Geologic Environment

Energy Fuels’ uranium/vanadium properties and mill site are strategically located in one of the historically highest producing uranium regions of the United States. The highest grade uranium deposits available in the US are located in this region. The region contains an enormous resource base, estimated by the US Energy Information Administration in 2003, to be 123 million lbs. U₃O₈ at a price of $50 per lb. and a grade of 0.13%.

Energy Fuels’ area of interest has a long history of significant uranium production with the states of Colorado and Utah together averaging ~6 million pounds per year. Uranium production ceased in the mid-1980’s due to falling U₃O₈ prices, not resource depletion. Between 1948 and 1990, about 250 million lbs. of U₃O₈ were produced in the Colorado Plateau. The conventional underground mining and acid-leach milling techniques used are proven and low-risk by uranium mining standards. At the peak of the prior uranium cycle, six mills processed ore from Colorado and Utah with a combined capacity of 7500 tons per day.