Energy Fuels (AMEX:UUUU) - America’s Top Uranium Producer Primed to Capitalize on Surging Prices

[Music] my name is Mark chelmer and I'm president CEO of Energy Fuels uh Energy Fuels is uh a unique company in the fact that we're building a critical middle Hub which uh main elements that we're uh either currently producing or will be producing is uranium used for clean uh base load nuclear Fuel vadium and also the rear Earth elements used for improving electrification so there is no uh investment like Energy Fuels because you get diversification in these elements required for the energy transition Matt great to see you again good to see you sir good to see you and thanks for joining us for this end of year Roundup and maybe a little bit look forward into what's happening next year okay what a time to be in uranium uranium price think I think they asked today was 88 bucks uh what's that do for a company like you wow it's great news is what it is Matt um yeah I think it's um it's all coming to roost when it comes to the pricing uh and the lack of material that's out there to be purchased uh particularly on the spot um you know with we've got the pedal to the metal on our uranium assets uh We've hired a number of people uh we've got three mines that are going back into production um and um well right now we've got I think about 50 or 60 miners uh working at these mines uh and we're continuing to rrap that up uh going into 2024 so uh now I think one thing that's important to note is that you know when you look at you know $88 or $87 uh on the spot Market that that's not what the turn Market is you know there are contracts at those prices at this point in time uh and I also want to point out that when you look at uh what inflation has done uh to everybody uh in all sectors uh is taking a hit so I think that where we're at now uh is very exciting I think the fundamentals uh uh cop uh 28 um you know countries committing to increased nuclear power I think it all boods very well for all those in the nuclear fuel cycle well for sure I I think the countries are on board we heard it at cop 28 we we we've heard it from governments all around the world you're building up um infrastructure to deliver cheaper base load energy to um their people I want to get a specifics though because you know you have you guys have produced lithium lithium uranium in the past um you're starting to be position to what do some more um processing of your own or to do toll Milling I mean when do you start generating Revenue well we're we're generating revenue from uranium business now because we are filling uh long-term contracts and we started filling our initial longterm contracts in 23 we've got contracts going out to 20 uh uh 2030 uh and and we can fill contracts from our existing inventories from alterate feed newly produced uranium and um so a number of sources so when we going back into um production now and in 24 uh we're mining ore okay and that ore will be stockpiled and processed probably next year the year after but we are going to be processing alternate feed in 24 so you know again our story is different on how we make our uranium how we process it how we sell it but you know we made the deliveries in 23 including to the Department of energy in 24 we're going to continue to fill our contracts that we have and producing more uh uranium for our inventories in different stages okay B then okay so you will be generating producing new or next year will you be you would and is that at your own at your own um with your own assets or is this these toll Milling discussions that we've had over in the past as well I mean where where's it coming from well next year it's going to be from our own assets that are fully constructed permitted and operating right now um but I have talked in the past about we were considering uh putting out um a a to or um a buying schedule okay it's not a toll Milling agreement it's a buying schedule uh and now the prices have gone up so much uh we're seriously looking at doing that in the near term uh to provide an outlet for some of the other miners in the region uh to sell us or uh that will be to our account when it's processed so um the the the sources of uranium that we have to fill our contracts right now are inventories and we have nearly uh a million pounds of uranium different forms and shape uh at the Mill right now or at the converter it'll be our newly produced uranium or that will be uh put into inventory at the site uh alternate feed um that we will be uh processing into finished goods um in 2024 as well so and then um you know if we bolt on this buying schedule or that shows up in due course would also go into that inventory uh to our account so uh again different um ways of getting there different ways of mixing and blending our cost uh and nobody else does that anywhere in the world that I know of okay so that'll be some welcome relief to some of the the US guys talking about getting into production and being able to use your alamesa um what said white I said mine um I said plant um but you're talking about to your account you're talking about buying this off of them processing it and then marketing it yourself is that right I'm just trying to work out the economics where you stand and where they stand yeah it just provides us a source of feet that um that that we can process and it goes to our account okay I mean it's our meal it's our facility and and we'll give them a percentage of contained value of uranium and vadium and um and then then it it's ours so uh I mean that's historically how it was done uh at the Mill uh before uh and at other Mills in that were operable in the back in the old days uh as well that the Mills purchased the uranium and was always to their account it wasn't uh you know unless you had a to Milling agreement like we do with ISO energy now um this will be a purchasing agreement okay and what I guess what I want to be clear about is because the market is the Uranian price is moving we we just talked about that I think the market is looking for companies to say well here's how we take advantage of that here's when we start moving here's when we start raising Capital can of get into production you know build this thing out and get into production here's how we monetize that for you you are a uranium company there been a lot of talk a lot of distraction it seems around rare us as well so where does he r ium sit in relation to R USS and you know how monoton both those things or what what is