Hailey Wahlberg reports that Energy Fuels Inc., a leading uranium producer in the U.S., is pleased to announce that it has achieved a major environmental milestone at its Alta Mesa Uranium Project (“Alta Mesa” previously known as the Mestena Uranium LLC, Mestena Grande Projects) in Texas. On March 16, 2018, the Company received a notice from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (“TCEQ”) confirming that the Company accomplished final groundwater restoration at Production Area 1 (“PAA1”). Now that TCEQ has deemed wellfield restoration complete, the Company can proceed to well plugging and final closure of PAA1, including a reduction of the reclamation bond on the project and the return of restricted cash. Groundwater restoration following uranium recovery is one of the most important environmental compliance milestones that every U.S. in situ recovery (“ISR”) facility must complete following production.
Mark S. Chalmers, President and CEO of Energy Fuels stated: “We are extremely proud to receive government confirmation of final restoration of the wellfield at Alta Mesa. Energy Fuels and the rest of the U.S. uranium industry operate under the highest health, safety, and environmental standards in the world, including state-of-the-art protection of groundwater and drinking water. This is a major milestone for Energy Fuels and further proof of our commitment to environmental stewardship. I congratulate our team on the ground in Texas and the support staff here in Denver for their hard work and professionalism on this important achievement.”
Alta Mesa is a fully-permitted and constructed ISR uranium project located in South Texas. The project (including PAA1) was in production from 2005 until 2012, during which time it produced approximately 4.6 million pounds of U3O8, or enough uranium to provide clean, carbon-free electricity from an average sized nuclear reactor for a little over eight years. At the current time, Alta Mesa is being maintained by the Company on standby status, ready to resume operations within approximately 12 months of a production decision. In order to resume production, the Company would need to complete minor facility improvements and install new wellfields. Alta Mesa has a total project area of approximately 200,000 acres, including a licensed and constructed ISR processing plant with a total annual production capacity of 1.5 million pounds of U3O8 per year.
According to a technical report (“Technical Report”) prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”), Alta Mesa holds a total of 1.6 million tons of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources with an average grade of 0.111% U3O8 containing 3.6 million pounds of uranium, along with 7.0 million tons of Inferred Mineral Resources with an average grade of 0.121% U3O8 containing 16.8 million pounds of uranium. The Technical Report also identifies certain exploration targets that include 2.6 million tons of mineralized material with an average grade that could range from 0.077% – 0.123% U3O8. In improved market conditions, the Company expects to resume exploration drilling on the property to expand the uranium resources and upgrade existing mineral resources into higher categories.
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