NYSE AMERICAN: UEC
CORPUS
CHRISTI, Texas, July 12,
2023 /PRNewswire/ - Uranium Energy Corp (NYSE
American: UEC) ("UEC" or the "Company") is pleased to
announce the Company's plan to accelerate the steps required for a
resumption of operations has been completed, enabling a faster
restart at the Christensen Ranch in-situ recovery ("ISR") Project
in Wyoming.
Amir Adnani, President and CEO
stated: "With demand increasing for uranium supply from stable
geopolitical jurisdictions and U.S. national security objectives,
we foresee an increasingly urgent need for domestic uranium supply.
The fundamental drivers of supply and demand, including pending
legislation to ban Russian uranium imports to the United States, are translating into rising
uranium prices that have accelerated UEC's production
readiness program. In that regard, we have been working towards
restarting production to fulfill the need for domestic uranium and
are pleased to provide an update on activities related to resuming
operations at the Company's Christensen Ranch ISR uranium
operations in Johnson County,
Wyoming."
Background: UEC acquired Uranium One Americas, Inc.
("U1A") from Russia's State Atomic
Energy Corporation, Rosatom, in December
2021. The repatriation of the assets to U.S. ownership has
been a transformative acquisition for UEC, positioning the
Company as the largest, fully permitted, low-cost ISR project
resource base of any U.S. based producer.
The U1A U.S. portfolio was assembled starting in 2007 with the
acquisition of Energy Metals Corp. and subsequently Cogema
Resources Inc. The portfolio is anchored by the Irigaray Central
Processing Plant ("CPP") and includes over 20 uranium projects,
100,000 acres of land and 4 fully permitted ISR projects. These
assets include Christensen Ranch ISR Operations that, combined with
early Irigaray production, produced over six million lbs. of
uranium before being placed on standby in 2018 in care and
maintenance. During this period, key production infrastructure,
including its wellfields and the satellite ion exchange plant, have
been maintained, and now upgraded and refurbished to facilitate a
fast restart. Uranium recovered from Christensen Ranch will be
processed at UEC's Irigaray CPP.
The Irigaray CPP is the centerpiece of the Company's
Wyoming ISR Hub and Spoke operations. The Irigaray CPP was
originally constructed by Westinghouse Electric Corporation and was
later expanded by U1A in 2010, adding two resin elution circuits
and additional precipitation capacity. The Irigaray CPP is one
of the largest uranium CPPs in the U.S., licensed for 2.5 million
lbs. of uranium production per year with pending plans to increase
the licensed capacity to 4 million lbs. per year.
The first Company project ("Spoke") to feed the Irigaray CPP Hub
will be the Christensen Ranch Project. The Company has been working
steadily at Christensen Ranch since the beginning of this year to
move out of care and maintenance and advance towards resuming
production.
Preparations for Resumption of
Operations:
Production readiness activities at Christensen Ranch have
included, among others:
- Electrical testing of variable frequency drives, booster pumps,
heaters, wellfield recovery pumps, satellite plant pumps and module
buildings (header houses);
- Testing of programmable logic controllers, electronics,
auto-valves and communications software for wellfield and plant
operations;
- Testing of leak detection systems;
- Reattachment of wellfield piping in module buildings;
- Conversion of lighting in plants and wellfield module buildings
to energy efficient LED;
- Assessment and repair of lines, piping, Ion Exchange ("IX")
columns and valves in the satellite plant;
- IX resin cleaning and testing;
- Mechanical integrity testing of all wells to be used in
resumption of operations;
- Trunklines pressurized and leak checked; and
- Preparation of wellfield patterns for operational testing, as
described below.
The orebody at Christensen Ranch ISR Project is divided into
tracts of injection and recovery wells. These tracts of wells are
called "Mine Units" for production management. Each Mine Unit is
then subdivided into groups of injection and recovery wells that
are operated individually; these groups are called "Modules", also
known as "header-houses", where each well is connected to a
manifold that connects to pipelines that carry the recovery
solutions to the satellite IX plant.
Each Mine Unit typically contains 600 to 800 injection and
recovery wells, depending upon the orebody configuration, with each
Module having an average of 90 to 100 injection and recovery wells.
