Energy Fuels Announces Q3-2024 Results, Including Active Uranium Mining and Processing, Successful Rare Earth Production, and Continuing to Build a World-Scale Rare Earth Supply Chain Centered in the U.S.
PR Newswire
DENVER, Oct. 31, 2024
DENVER, Oct. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) ("Energy Fuels" or the "Company"), an industry leader in uranium and rare earth elements ("REE") production, today reported its financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2024. The Company previously announced details for its upcoming November 1, 2024, earnings call, which are also included in this news release.
"Uranium drives our current financial outlook, while rare earth elements and heavy mineral sand products are significantly adding to our long-term value and growth strategy," said Mark Chalmers, Energy Fuels' President and Chief Executive Officer. "This quarter, we maintained our clean balance sheet while adding a new long-term U.S. utility customer, completing another spot sale of U(3) O(8) , and commencing processing of the large inventory stockpile of uranium feedstock at the White Mesa Mill, which is expected to continue well into 2025 and beyond. Uranium production is, and will remain, the core of the Energy Fuels' business, as we leverage our unique permits, facilities and expertise to process uranium-bearing materials to produce a variety of critical materials that advance the global energy transition through an American-based supply chain. We have long been a leading U.S. uranium producer, and we have now proven our ability to produce important rare earth materials at commercial scale with the completion and successful commissioning of our REE separation circuit this quarter. We are also aggressively moving forward with our plans to secure rare earth feedstocks globally and expand our processing capacity domestically in order to capture market share and achieve profitability. Our acquisition of Base Resources Limited and its world-class Toliara heavy mineral sands/monazite project in Madagascar on October 2, 2024 is an exciting step in achieving these objectives.
"We invite all stakeholders to join us in our upcoming November 1, 2024, earnings call, details of which are below, to learn more about these exciting achievements."
Q3-2024 Highlights
Unless noted otherwise, all dollar amounts are in U.S. dollars.
-- Robust Balance Sheet with Over $180 million of Liquidity and No Debt: As
of September 30, 2024, the Company had $183.16 million of working capital
including $47.46 million of cash and cash equivalents, $101.15 million of
marketable securities (interest-bearing securities and uranium stocks),
$35.91 million of inventory, and no debt.
-- Over $10 Million of Additional Liquidity from Market Value of Inventory:
At October 28, 2024 commodity prices, the Company's product inventory has
a market value of approximately $23.79 million, while the balance sheet
reflects product inventory carried at cost of $13.38 million.
-- Incurred Net Loss of $12 Million: During the three months ended September
30, 2024, the Company incurred a net loss of $12.08 million, or $0.07 per
common share, primarily due to transaction and integrations costs related
to the Donald Project joint venture (described below), the acquisition of
Base Resources (described below) and recurring operating expenses,
partially offset by sales of natural uranium concentrates ("U3O8").
-- Uranium Continues to Drive Revenue: The Company sold 50,000 pounds of
U3O8 on the spot market at a realized sales price of $80.00 per pound of
U3O8 for total proceeds of $4.00 million, which resulted in a gross
profit of $2.15 million and a gross margin of 54%.
-- New Long-Term Uranium Sales Contract with U.S. Utility: The Company added
a fourth long-term uranium sales contract to its existing portfolio.
Under the contract, the Company expects to deliver a total of 270,000 to
330,000 pounds of uranium between 2026 and 2027, and potentially an
additional 180,000 to 220,000 pounds until 2029, under a "hybrid" pricing
formula, subject to floor and ceiling prices, that maintains exposure to
further uranium market upside and protection from inflation.
-- "Phase 1" REE Separation Circuit Successfully Commissioned: Final
commissioning of the Phase 1 REE separation circuit at the Company's
White Mesa Mill (the "Mill") was successfully completed during the
quarter resulting in the production of approximately 38 tonnes of
'on-spec' separated NdPr.
