Piñon Ridge Mill in Uranium Asset Sale
- At March 25, 2015
- By Lexi
- In Piñon Ridge Mill
1
Piñon Ridge Mill in Uranium Asset Sale
From World Nuclear News (WNN), 09 July 2014
The Pinon Ridge project, including the licence to build the USA’s first new conventional uranium mill in 30 years, features in a list of assets being sold by Energy Fuels to private investors.
Energy Fuels announced that it has agreed to sell Pinon Ridge plus a list of mining assets along the Colorado-Utah border to a private investor group led by US-based Baobab Asset Management and former Energy Fuels president George Glasier. The assets included in the sale contain 4.8 million pounds U3O8 (1846 tU) of NI43-101 compliant measured and indicated uranium resources.
Subject to regulatory approvals, the transactions are expected to be completed by 15 October and will be worth approximately $2.05 million to the company. The purchasers will also assume all reclamation obligations and replace existing reclamation bonds for the assets, worth a further $700,000. Energy Fuels will retain a throughput royalty of $3 per ton of ore fed through Pinon Ridge, plus a 1% royalty on the market value of all uranium, vanadium and other materials that might be recovered from the mining assets.
Energy Fuels had been looking to build a new uranium mill to process ore from conventional mining operations at Pinon Ridge in western Colorado since acquiring the site in 2007. It first received a licence from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) in 2011, although the licence was subsequently put on hold for appeal hearings before being reinstated in 2013. In the meantime, Energy Fuels’ 2012 acquisition of Denison Mining’s US assets and operations brought the existing White Mesa mill into its portfolio.
The acquisition of White Mesa, which can produce up to 8 million pounds of uranium (3080 tU) per year, means that Energy Fuels no longer needs to construct Pinon Ridge in order to meet its planned production.
The mining assets included in the sale – the Sunday Complex, the Willhunt and San Rafael projects, the Sage and Van 4 mines, and the Farmer Girl, Dunn and Yellow Cat projects – are all either exploration projects or historic uranium production sites. Energy Fuels CEO Stephen Antony said that the company did not expect the sale of the assets to materially affect its production potential. Antony noted that the company expected to continue with its asset rationalization, “which may include the sale of additional properties in the future.”
Most of the USA’s uranium production comes from in situ leach operations, and White Mesa is currently the only fully licensed and operating uranium mill for conventional mining operations (two others, Shootaring Canyon and Sweetwater, are mothballed). Located in Blanding, Utah, White Mesa is centrally located for the USA’s operating uranium mines. As well as milling uranium ore, the facility has a vanadium recovery circuit and is also licensed to process uranium-bearing materials other than ore, such as those materials from uranium conversion or other metal processing.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
Denver District Court Throws Out License to Build Piñon Ridge Uranium Mill—Again
- At September 03, 2014
- By Lexi
- In Piñon Ridge Mill, URANIUM & MINING
- 0
License has been suspended. A new agency decision has been ordered.
A Denver district judge has ruled against the license issued by the state of Colorado to Energy Fuels to construct and operate a uranium mill in Paradox Valley in western Montrose County for the second time.
In a court ruling issued Wednesday, September 3, 2014, District Judge Robert McGahey found that the hearing process for the mill, ordered by a previous judge who invalidated the license in June of 2012, did not comply with the 2012 order. In today’s order, Judge McGahey ruled that a hearing officer must review the record established at the November 2012 hearing and make an “initial decision as to whether Energy Fuels application has met all criteria under state law.” Sheep Mountain Alliance and Rocky Mountain Wild retained technical experts who presented solid evidence at the hearing to prove that Energy Fuels’ application was based on false information and that the environmental review was incomplete.
“This process has been mishandled by the state agency from the start and the district court has agreed again,” stated Hilary Cooper, (former) executive director of Sheep Mountain Alliance. “If the state chooses to continue this process, it will be taking action on a 2009 application for a project that will most likely never be built.”
Sheep Mountain Alliance, a grassroots conservation group based in Telluride, Colorado, has led the effort with Rocky Mountain Wild to stop the Piñon Ridge uranium mill based on significant environmental impacts to the surrounding region. SMA filed a lawsuit against the state of Colorado in February 2011 after the first radioactive materials license was issued to Energy Fuels. The Piñon Ridge mill would have been the first conventional uranium processing mill approved in the U.S. since 1980. The judge agreed with SMA’s challenge and ordered an independent hearing officer to conduct a hearing in November 2012. The hearing officer did not take action on issues raised during the hearing. Instead, the hearing officer sent the file to the state with simple direction to proceed with the license consideration. The state then issued a second license to Energy Fuels in April 2013. SMA and RMW again challenged the decision, and today’s ruling found that the hearing officer “failed to make a conclusion as to whether Energy Fuels application met all criteria for issuance of a license pursuant”.
