Utah acquisition opens door for new mine

Tuesday, 18 October 2011 The acquisition of a 20-year mining lease for just over $1.5 million has given Toronto-based Energy Fuels sufficient acreage with historical resources for the company to embark on the permitting process for a new uranium/vanadium mine in the Uravan Mineral Belt. The 709-acre (287-hectare) Skidmore Lease in San Juan County, Utah, includes large portions of the historic Calliham Mine and is adjacent to other leases and mining claims in the Sage Plain district already owned or controlled by Energy Fuels through Colorado Plateau Partners LLC. The project has the potential to become the third mine permitted to feed Energy Fuels' proposed Pinon Ridge uranium and vanadium mill near Naturita in Colorado, some 70 miles (113 km) away by road, according to the company. Historic resource data for the area's uranium resource figures exist, but are not NI 43-101 compliant, and Energy Fuels says it will work over the next 18 months to establish a NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource report. Energy Fuels received the final licence necessary for construction of the Pinon Ridge mill earlier this year.