The La Sal Project uranium-vanadium deposits in the Jurassic Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation are sandstone-type deposits that fit into the U.S. Department of Energy’s (“DOE”) classification as defined by Austin and D’Andrea (Mickle and Mathews, 1978) Class 240 sandstone; Subclass 244-nonchannel-controlled peneconcordant. Any future deep drilling to explore for deposits in the Triassic basal Chinle Formation (Moss Back Member) would fit the DOE classification as Class 240- sandstone; Subclass 243- channel controlled peneconcordant. These classes are very similar to those of Dahlkamp (1993) Type 4-sandstone; Subtype 4.1- tabular/peneconcordant; Class 4.1.2 (a) Vanadium-Uranium (Salt Wash type) and Class 4.1.3-basal-channel (Chinle type).

The La Sal district uranium-vanadium deposits are a similar type to those elsewhere in the Uravan Mineral Belt. The Uravan Mineral Belt was defined by Fisher and Hilpert (1952) as a curved, elongated area in southwestern Colorado where the uraniumvanadium deposits in the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation generally have closer spacing, larger size, and higher grade than those in adjacent areas and the region as a whole. The location and shape of mineralized deposits are largely controlled by the permeability of the host sandstone. Most mineralization is in trends where Top Rim sandstones are thick, usually 40 feet or greater.

The La Sal Trend is a large channel of Top Rim sandstone which trends due east, ........

The mining of all resources in the La Sal Project have been by conventional underground methods. The nature of the Salt Wash uranium vanadium deposits require a random room and pillar mining configuration. The deposits have irregular shapes and occur within several closespaced, flat or slight-dipping horizons. The mineralization often rolls between horizons. The use of rubber-tired equipment allows the miners to follow the ore easily in the slight dips and to ramp up or down to the other horizons. The deposits are accessed from the surface through long declines at gradients of 8-15%, depending on depth and locations suitable for portal sites, such as the La Sal and Pandora/Snowball mines. Deposits may also be accessed through vertical shafts such as at the Beaver and Energy Queen mines. Depending on ground conditions, the shafts will be lined with concrete or with steel and timber-lagging methods. Most recently, the Beaver Shaft was used for hoisting ore, ventilation, and a secondary escape. It is connected underground to the La Sal mine which provided man and equipment access to the Beaver mine areas. The Salt Wash sandstones are usually quite competent rock and require only moderate ground support. The overlying Brushy Basin mudstones are less competent, so the declines are often supported by square set timber or steel arch and timber lagging, as is the case at the La Sal and Pandora mines. The Salt Wash uranium vanadium deposits are usually thinner than the mining height n ........

The La Sal Trend has a long history of uranium and vanadium production. Deposits from this district have been successfully milled at several historic mills in the region. The White Mesa Mill uses sulfuric acid leaching and a solvent extraction recovery process to extract and recover uranium and vanadium. The Mill has been operated on a campaign basis since its initial start-up due to variable uranium market conditions.

Between November 2012 and April 2013, the Mill processed uranium/vanadium ores from stockpiles of the several previous months’ mining at Beaver /La Sal and Pandora/Snowball mines attaining greater than 96% uranium recovery and greater than 70% vanadium recovery. Future production will be processed at White Mesa Mill.

The White Mesa Mill is located six miles south of Blanding in southeastern Utah. Its construction by EFNI was based on the anticipated reopening of many small low-grade mines on the Colorado Plateau, and the mill was designed to treat 2 ........