enCore Energy (EU) - NASDAQ Listing & US Production Key to Success

enCore Energy Corp. is a uranium-centred junior mining company, which aims to be a part of the US uranium industry. The asset portfolio of the company consists of various processing facilities, properties and projects located in South Texas, South Dakota and Wyoming.

enCore Energy Corp. announced on the 10th of August 2022 that a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Circuit of the District of Columbia issued an opinion in regard to the appeal case planned against the company by the Oglala Sioux Tribe. The case was regarding the granting of a licence to extract uranium at the Dewey Burdock uranium project, to Powertech Uranium Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.

The company on the 25th of August 2022 announced that it had completed the installation of the wellfield monitoring wells for its Rosita Extension Production Area Authorization located less than one mile from its 100% owned Rosita Uranium Processing plant. The monitoring wells total 43 wells and include 38 perimeter and 5 overlying monitor wells. The company plans to complete 5 baseline wells which in combination with the 43 monitoring wells will establish groundwater quality standards within the mineralisation.

enCore Energy Corp. announced in the middle of September 2022 that its shares had begun trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The company plans to reach production at its South Texas operations by 2023.

Management

enCore Energy Corp. is led by Paul Goranson, who serves as the company’s CEO and Director. Goranson has more than 35 years of experience in the uranium space, with him having been involved with both conventional and In-Situ uranium Recovery (ISR) mining. Goranson has in his first 12 months of joining the company been able to close two acquisitions as well as advance the company’s South Texas properties to production by 2023.

William M. Sheriff is the founder and Executive Chairman of the company. He has been involved in the minerals industry for more than 40 years and was the co-founder of Energy Metals Corp. before the company was acquired for USD$ 1.8 billion by Uranium One Corp. in 2006.

Peter Luthiger is the Chief Operating Officer of enCore Energy Corp. and has been involved in ISR operations for more than 35 years. Luthiger previously served as the Director of Texas operations for Energy Fuels Inc. In his time at Energy Fuels Inc. Luthiger was responsible for the standby operations of the 1.5-million-pound U3O8 per year capacity ISR production centre during which time successful completion of groundwater restoration and release of financial assurance with the State of Texas was achieved.

Gregory Zerzan is the company’s Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel. He has held several prominent roles in the government and private sector, including most recently Principal Deputy Solicitor of the United States Department of the Interior.

Carrie Mierkey is the company’s Chief Financial Officer and has 13 years of experience in the finances of both public and privately traded companies. She previously held positions at both Energy Fuels Inc. as well as Cameco Resources Inc. and has experience in operational and production financial reporting and accounting.

Douglas Underhill and Gordon R. Peake round out the management team as the company’s Chief Geologist and the Director of Lands.  Underhill has more than 50 years of experience in the exploration and development of natural mineral resources with 40 years of uranium experience. Peake has more than 50 years of experience in natural resource exploration, development and production and previously served as Vice‐President of Lands for Uranium One Americas, Inc.

The management team is tasked with advancing the company’s assets and reaching production by 2023.

The asset portfolio of enCore Energy Corp. consists of various processing facilities, properties and projects located in South Texas, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Rosita and Kingsville dome processing facilities

The Rosita processing facility of the company is located 60 miles west of Corpus Christi, Texas and is a licensed and past-producing ISR plant. The plant is scheduled to initiate production by 2023, with it being fed from various satellite deposits in the South Texas area. Goranson sums up the processing plant as follows:

“The Rosita plant currently has a production capacity of 800,000 lbs of uranium per year. It has the capacity to do more than double that if we decide to add the equipment. In fact, we've already started to do the early procurement for the increased capacity at Rosita. We haven't fully executed on some of the major components yet as we try to identify the right fit, but that's the capacity right now. Our production plan is to fill that up and get to capacity so that when we're at capacity, we have the ability to take advantage of the investment that we're going to be putting in and increasing capacity.”

The Kingsville dome processing facility of the company will serve to increase the capacity of the Rosita processing facility should it be required.

“We also have our Kingsville Dome project, which has its own production capacity of 800,000 lbs of uranium per year. That is also an option where we can just move material to Kingsville as well and do production there as we increase capacity at Rosita at the same time. If we hit our marks, everything will be done through Rosita, but if things come in much better than expected, we have the ability to use Kingsville Dome as our production option.”

The Rosita and Kingsville dome processing facilities will be fed by several satellite ion exchange (IX) wellfield operations. The properties namely the Rosita Project Extension, Rosita South, Butler Ranch Project and Upper Spring Creek Project will supply uranium-loaded resin to the processing plants.