your focus yeah well our uranium plans are largely unchanged um from what they were um even you know before we got into the rare earth business so so the rare earth is a Bolton and I think that's important thing to uh to distinguish amongst is it's a Bolton to our uranium production capabilities so uh you know and and I think people people maybe misunderstand that that and I've said this even before we in the rare Ur that uh we can with limited Capital we can get up to around 2 million pounds of uranium production per year and um with more Capital we can increase that to 3 four five million pounds per year but it's going to take more Capital but the rare earth is a bolon so it's an additional uh source of Revenue uh and adds to these elements we have for this critical Miner now I want to give you a couple statistics that are important during The Last 5 Years mainly because of our ability to process alternate feed we produce 68% of the Uranian produced in United States in the last five years we were the largest producer and we were the largest producer because we have these different sources that we could produce from economically if you go back 10 years years 32% of the iranium produced in United States was from our assets and 42% was from cico assets so 75% over the last 10 years came from two companies Energy Fuels and and cico so we know how to produce uranium we produce it in different ways alternate feed newly mined underground or ISR and and and and and there's no company like us out there that can do that and that provides us with a significant advantage of responding like we are in times like we're in there's some pretty big companies out there who talking a different gain but you're saying our experience and our track record says that we have we will and we will continue to produce uranium so uranium is an important part of the value of your company yeah correct correct absolutely important part and uh you know it's also interesting dynamic that if you went back two years ago the rare earth business and the prices of rare earth was very very high and your riging was very very low and there was a lot of buzz on The Rare Earth space um because of the pricing and you know the dependence that we had on China very similar to what's happened in uranium business and now the rarest prices have dropped by half I think they're going to recover because of the the the demand curve looking forward uh on the re Earth and and and they've halfed and uranium has doubled so there's a little bit of a pendulum here and we're building a company with diversification and sustainability uh in a number of markets going forward but right now if you if we look at it as a company with the prices of uranium right now to produce uranium is the most profitable outcome for us right now because of the prices right okay and let's just jump over I might jump back to urum in a second but I want to you know while was talking about rare is look you've you've had we've had some great conversations about you know where rare is going when rare is high it's come off a bit and there in life some opportunities surely there's going to be a lot of cash strapped companies lying around waiting for someone some someone to come along and help them out have you can you take advantage of this situation how serious is the rarest component again in terms of building on this valuation of your company well I think this diversification that we have um again with our strong um paper um our strong balance sheet uh particularly uh with with a lot of support from the the uranium sector um puts us very strong position where you can see that a lot of the rare earth companies have seen their share price half um a lot of the heavy mineral Sands companies are down a 20 30 40% as well uh and Meanwhile we're in a very strong position to see um you know how we best move forward with some of the other companies and and it it's really about uh providing strength to some of these companies so they can move forward with their plans so uh you know I think it is a unique um uh opportunity that has presented to us and we certainly plan to work with some of these companies if if it's possible uh to build up this Bolton which is rare earth um in uh uh a material weight uh because we have this strength okay and because there's a few things that need to happen there in terms of your decision making it's it's the okay we've we've got the plant we've got the ability to process we've got behav uh you know which can which can feed that but you need more you need more monite um and you've also then got to Bells you know you've talked in the past about um you know phase one being this separation plant build to that so there's a lot of kind of potential cash outlay here in terms of whether it be supporting someone else's balance sheet or making an acquisition finding new feed building phase one of the separation plan is that something that your balance sheet can um withstand at the moment is the support there in the market for that yes I mean if you look at um the cash we have the Investments the inventories and you add that all up it's somewhere north of $200 million uh you know we've got you know increasing over time as these contracts uh come into play with more Revenue um and um we're fully funded for our uranium activities next year um and we have cash that uh in the balance sheet that if we want to do we decide an an acquisition of some sort is um um looks attractive to us to build out this bolt on the re um we can do that so uh it's you know and and and and you've heard me say this Matt I I I've I've always said that we're going to be aggressive but not Reckless but we're always going to have a strong balance sheet and we do and it's how do we maximize that for our investors so uh you know we you know you're in a you're in a market that if you have to raise money or potentially get investment from the government or an off-taker that's still possible as well right okay aggressive but not Reckless I like that um if if I look at kind of rarest initiative and I'm I'm going to call it is it kind of advanced initiative now in the sense you saw you saw um the demand there and you you you you've been through a process are you going to be now focused on what you've got are there more initiatives coming I because I I worry in times like this some people get a little bit kind of you know they're all a little bit all over the place they see opportunities everywhere and there are but you got to get focused so