Energy Fuels Inc (NYSE MKT:UUUU, TSE:EFR) confirmed it has completed its acquisition of Mesteña Uranium, adding a third production centre in the United States.
Alta Mesa, Mesteña Uranium’s main asset, is a fully licenced and constructed in-situ uranium mining operation which is currently on standby.
Output from Alta Mesa could begin again around six months with only minimal capital investment, should Energy Fuels give the go-ahead for a restart programme, the company highlighted.
The mine is capable of producing 1.5mln pounds of uranium per year.
Energy Fuels revealed that its first order of business will be to have a new technical report and resource estimates done for the property. Such a report is anticipated in about a month’s time.
Stephen Antony, Energy Fuels chief executive, highlighted that Alta Mesa gives the company production scalability that can be brought online sooner and at lower uranium prices.
He said: "With the completion of our acquisition of Mesteña, we believe that Energy Fuels is now the premier uranium producer in the US. Energy Fuels now has three uranium production facilities located in the U.S. and more licensed and operational processing capacity (11.5 million pounds of uranium per annum) than any other uranium producer in the US.
“It is important to note that the US remains the largest consumer of uranium in the World today.
“Additionally, our acquisition of Mesteña is of particular importance in today's current uranium price environment, as we believe our 'all-in' costs of production at Alta Mesa will become one of the lowest in our current portfolio, along with our alternate feed material business and our Canyon mine.”