Anfield Energy expands uranium and vanadium portfolio
10 January 2019
Anfield Energy has signed an agreement to acquire the Charlie in situ leach (ISL) uranium project in Wyoming from Cotter Corporation, plus the West Slope group of previously producing uranium/vanadium properties in Colorado.
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(Image: Pixabay)
The transaction, which first requires approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange, will be settled by the issuance of common shares to Cotter equal to a 19.9% ownership interest in Anfield. Cotter will retain a 20% interest in all uranium production from Charlie and a 15% interest in uranium and vanadium production from West Slope, should the projects proceed to production.
Exploration drilling began at Charlie, in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, in 1969. After acquiring the project from Uranerz, Cotter evaluated it for both conventional open pit and in situ mining methods and in 1981 excavated a 200-foot (61 metre) test pit, but further development was halted due to falling uranium prices.
Anfield announced in March 2018 its intention to acquire Charlie from Cotter, and in September completed an NI 43-101-compliant mineral resource estimate for the uranium project, with indicated resources of 3,100,000 pounds U3O8 (1192 tU) at an average grade of 0.123% UeO8 and inferred resources of 1,400,000 pounds U3O8. Anfield has signed a resin processing agreement with Uranium One to process up to 500,000 pounds per year at Uranium One's Irigaray processing plant in Wyoming.
West Slope, which is in the Montrose and San Miguel counties of southwestern Colorado, comprises nine US Department of Energy leases which produced about 1.3 million pounds U3O8 and 6.6 million pounds of vanadium between 1977 and 2006. A technical report commissioned by Cotter in 2007 estimated measured resources of 11 million pounds U3O8 and 53 million pounds of vanadium, although Anfield cautions that these estimates are historical and should not be treated as a current mineral resource.
Anfield CEO Corey Dias said acquisition of the projects significantly expanded the company's uranium and vanadium portfolios.
"The Charlie Project represents an important step forward in creating an ISR [ISL] uranium mine-and-mill complex in Wyoming as we seek to leverage our resin processing agreement with Uranium One," he said.
"Further, the West Slope Project provides Anfield with the potential to extend the mill life of our conventional Shootaring Canyon Mill, thereby strengthening our uranium/vanadium mine-and-mill complex. Importantly, Anfield will also have access to the data from the previous exploration activities at both the Charlie Project and the West Slope Project, allowing for rapid preparation of technical reports on both projects. Consequently, as uranium and vanadium markets trend upwards, we are now even better positioned for production at the appropriate time."
Researched and written by World Nuclear News