Uranium exploration at Nichols Ranch reveals strong results, potentially leading to a project restart in 2025.

Due to stronger-than-expected results from ongoing exploration, Energy Fuels Inc. is advancing plans to restart its Nichols Ranch uranium project in Wyoming in 2025, enabling the company to bolster domestic uranium production for the clean energy transition.

Colorado-based Energy Fuels, which operates the White Mesa Mill in Utah, is already the largest U.S. producer of uranium and an emerging leader in rare earths and vanadium.

Aside from White Mesa, Energy Fuels' operations span several other projects in the U.S. In addition to actively advancing its Nichols Ranch uranium project, the company also holds uranium mines in Utah and Arizona – the Daneros and Pinyon Plain mines, respectively, which could potentially be brought online as market conditions improve.

Outside North America, the company recently broadened its portfolio to include the Bahia rare earth elements project in Brazil and the Toliara mineral sands project in Madagascar, a potential source of titanium.

In response to the growing demand for domestic uranium and global energy security, Energy Fuels has ramped up its exploration efforts at Nichols Ranch.

"We are very pleased with our progress to date in preparing Nichols Ranch for a potential restart of production in 2025, and these significant drilling results are exceeding our expectations and further demonstrate the strength of this project," said Energy Fuels President and CEO Mark Chalmers. "This puts us one step closer on the path to meeting our projections, increasing our market share of the nuclear fuel supply chain, and potentially expanding our uranium resources."

The company's ability to quickly integrate production from Nichols Ranch with its other uranium operations in Arizona and Utah, along with the need to fulfill recently secured supply contracts with U.S. nuclear utilities, has further driven the push toward a potential restart of operations.

According to the latest resource calculation completed in 2021, Nichols Ranch hosts 3.3 million tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 0.106% (6.99 million pounds) equivalent triuranium octoxide (eU3O8); plus 650,000 tons of inferred resource averaging 0.097% (1.26 million lb) eU3O8.

Energy Fuels Inc.

An older map of Energy Fuels' projects in the U.S. shows the location of Nichols Ranch is Wyoming.

If brought online, a fully operational Nichols Ranch has an annual capacity of two million pounds of uranium, enough to generate approximately 50 terawatt-hours of electricity, which could power around 4.5 million U.S. homes for a year.

Earlier this year, Energy Fuels began a pre-production drilling campaign aimed at better understanding its uranium resources and preparing for future production. This included plans to drill 125 holes to help outline key areas for potential uranium extraction and design the infrastructure needed to support future mining operations.

"We recently drilled 39 out of the planned 125 delineation holes at Nichols Ranch, with five that significantly exceeded expectations and the rest consistent with anticipated results," said Energy Fuels Vice President of Technical Services Dan Kapostasy. "As we continue our exploration, we will better identify the location of resources within the site to allow us to optimize wellfield design ahead of a final mining decision, anticipated by the end of the year."

The five significant intercepts from the campaign so far include:

• 14 feet averaging 0.322% eU3O8 in hole U36-17-595.

• 11.5 feet averaging 0.103% eU3O8 and six feet averaging 1.523% eU3O8 in U36-17-610.

• 20.5 feet averaging 0.126% eU3O8 and 7.5 feet averaging 0.351% eU3O8 in U36-17-611.

• 18 feet averaging 0.104% eU3O8 in U36-18-058.

• Eight feet averaging 0.198% eU3O8 in U36-18-061.

Looking ahead, Energy Fuels plans to update the Nichols Ranch technical report by year-end to incorporate the latest drill results. Following this, the company intends to drill 152 additional holes in a nearby extension.

Once completed, this data, along with historical drill results, will contribute to an updated estimate for Nichols Ranch.