September 30, 2022, the
Company sold approximately 89,000 kilograms of TREO at an average
price of $25.03 per kilogram of
TREO.
While 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 underutilized capacity production costs
applicable to RE Carbonate and 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. As discussed above, the Company is planning
to install a "light" separation circuit within existing Mill
facilities and is evaluating installing a separate crack and leach
circuit and full separation circuit at 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.
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 and has a licensed capacity of
1.5 million pounds of U3O8 per year. 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 be awarded any sales under the
U.S. Uranium Reserve; 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 Uranium Reserve; any
expectation as to future uranium, vanadium, RE Carbonate or REE
market fundamentals or sales; any expectation as to recommencement
of production at any of the Company's uranium mines or the timing
thereof; 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;
any expectation as to the ability of the Company to secure any new
sources of Alternate Feed Materials or other processing
opportunities at the Mill; any expectation as to timelines for the
permitting and development of projects; any expectation as to
longer term fundamentals in the market and price projections; any
expectation as to the implications of the current Russian invasion
of Ukraine on uranium, vanadium or
other commodity markets; any expectation that the Company will
maintain its position as a leading uranium company in the United States; 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, including the timing of any such
initiatives and the expected production capacity or capital and
operating costs associated with any such production capabilities;
any expectation that the Company will restore U.S. rare earth
separation capabilities in the coming years; 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 any 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 may sell its separated NdPr oxide (or oxalate) to major
electric vehicle manufacturers in the U.S. and Europe or that the Company may position itself
as one of the "go to" suppliers of advanced rare earth materials in
the U.S.; any expectation that the Bahia Project has the potential
to feed the Mill with REE and uranium-bearing monazite sand for
decades; any expectation that the Company will complete
comprehensive sonic drilling and geophysical mapping at the Bahia
Project or complete an Initial Assessment under SK-1300 (U.S.) and
a Technical Report Technical Report under NI 43-101 (Canada) during Q4-2023 or Q1-2024, or
otherwise; 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 or
radium recovered at the Mill will be feasible; any expectation that
any thorium, radium or other isotopes can be recovered at the Mill
and sold on a commercial basis; any expectation as to the
quantities to be delivered under existing uranium sales contracts,
or that such contracts may help underpin the Company's uranium
business for many years to come; any expectation that the Company
will be successful in completing any additional contracts for the
sale of uranium to U.S. utilities; any expectation that any
existing or potential future uranium sales contracts will be at
prices and quantities that provide an appropriate rate of return or
sustain production and cover corporate overhead; any expectation
that the value of the Company's investments accounted for at fair
value may improve in future periods; 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; 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 radium or other
radioisotopes 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.