Energy Fuels has intercepted several large and high-grade areas of mineralization in the next wellfield expected to go into production at its Nichols Ranch ISR Project (Nichols Ranch) in Wyoming, US.
On August 1, 2016, the Company began delineation drilling and the installation of the wellfield to be associated with Header House 9 at Nichols Ranch. Currently, four rigs are being utilized to drill pilot holes, ream, case, and complete the injection and recovery wells for this wellfield. Header House 9 is expected to begin producing uranium later in 2016.
To date, a total of 52 holes in this new wellfield have been drilled. Of the 52 holes, 46 have encountered mineralization which is above the grade % x thickness (“GT”) cut-off of 0.3. This includes one hole which encountered 5.0 feet of mineralization with an average grade of 2.40% eU3O8. In addition, many of the holes have encountered multiple intercepts above the GT cutoff. It is anticipated that a total of 120 wells will be incorporated into Header House 9.
Stephen P. Antony, President and CEO of Energy Fuels stated: “The drill results we are seeing in the wellfield for Header House 9 at Nichols Ranch are very positive, and the uranium grades and thicknesses are significantly exceeding expectations. Indeed, it is quite rare to encounter mineralization in U.S. ISR projects that have grades above 2.0% U3O8 and GT values above 10. Due to the size of the wellfield, expected number of wells, and the quality of mineralization we are encountering, we expect this to be the largest and most productive portion of the wellfield at Nichols Ranch to date. Overall, the Nichols Ranch deposit continues to deliver results that exceed our original expectations. We look forward to producing uranium from this new wellfield beginning later this year.”