In the meantime, Energy Fuels acquired the existing White Mesa uranium mill in Blanding, Utah, and admitted that they did not intend to build the Piñon Ridge mill because of unfavorable economic conditions and the redundancy of two mills in close proximity. In addition, Energy Fuels has entered into a contract to sell the Piñon Ridge mill property and other assets to George Glasier, the original founder of Energy Fuels, who is backed by Baobab Asset Management, Inc.
“The application lacks sufficient analysis of impacts to wildlife and the environment,” states Matt Sandler, staff attorney with Rocky Mountain Wild. “This decision is a win for the wildlife and the natural resources of this region. Our hope is that this remand will finally highlight the deficient environmental analysis included in the application.”
“The state has a clear choice to deny the Energy Fuels application and require a future developer to reapply with an updated application, which must address the conditions on the ground at that time,” stated Cooper. “It’s time to release the communities of southwest Colorado from the false hope embellished by this industry for too long.”
Paradox Valley Uranium Mill on Hold (The Durango Herald)
- At September 06, 2013
- By Lexi
- In IN THE PRESS, Piñon Ridge Mill
- 0
A proposed uranium mill in Southwest Colorado will not be built unless there is an unexpected turnaround in the price of uranium, the president of the company that is developing the mill said Friday in a conference call with investors.
Energy Fuels Resources Inc. will keep holding its license to build the Piñon Ridge uranium mill in the Paradox Valley of Montrose County, but it has no plans to act on the license, said President and CEO Stephen Antony.
“We intend to keep that license in a current, valid form, but not move on construction of the mill until market conditions support it,” Antony said.
The statement is old news to uranium experts, but it comes as a surprise to some Coloradans.
The company’s Piñon Ridge website says, “Energy Fuels anticipates starting construction in late 2012 or 2013.” And its plan on file with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment calls for the mill west of Naturita to be operational by early 2017, with construction beginning in 2015.
Warren Smith, a community involvement manager for the state health department, said Energy Fuels has not contacted his department with any plans to deviate from the schedule it has submitted. The license is valid for five years.
But uranium market analysts have known since Energy Fuels bought the White Mesa uranium mill in Utah that the company has put Piñon Ridge on the back burner. In fact, the company said so itself in a little-noticed statement in December 2012. It came in an annual report filed with financial regulators in Canada, where Energy Fuels is incorporated.
“With the recent acquisition by the Company of the White Mesa Mill, the Company no longer needs to construct the Piñon Ridge Mill in order to meet its planned production for the foreseeable future. Therefore, the Company does not intend to proceed with construction of the mill at this time,” the report said.
White Mesa, just south of Blanding, Utah, is the only conventional uranium mill in the United States, and it turned Energy Fuels into a major player in the North American uranium market. At the same time, the price of uranium has dropped, making Piñon Ridge a low priority.
“A lot has happened in the market since (the White Mesa purchase). The market price didn’t support building that facility,” Antony said.
Energy Fuels held a conference call Friday to discuss its corporate strategy after the completion this week of a merger with Strathmore Minerals Corp. In the hour-long call, executives didn’t even mention the Piñon Ridge mill until questioned by a reporter.
Even though the price of uranium has plummeted to $34 a pound – down from $51 in June – company officials are bullish on a return to higher prices as supplies run low and more nuclear reactors are built.
But Piñon Ridge is not a part of the company’s foreseeable plans. Instead, executives are much more interested in two other expansion projects in New Mexico and Wyoming.
The company’s strategy is to be ready to increase its annual uranium production to 6 million pounds a year – six times its current rate – if the market rebounds. The White Mesa Mill can handle up to 8 million pounds a year – enough for all of the company’s most optimistic expansion plans, according to Antony’s presentation on the conference call.
Colin Healey, a market analyst with Haywood Securities who closely watches Energy Fuels, said his forecast calls for a sizeable rise in uranium prices in the next two to three years. But even with the increase, he has not thought the Piñon Ridge mill would be built ever since Energy Fuels bought the Utah mill.
Healey analyzes market conditions and the company’s plans to forecast its future value.
“The Piñon Ridge mill isn’t part of my formal operating model of the company,” Healey said.
It would take “a very large and sustained shift” in uranium prices for Healey to believe the mill will be built, he said.
The Durango Herald: Paradox Valley Uranium Mill on Hold
