Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSEMKT:UUUU; TSE:EFR) shares were up 5.1% on Thursday as the company reported it had intersected several large and high-grade areas of mineralization at its Canyon mine, including 8.5-feet of mineralization with an average grade of 6.88% eU3O8, 48.0-feet of mineralization with an a average grade of 1.02% eU3O8, and 35-feet of mineralization with an average grade of 1.39% eU3O8.
The Canyon mine is a uranium mine in northern Arizona, which is already close to being capable of production.
Energy Fuels achieved another high-grade uranium intercept earlier this week at its Nichols Ranch ISR Project in Wyoming, where as many as 46 holes intercepted mineralisation above the grade cut off.
Results of the underground drill program at the Canyon deposit are very positive, said Energy Fuels President and CEO Stephen P. Antony. “The uranium grades, thicknesses, and continuities we have encountered at this stage of our delineation drilling program are confirming our high expectations for the deposit.”
A 43-101 technical report from 2012, based on surface drilling, showed the Canyon deposit contains 83,000 tons of Inferred Mineral Resources with an average grade of 0.98% eU3O8, containing 1.63mln lb of uranium.
In addition to the delineation drilling, Energy Fuels is also continuing to sink an 8-foot by 20-foot mine shaft, to access the deposit. The shaft is currently at a depth of approximately 1,100 feet.
Energy Fuels efforts to further define and delineate uranium resources in the site and potentially expand and upgrade the resource has already seen some success, Antony noted.
"We have long known that the Canyon deposit boasts world-class uranium grades, and we have the potential to increase the tonnage to be mined through underground delineation drilling,” Antony said.
Historically, uranium produced from similar deposits in northern Arizona has been relatively low-cost to extract.
“The Canyon mine also enjoys other important advantages,” Antony said. “It is fully licensed and permitted. It is at a very advanced stage of construction, with all surface development completed and the shaft is close to being complete. And, the mine is located within economic trucking distance of Energy Fuels' White Mesa Mill, which is licensed, operating, and has the capacity to process the Canyon material into finished yellowcake that can be sold to global nuclear utilities.”
Energy Fuels is a US-based uranium mining company. It supplies U3O8 to major nuclear utilities. The company holds three of the US’ key uranium production centers: the White Mesa Mill in Utah, the Nichols Ranch Processing Facility in Wyoming, and the Alta Mesa Project in Texas, which have a combined capacity of over 11.5 mln lbs of uranium per year.
Energy Fuels shares were up 5.1% at C$3.30.