Ur-Energy USA has three wholly-owned subsidiaries: NFU Wyoming, LLC (“NFU
Wyoming”), a limited liability company formed under the laws of the State
of Wyoming to facilitate acquisition of certain property and assets and, currently,
to act as our land holding and exploration entity; Lost Creek ISR, LLC, a limited
liability company formed under the laws of the State of Wyoming to hold and
operate our Lost Creek Project and certain other of our Lost Creek properties
and assets; and Pathfinder Mines Corporation (“Pathfinder”), a company
incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware, which holds, among other
assets, the Shirley Basin and Lucky Mc properties in Wyoming.
NFUR Hauber has one wholly-owned subsidiary: Hauber Project LLC, a limited
liability company formed under the laws of the State of Colorado to hold our
Hauber project. NFUR Hauber is the sole member and manager of Hauber Project
LLC.
Currently, we have multiple term uranium sales agreements in place with U.S.
utilities for the sale of Lost Creek production or other yellowcake product
at contracted pricing. Combined, these multi-year sales agreements represent
a significant portion of our anticipated production into 2021. These agreements,
individually, do not represent a substantial portion of our annual projected
production, and our business is therefore not substantially dependent upon any
one of the agreements.
ur other material asset, Shirley Basin, is one of the assets we acquired as
a part of the Pathfinder transaction which closed in December 2013. We also
acquired all the historic geologic and engineering data for the project. During
2014, we completed a drill program of a limited number of confirmatory holes
in order to complete an NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate which was released
in August 2014; subsequently, an NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment for
Shirley Basin was completed in January 2015. Baseline studies necessary for
the permitting and licensing of the project commenced in 2014 and were completed
in 2015. In December 2015, our application for a permit to mine was submitted
to the State of Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (“WDEQ”).
Work is well underway on other applications for all necessary authorizations
to mine at Shirley Basin. We have monitored the development of the Wyoming “agreement
state” program, by which the NRC will delegate its authority for source
material licensure and other radiation safety issues to the WDEQ. We understand
that the development of the Uranium Recovery Program (“URP”) remains
on schedule for full implementation and transition likely occurring in 2018.
Based upon that timing, we currently anticipate submitting our application for
a source material license for Shirley Basin to the State URP.
We utilize in situ recovery of the uranium at Lost Creek and will do so at other
projects where this is possible. The ISR technique is employed in uranium extraction
because it allows for a lower cost and effective recovery of roll front mineralization.
The in situ technique does not require the installation of tailings facilities
or significant surface disturbance. This mining method utilizes injection wells
to introduce a mining solution, called lixiviant, into the mineralized zone.
The lixiviant is made of natural groundwater fortified with oxygen as an oxidizer,
sodium bicarbonate as a complexing agent, and carbon dioxide for pH control.
The complexing agent bonds with the uranium to form uranyl carbonate, which
is highly soluble. The dissolved uranyl carbonate is then recovered through
a series of production wells and piped to a processing plant where the uranyl
carbonate is removed from the solution using Ion Exchange (“IX”)
and captured on resin contained within the IX columns. The groundwater is re-fortified
with the oxidizer and complexing agent and sent back to the wellfield to recover
additional uranium. A low-volume bleed is permanently removed from the lixiviant
flow. A reverse osmosis (RO) process is available to minimize the waste water
stream generated. Brine from the RO process, if used, and bleed are disposed
of by means of injection into deep disposal wells. Each wellfield is made up
of dozens of injection and production wells installed in patterns to optimize
the areal sweep of fluid through the uranium ore body.
Our current land portfolio includes 13 projects in Wyoming. Ten of these projects
are in the Great Divide Basin, Wyoming, including our flagship project, Lost
Creek Project, which began production operations in August 2013. Currently we
control more than 1,900 unpatented mining claims and three State of Wyoming
mineral leases for a total of more than 37,500 acres (~15,500 hectares) in the
area of the Lost Creek Property, including the Lost Creek permit area (the “Lost
Creek Project” or “Lost Creek”) and certain adjoining properties
which we refer to as LC East, LC West, LC North, LC South and EN project areas
(collectively, with the Lost Creek Project, the “Lost Creek Property”).
Five of the projects at the Lost Creek Property contain NI 43-101 compliant
mineral resources: Lost Creek, LC East, LC West, LC South and LC North.
The Lost Creek Project area was acquired in 2005, and is located in the Great
Divide Basin, Wyoming. The Main Mineral Trend of the Lost Creek uranium deposit
(the “MMT”) is located within the Lost Creek Project. The permit
area of the Lost Creek Project covers 4,254 acres (1,722 hectares), comprising
201 lode mining claims and one State of Wyoming mineral lease section. Regional
access relies almost exclusively on existing public roads and highways. The
local and regional transportation network consists of primary, secondary, local
and unimproved roads. Direct access to Lost Creek is mainly on two crown-and-ditched
gravel paved access roads to the processing plant.
Through certain of our subsidiaries, we control the federal unpatented lode
mining claims and State of Wyoming mineral leases which make up the Lost Creek
Property. Title to the mining claims is subject to rights of pedis possessio
against all third-party claimants as long as the claims are maintained. The
mining claims do not have an expiration date. Affidavits have been timely filed
with the BLM and recorded with the Sweetwater County Recorder attesting to the
payment of annual maintenance fees to the BLM as established by law from time
to time. The state leases have a ten-year term, subject to renewal for successive
ten-year terms.