This configuration allows great flexibility in operations, allowing
operation of all Modules in a Mine Unit, or just one Module, as
well as individual wells in each Module, and as many Modules in the
various Mine Units as desired. All wells are controlled
electronically and can be started and stopped in the Module
buildings and at the satellite plant operations control room.
UEC has also conducted a series of operational tests in the Mine
Units at Christensen Ranch. Two Modules located in Mine Units 8 and
10 have had testing completed to establish operating parameters for
each Mine Unit. UEC has operated these Modules by circulating
recovered mining solutions to test injection and recovery systems
while adding oxygen ("O2") and carbon dioxide
("CO2") to the injection stream at varying rates during
the testing. The tests evaluated:
- Electronic communications between wells and plant (programmable
logic controllers, wiring);
- O2 and CO2 addition rates for optimizing uranium recovery in
previously mined areas;
- Status of leak detection systems at wellheads, Module buildings
and trunklines;
- Well flow rates with a goal to adjust pump sizes to maximize
flow and to determine the need for well stimulation processes, if
required; and
- Information on potential requirements for all wellfield Modules
for resumption of operations.
This work will allow UEC to rapidly resume operations in
the existing and partially mined areas of Mine Units 7, 8 and
10.
Installation of New
Wellfield
The Company is also pleased to announce plans for the completion
of well installation at Christensen Ranch in Modules 10-7 and 10-8
that will complete Mine Unit 10. Previous development drilling in
Mine Unit 10 was terminated through six Modules (10-6). The
drilling and well installation program for Modules 10-7 and 10-8
consists of the completion of 180 recovery and injection wells and
is planned to commence in August of this year. Although not
required for initial startup, these new wellfield Modules will
be installed and available for ramp up to meet production
requirements.
About Uranium Energy
Corp
Uranium Energy Corp is the fastest growing supplier of the fuel
for the green energy transition to a low carbon future. UEC is the
largest, diversified North American focused uranium company,
advancing the next generation of low-cost, environmentally friendly
ISR mining uranium projects in the United
States and high-grade conventional projects in Canada. The Company has two production-ready
ISR hub and spoke platforms in South
Texas and Wyoming. These
two production platforms are anchored by fully operational central
processing plants and served by seven U.S. ISR uranium projects
with all their major permits in place. Additionally, the Company
has diversified uranium holdings including: (1) one of the largest
physical uranium portfolios of U.S. warehoused
U3O8; (2) a major equity stake in Uranium
Royalty Corp., the only royalty company in the sector; and (3) a
pipeline of resource stage uranium projects. The Company's
operations are managed by professionals with decades of hands-on
experience in the key facets of uranium exploration, development
and mining.
Stock Exchange Information:
NYSE American:
UEC
Frankfurt Stock Exchange Symbol: U6Z
WKN:
AØJDRR
ISN: US916896103
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Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein,
the information presented in this news release constitutes
"forward-looking statements" as such term is used in applicable
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securities laws. These statements relate to analyses and other
information that are based on forecasts of future results,
estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of
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"forward-looking statements". Such forward looking statements
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of
the Company to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include,
among others, the actual results of exploration activities,
variations in the underlying assumptions associated with the
estimation or realization of mineral resources, the availability of
capital to fund programs and the resulting dilution caused by the
raising of capital through the sale of shares, accidents, labor
disputes and other risks of the mining industry including, without
limitation, those associated with the environment, delays in
obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the
completion of development or construction activities, title
disputes or claims limitations on insurance coverage. Although the
Company has attempted to identify important factors that could
cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from
those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other
factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as
anticipated, estimated or intended. Many of these factors are
beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. There can be no
assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual
results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in
this news release and in any document referred to in this news
release. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ
materially and that could impact the Company and the statements
contained in this news release can be found in the Company's
filings with the SEC. For forward-looking statements in this news
release, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for
forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company assumes no obligation to
update or supplement any forward-looking statements whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as
required by law. This news release shall not constitute an offer to
sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities.
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SOURCE Uranium Energy Corp