Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of northern Arizona are host to thousands of breccia pipes. Rocks cut by these pipes range in age from the Mississippian Redwall Limestone through to the younger Triassic Chinle Formation. These rocks encompass about 4,000 ft (1,200 m) of stratigraphic section of erosion yet no single pipe has been observed that cuts through the entire section as erosion and other factors come into play. No pipe is known to occur above the Chinle Formation or below the Redwall Limestone.

Breccia pipes within the Arizona Strip are near vertical, circular to elliptical bodies of broken rock. This broken rock is composed of slabs, fragments and rotated angular blocks of the surrounding and/or stratigraphically higher formations. Many geologists consider the pipes to have been formed by solution collapse of the underlying carbonate rocks (such as the Redwall Limestone). The blocks and slabs are set in a matrix of finer-grained material from the surrounding and overlying rock formations. In most instances, the matrix has been cemented by silicification and calcification.

Breccia pipes consist of three interrelated features: a basinal or structurally shallow depression at surface; a breccia pipe underlying the structural depression; and annular fracture rings around the margins of the pipes. Annular fracture rings are commonly, but not always, mineralized. The structural depression may have diameters greater than 0.5 mi. (800 m), whereas the breccia ........

The conceptual mine plan for the EZ1 and EZ2 Complex is based on accessing the two pipes from a single shaft located between them. The pipes will be reached by horizontal tunnels at or below the lower reaches of the mineralized sections. The common surface facility will be the main shaft, working space for waste piles, stockpiles, water impoundments, and all buildings and related infrastructure.

The use of a single shaft will provide more rapid access to a large volume of potentially economic mineralization and will also reduce the overall capital development expenditures when compared with the development of two shafts. Utilizing a single shaft and three ventilation shafts will minimize the surface impacts. This will be more favourable for permitting considerations.

By developing both breccia pipes simultaneously, multiple working areas will be available which will allow increased operational flexibility and sustainable production. All potentially economic mineralization will be hoisted up the main shaft where it will be loaded into haulage trucks and transported to the White Mesa mill in secured, over-theroad trucks. The haulage distance from the EZ1 and EZ2 pipes to the White Mesa mill is approximately 310 miles.

Mining will employ the same methods currently in use at Energy Fuels’ active and planned breccia pipes. It is anticipated that the bulk of the mineralization will be extracted using blasthole slot mining.

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