Energy Fuels, a US-based uranium producer, is planning to continue production of uranium at its 100% owned Pinenut Mine till the first quarter of 2015, following favorable mining conditions and low costs.
Earlier, the company planned to put Pinenut’s production in standby till mid-2014 and to carry out the milling of the ore produced at its White Mesa Mill in 2014.
However, the higher standby costs and higher costs of re-starting the production had forced the company to rethink its decision.
The company now expects the economic uranium resource to deplete by 2015, unless additional sources are discovered through underground exploration.
Energy Fuels initially plans to stock the collected ore on the surface of the mine, and after the improvement of market conditions, plans to transport the ore to its White Mesa Mill for processing into U3O8.
Currently, Energy Fuels expects to produce around 250,000lbs of U3O8 from the Pinenut Mine from mid-2014 to 2015.
Energy Fuels CEO and president Stephen Antony said like many breccia pipe mines, the Pinenut Mine has exceeded their expectations.
"Therefore, we made the decision to continue mining at Pinenut through this year and into 2015. Our low cost investment in this extra production will provide Energy Fuels with additional optionality and potential liquidity as the expected uranium market recovery occurs," Antony added.
"We also believe these results highlight the fact that Energy Fuels has lower cost sources of production in our portfolio, both from our Arizona mines and our alternate feed material business, and the flexibility to respond to changing market conditions."