Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Underground |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
- Longhole stoping
- Shrinkage stoping
|
Production Start | ... |
Mine Life | 2026 |
The Pinyon Plain Project (the name of the Canyon Mine was changed to the Pinyon Plain Mine in 2020) is a fully permitted and operating uranium project with all surface facilities and a shaft in place.
The Energy Fuels announced in December 2023 that it was putting the Pinyon Plain mine into production, which production did not actually commence in any significant way until early 2024. This production will fulfill uranium contracts the Company entered into in 2022.
Uranium-bearing ore will be stockpiled at the White Mesa Mill and processed later in 2024 or 2025. |
Source:
p. 20
All of Energy Fuels Inc. the Arizona Strip uranium properties including the Pinyon Plain Project are held by the Company’s subsidiary EFR Arizona Strip LLC.
Contractors
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Summary:
Mineralization
Mineralization at the Project extends vertically approximately 1,700 ft, both inside and outside the pipe, but high grade uranium and copper mineralization is found primarily in the collapsed portions of the Coconino, Hermit, and Esplanade horizons and at the margins of the pipe in fracture zones. Sulfide zones are found scattered throughout the pipe but are especially concentrated (within a sulfide cap) near the Toroweap-Coconino contact, where the cap averages 20 ft thick and consists of pyrite and bravoite, an iron-nickel sulfide. The ore assemblage consists of uranium-pyrite-hematite with massive copper sulfide mineralization common in and near the high grade zone. The strongest mineralization appears to occur in the lower Hermit-upper Esplanade horizons in an annular fracture zone.
The metal of interest at the Project is uranium, though significant copper mineralization co-exists in the breccia pipe. As the rocks making up the breccia within the pipe are all sedimentary rocks, mineralization typically occurs within the matrix material (primarily sand) surrounding the larger breccia clasts.
Uranium Mineralization
Uranium mineralization at the Project is concentrated in three stratigraphic levels or zones (Upper/Cap, Main, and Juniper) within a collapse structure ranging from 80 ft to 230 ft wide with a vertical extension from a depth of 650 ft to over 2,100 ft, resulting in approximately 1,450 ft of mineralization. Minerali ........
Mining Methods
- Longhole stoping
- Shrinkage stoping
Summary:
The mine is an underground, vertical shaft access mine which is planned to be mined using small scale mechanized rubber tired equipment. Energy Fuels and its predecessors have mined numerous uranium bearing breccia pipes by underground methods dating back to the 1980s. Because mineralization can be found in fractures which range from a single fracture to intersections of many, forming large zones, several mining methods will be employed based on the size and geometry of the mineralization.
Ore will be mined by a combination of longhole stoping and shrinkage mining to suit the irregular nature of the deposit. Ore will be hoisted to surface, stored in a surface ore stockpile, and then transported by highway trucks to a processing facility. The shaft is 1,470 ft deep with mine production planned over a 150 ft vertical interval, from 1,223 ft below surface (approximately the 1-4 level of the shaft) to 1,376 ft below surface (approximately the 1-5 level of the shaft). A spiral ramp will be driven up from the 1-5 level to connect the planned sublevels and to connect to the shaft at the 1-4 level.
Mineral Reserves are located on the outer side of a roughly cylindrical shape with a diameter of 300 ft and a barren center with a diameter of approximately 50 ft. Mining sublevels are spaced at irregular intervals of 20 ft to 35 ft. An eight foot diameter return air raise, also functioning as an emergency escapeway, will be developed in the barren center of the depos ........
Source:
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Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Production:
Commodity | Units | LOM (Projected) |
Uranium
|
lbs
| 1,505,003 |
All production numbers are expressed as U3O8.
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | 2024 |
Ore tonnes mined
| ...... |
^ Guidance / Forecast.
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Reserves at December 31, 2022:
Mineral Reserves are estimated at the breakeven cut-off grade of 0.32% U3O8.
For the Copper Mineral Resources Main and Main-Lower zones of the Pinyon Plain Project, a 0.40% uranium equivalent cut-off grade (% U3O8 Eq) was applied to account for both the copper and uranium mineralization.
Uranium Mineral Resources are based on a $65/lb uranium price at an equivalent uranium cut-off grade 0.30% eU3O8.
The Mineral Resource estimates at Pinyon Plain are current as of December 31, 2023.
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven
|
7,800 tons
|
U3O8
|
0.33 %
|
50,800 lbs
|
Probable
|
126,700 tons
|
U3O8
|
0.6 %
|
1,517,000 lbs
|
Proven & Probable
|
134,500 tons
|
U3O8
|
0.58 %
|
1,567,800 lbs
|
Measured
|
6,000 tons
|
Copper
|
9.6 %
|
1,155,000 lbs
|
Indicated
|
37,000 tons
|
U3O8
|
0.95 %
|
703,000 lbs
|
Indicated
|
90,000 tons
|
Copper
|
5.9 %
|
10,553,000 lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
96,000 tons
|
Copper
|
6.1 %
|
11,708,000 lbs
|
Inferred
|
5,000 tons
|
U3O8
|
0.5 %
|
48,000 lbs
|
Inferred
|
4,000 tons
|
Copper
|
6.5 %
|
470,000 lbs
|
Financials:
| Units | 2023 |
Book Value
|
M USD
| ...... |
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Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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