Overview
Status | Temporary Suspension |
Mine Type | In-Situ |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
|
Production Start | ... |
The Nichols Ranch Project includes: the ISR processing facility; the Nichols Ranch Wellfields; the Jane Dough Property; the Hank Project, which includes the permitted but not constructed Hank Satellite Plant; North Rolling Pin; and West North Butte.
The Nichols Ranch Project was placed on standby in 2020. As a result, the Energy Fuels recovered de minimis pounds of U3O8 from the Project in 2023 and expects to recover de minimis quantities of U3O8 in 2024. Nichols Ranch is expected to be able to ramp back up to commercial production levels with limited required capital within approximately six to twelve months of a decision to recommence production. The Energy Fuels is undertaking exploration and development activities to expand the resources at the Project and to further develop a wellfield to be ready for potential recommencement of production in late 2024 or in 2025.
According TR 2021 the project has a mine life of 11 years producing an average of 366 klb U3O8 per year. |
Source:
p. 64,196
The Nichols Ranch Project includes: (i) the Nichols Ranch Plant (100% ownership); (ii) the Nichols Ranch Wellfields (100% ownership); (iii) the Jane Dough Property (81% ownership); (iv) the Hank Project (100% ownership), which includes the permitted but not constructed Hank Satellite Plant; (v) North Rolling Pin (100% ownership); and (vi) West North Butte (100% ownership).
The Jane Dough Property contains certain properties that are 100% owned by Energy Fuels and other properties that are held in the Arkose Mining Venture. United Nuclear, owns a 19% interest in the Company’s Arkose Mining Venture while the Company owns the remaining 81%.
Contractors
- Subscription is required.
Summary:
The Complex is located in the Powder River Basin, which is a large structural and topographic depression sub-parallel to the trend of the Rocky Mountains. The Basin is bounded on the south by the Hartville Uplift and the Laramie Range, on the east by the Black Hills, and on the west by the Big Horn Mountains and the Casper Arch. The Miles City Arch in southeastern Montana forms the northern boundary of the Basin.
The Powder River Basin is an asymmetrical syncline with its axis closely paralleling the western basin margin. During sedimentary deposition, the structural axis (the line of greatest material accumulation) shifted westward resulting in the Basin’s asymmetrical shape.
Uranium mineralization at the Complex deposits is hosted by the Eocene Wasatch Formation. The Wasatch Formation was deposited in a multi-channel fluvial and flood plain environment. The climate at the time of deposition was wet tropical to subtropical with medium stream and river sediment load depositing most medium grained materials. The source of the sediments, as evidenced by abundant feldspar grains in the sandstones, was the nearby Laramie and Granite Mountains.
Within the Complex, there is a repetitive transgressive/regressive sequence of sandstones separated by fine-grained horizons composed of siltstone, mudstone, carbonaceous shale, and poorly developed thin coal seams. The fine-grained materials were deposited in flood plain, shallow lake (lacustrine), and swam ........
Summary:
The Nichols Ranch Complex previously operated from 2014 to 2019 and is located within uranium-producing regions of central Wyoming.
The production schedule is based on ISR mining of the uranium mineralization at the Nichols Ranch Mining Unit section of the Complex (Nichols Ranch, Jane Dough, and Hank areas). ISR is an injected-solution mining process that reverses the natural processes that originally deposited the uranium in the sandstones. On-site ground water is being fortified with gaseous oxygen and introduced to the zones of uranium mineralization through a pattern of injection wells. The solution dissolves the uranium from the sandstone host.
The uranium-bearing solution is brought back to surface through production wells where the uranium is concentrated at a central processing plant and dried into yellowcake for market.
ISR mining and milling utilizes the five steps:
1. A solution called lixiviant (typically containing water mixed with oxygen and/or hydrogen peroxide, as well as sodium bicarbonate or carbon dioxide) is injected through a series of wells into the mineralized zones to dissolve and to complex the uranium.
2. The lixiviant with uranium in solution is then collected in a series of recovery wells, through which it is pumped to a processing plant, where the uranium is extracted from the solution through an ion-exchange process.
3. Once the uranium has been extracted, the lixiviant is fortified and reused in th ........
Flow Sheet:
Summary:
- subscription is required.
Source:
- subscription is required.
Production:
The Nichols Ranch Project was placed on standby in 2020. As a result, the Energy Fuels recovered de minimis pounds of U3O8 from the Project in 2020-2023.
Commodity | Units | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
Uranium
|
M lbs
| ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 0.14 | 0.3 |
All production numbers are expressed as U3O8.
- Subscription is required.
Reserves at December 31, 2021:
Mineral Resource estimates are based on cut-off 0.20 GT.
The Mineral Resource estimates at Nichols Ranch are current as of December 31, 2023.
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Measured
|
11,000 tons
|
U3O8
|
0.187 %
|
41,140 lbs
|
Indicated
|
3,283,000 tons
|
U3O8
|
0.106 %
|
6,946,693 lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
3,294,000 tons
|
U3O8
|
0.106 %
|
6,987,833 lbs
|
Inferred
|
650,000 tons
|
U3O8
|
0.097 %
|
1,256,000 lbs
|
Financials:
| Units | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
Book Value
|
M USD
| ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... |
......
|
17.2
|
19.2
|
- Subscription is required
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
- Subscription is required.
- Subscription is required.