how do you kind of maintain a sort of tight plan around R Us and a tight plan around uranium so people understand who you are what you are and what you're trying to do well as I said we're very focused on our uranium plans going back into production fully funded got the contracts in place getting the revenue wheel turning up on that front um and then on the rare earth yes we're going to expand on that um you know we secured beia uh this year um and um we're we've got an exporation drill out there right now we're permitting beia um and we're looking at other sources of feed uh that are material uh as well as completing this phase one separation plant that we have in the existing Mill building uh at the Mill and uh and it's put into context that'll have the capacity of about a th000 tons of ndpr per year um and and for example last year I think lus did 6,000 tons of ndpr U but then our phase two we're looking at around 4,000 tons of ndpr per year so 2third of allius so uh it's going to be very focused uh we're going to take it step by step you know we're adding the ability to mine this these um uh the monite crack Lee it separate it and we're now looking at moving forward in metals and Alloys for a a very integrated uh business bolting onto the uranium so yeah I know it's complicated for some of our investors going say what is Energy Fuels who are Energy Fuels where are they going well we're going down the uranium path in a big way and um you know I've been doing that for a lot of years and I'm not stopping that and then we got this Bolton called rers and the combination of these things provid us diversification and provide us what I believe will be an extremely unique company looking forward on the energy transition so I know it looks busy everything we do is got the the divisor is it's got radio nuclei and uranium contained and everything we do and so it's busy but it's really exciting time for our company it it is exciting s and I think and I've seen um Senator baraso is it John baraso uh Wyoming he's been a very strong advocate for you know uranium and I think there's another s that he's he he kind of Co runs but um are you seeing the same sort of support for rare us it's definitely on the critical minerals list but is it getting the the voice and the volume in the market well it it's interesting because rare earth a year ago seemed that were getting a lot more traction than that the uranium but I think now at the this moment because of the uranium prices going up so dramatically that that that kind of gets the attention I think when prices rise quickly it gets people's attention so I mean the rare earth support is still there um but I think that you know this last six months with the price of uranium uh it's kind of you know stole the stole the mic at on on the at the party um at at the moment so uh you know I think everybody has got a greater appreciation postco on our over dependency on a lot of critical materials and items and whatnot so it's still there but I think that that uranium has the mic right now uh particularly with some of the the the you know either current or proposed legislation on uh the nuclear fuel cycle and the nuclear um sector as a whole um it's it it's it's kind of taken over at the moment I think that's where the excitement is at this moment but I also see Rare Earth and other critical elements not far behind it's it's interesting times um Mark for sure I think you if I look at some of the other sectors outside of uranium I think a lot of C feeling slightly out of control um in terms of you know where they see their Metals prices you guys in uranium um ready to take advantage of it and I think those who can Will and those who can't won't um so I look forward to seeing what's going to happen next year any any uh any predictions you want to make any wild predictions about next year well I was at a conference in New York on Tuesday uh and I I right now I think the market if if the price doesn't hit go through $100 is going to be disappointed I think that General uh belief is is that we are going into the hundreds uh which again is exciting I still want to um you know caution people that remember was inflation's done over the last uh 10 or 15 years uh but but I think that the price will go my my gut is and I I don't have a crystal ball it will go into the Huns um soon and that's going to continue to to build excitement in in the uranium space uh and at the same time I think that uh you know these establishing uh other sources of the critical elements like the rare earth uh I see prices starting to to increase a bit uh for some of the reare Earth right now uh you know I think that that 2024 is going to be another very exciting year for Energy Fuels and I think that some of the you know the the concern some people have of what our focus is is going to be very apparent that we've got the uranium and that's going forward Full Tilt basically unaffected by um our Rare Earth plans and then we got the Bolton of the rare earth and there's going to be I believe much more clarity on that front and they're going to realize that the critical Minal Hub is happening in a big way I bet you're glad you're not having to build a new plant or Mill in this environment that is a real Advantage having everything constructed permitted and ready to go we are um reinitiating permitting on some of our other Mighty assets for Uranium uh as well as permitting of beia so um you know we do have fair amount of increased activity there but yeah if I was starting from scratch uh trying to get the permits trying to build a very large facility it would be uh challenging it challenging in a very long time uh Mark appreciate it thanks for the Christmas uh well say Christmas the end of your up dat uh enjoy your Chris us we'll see you in the new year mate you too Matt always great catching up

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Keywords: mining, gold, nickel, cobalt, uranium, vanadium, lithium, precious metals, crux investor, cruxinvestor, silver, TSX, ASX, AIM, LSE, investing in uranium, investing in mining, investing in stocks, investing in stocks for beginners, investing in gold, invest in stocks, invest in stocks for beginners, invest in gold, invest in mining, analyst's notes, analysts notes, analyst notes, battery metals, electric vehicles, net zero, carbon neutral, carbon credits, nuclear, best mining stocks, TSXV

Id: XYPczcZMUdk

Length: 21min 40sec (1300 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 18 2023