Dewey Burdock project

The Dewey Burdock project of the company is a high-grade ISR deposit located in South Dakota. The project holds a NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate and preliminary economic assessment (PEA). The project holds 17.12 million pounds of U3O8 in the measured and indicated category as well as 0.71 million pounds of U3O8 in the inferred category. The project’s PEA boasts an NPV8% of USD$ 171.3 million as well as an internal rate of return of 50%.

“On top of that, we also have the fully licensed Dewey Burdock project in South Dakota, which is one of the best projects out there that we acquired through the Azarga Uranium project. It has had some permitting and licensing lags and timelines, but from a fundamental operational economic basis, it is a very good project. The PEA that was published by Azarga indicates that at a USD$ 55 per pound market, it has substantial NPV and a good internal rate of return.”

The company’s asset portfolio then further holds the Gas Hills project in Wyoming as well as the Crownpoint and Hosta Butte Project in New Mexico.

“All of this is helping to build up that production level, and the timing works out so that by 2025, we will be able to start developing either South Dakota or Wyoming, whichever one meets that threshold with respect to the permit and licensing.

We've already started preparing the permit and licensing for Wyoming, it's one of the other activities we have ongoing, so we want to be able to have additional capacity, not just in Texas but elsewhere, so we have multiple production centres.”

Production reasons

enCore Energy Corp. is aiming to reach production by 2023 at its South Texas operations. The aim of production in 2023 is supported through the buy-in and commitment of its contractors as well as the recent price uranium has reached.

“There are two reasons: one is that we already have contractor buy-ins, so we have delivery starting in 2023. Now, there's flexibility built into those contracts whereby we technically wouldn't have to produce to sell into them, but we get a better margin if we sell into those produced pounds. Also, as we've announced, we have a couple of utility contracts that we've put in place starting in 2024, they provide the committed demand that we need to make that production decision. When the price exceeded 40/lb, we made the decision that we're going into production come hell or high water.”

The company will aim to produce 400,000 lbs of uranium in 2023, with it planning 600,000 pounds in 2024 and 700,000 lbs in 2025.

“For 2023, it is 400,000 lb/year and then we advance to 600,000 lbs in 2024, and in 2025 it is 700,000 lbs. It stays at about that level through 2027, and it drops off because the UG contract drops off, but we're already working to fill that gap beyond that, to replace the UG demand.”

Dewey Burdock appeal decision and Monitoring Wells

enCore Energy Corp. announced on the 10th of August 2022 that a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Circuit of the District of Columbia issued an opinion in regard to the appeal case planned against the company by the Oglala Sioux Tribe. The case was regarding the granting of a licence to extract uranium at the Dewey Burdock uranium project, to Powertech Uranium Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.

The company believes that even though the Oglala Sioux Tribe may launch the appeal still, the outcome will not be in the tribe’s favour, Goranson explains.

“I believe that, with respect to the legal actions that are ongoing relative to the permits, we hit a major milestone on August 9th, when the DC Circuit Court of Appeal gave a decision on the challenges to the Dewey Burdock NRC licence. Granted, there's an opportunity for them to appeal, but we believe that based on the strength of that decision and precedence, even if there's an appeal process, we will prevail on that.”

enCore Energy Corp. on the 25th of August 2022 announced that it had completed the installation of the wellfield monitoring wells for its Rosita Extension Production Area Authorization located less than one mile from its 100% owned Rosita Uranium Processing plant. The monitoring wells total 43 wells and include 38 perimeter and 5 overlying monitor wells. The company plans to complete 5 baseline wells which in combination with the 43 monitoring wells will establish groundwater quality standards within the mineralisation.

NASDAQ listing, raising capital and future plans

enCore Energy Corp. announced in the middle of September 2022 that its shares had begun trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The trading was based on a consolidated basis, in which one share of the company consisted of three previous shares as set out in the company’s application to uplift its shares to the NASDAQ stock exchange.

“When we talk to large institutions, there was a very positive reaction to us getting on a senior exchange, because they have restrictions on the Venture exchange, share price and everything else, so the consolidation was key. I think that everybody recognized that we needed to do it, and also, we believe that, whether you’re going on the NYSE or NASDAQ, everyone has a different opinion as to which one’s better, but we get exposed to liquidity and also, there are more institutions that are watching those senior markets than would be on the Venture”

The company will look at various forms of raising capital in the future, which may aside from equity raises include uranium sales and production contracts.

“The other way is looking for alternative ways to get capital, like the potential for sales of uranium as a means to basically secure in capital through future production as a potential. I won't say we've done that yet, but those are some of the avenues we're looking at as alternative means for getting capital so that we don't have to go out and do a large equity raise, so we can minimise that cost of capital that is driven through that way of thinking.”

To find out more, go to the enCore website