-- Samples of NdPr Actively Being Qualified by Potential Customers: NdPr
produced at the Mill is currently being qualified with permanent magnet
manufacturers and other potential customers to set the stage for
potential offtake in the future.
-- Well-Stocked to Capture Market Opportunities: As of September 30, 2024,
the Company held 235,000 pounds of finished U3O8 and 805,000 pounds of
U3O8 in ore and raw materials and work-in-progress inventory for a total
of 1,040,000 pounds of U3O8 in inventory. This inventory increased from
last quarter due to Pinyon Plain, La Sal and Pandora mine ore production
and additional alternate feed materials received, partially offset by our
spot sale during Q3-2024. The Company expects these uranium inventories
to continue increasing as we continue to mine additional ore. The Company
also held 905,000 pounds of finished vanadium ("V2O5"), 38 tonnes of
finished separated neodymium praseodymium ("NdPr") and 9 tonnes of
finished high purity, partially separated mixed rare earth carbonate ("RE
Carbonate") in inventory.
Capitalizing on Strong Uranium Pricing:
-- Due to uranium market tailwinds and upcoming commitments in long-term
contracts with U.S. nuclear utilities, the Company is currently mining
and stockpiling uranium ore from its Pinyon Plain, La Sal and Pandora
mines and plans to ramp up to a production run-rate of approximately 1.1
to 1.4 million pounds of U3O8 per year by late-2024.
-- The Company expects to produce a total of 150,000 to 200,000 pounds of
finished U3O8 during 2024 from stockpiled alternate feed materials and
newly mined ore, which is at the lower end of our previous guidance of
150,000 to 500,000 pounds of finished U3O8 during 2024, due to delays in
transporting ore from the Pinyon Plain mine to the White Mesa Mill, which
is expected to be resolved in Q4-2024. Mining continues at the Pinyon
Plain mine, with mined ore being stockpiled at the mine site, containing
approximately 180,000 pounds of U3O8 at September 30, 2024, which is
expected to be processed at the Mill later in 2024 or in early 2025.
-- During Q3-2024, the Company received positive results from drill holes
during ongoing preparations at its Nichols Ranch in situ recovery ("ISR")
Project in Wyoming. Both the Nichols Ranch Project and Whirlwind Mine in
Colorado are being prepared for production and are within one year of a
"go" decision, as market conditions warrant. Production from these mines,
when combined with alternate feed materials, uranium from monazite, and
3rd party uranium ore purchases, would be expected to increase the
Company's production run-rate to roughly two million pounds per year by
as early as 2026.
-- The Company continued advancing permitting and other pre-development
activities on its large-scale Roca Honda, and Bullfrog uranium projects
in Q3-2024, which together with its Sheep Mountain Project, have the
potential to expand the Company's uranium production to a run-rate of up
to five million pounds of U3O8 per year in the coming years.
-- As of October 28, 2024, the spot price of U3O8 was $81.00 per pound and
the long-term price of U3O8 was $82.00 per pound, according to data from
TradeTech.
Rare Earth Element Production Milestones:
-- The Company produced about 38 tonnes of separated NdPr from its newly
commissioned Phase 1 REE separation circuit at the Mill in Q2- and
Q3-2024.
-- Samples of the Company's NdPr product have been sent to permanent magnet
and other companies around the world for product qualification, and
initial testing responses have been positive.
-- The Company is currently in the process of updating the White Mesa Mill's
AACE International ("AACE") Class 4 Pre-Feasibility Study (not a
Pre-Feasibility Study subject to or intended to be compliant with NI
43-101 or S-K 1300), originally released in Q2-2024 to increase
throughput to a total of 60,000 tpa of monazite, producing roughly 6,000
tpa of NdPr, 150 to 225 tpa of Dy, and 50 to 75 tpa of Tb, of which the
existing commissioned Phase 1 circuit will constitute about 17% of this
amount (10,000 tpa of monazite). The Mill PFS referenced above can be
viewed on the Company's website, www.energyfuels.com.
(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
October 31, 2024 16:38 ET (20:38 GMT)
Comments