AEMA, coalition launch legal challenge to BLM Conservation and Landscape Health Rule
The American Exploration & Mining Association was joined by a coalition in filing a challenge last Friday in the Wyoming district court.
Energy Fuels Inc. (TSX:EFR), an advanced uranium and vanadium development company, was issued the final Radioactive Materials Licence for the Piñon Ridge Uranium Mill today.
As previously announced on January 5, 2011, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (“CDPHE”) approved a Radioactive Materials Licence for the 500-ton per-day Piñon Ridge Mill facility to be constructed 12 miles west of Naturita, Colorado in western Montrose County. Energy Fuels had 60 days from the January 5, 2011 approval date to review the CDPHE decision and the license, and to request a formal hearing on the license. Energy Fuels decided not to request a formal hearing, and CDPHE issued the final licence. The final licence allows Energy Fuels to process an annual maximum quantity of ore at the mill not to exceed a daily operating average of 500 short tons of uranium and vanadium ore.
The licence includes 16 conditions that specify additional requirements that must be met prior to mill construction, before the start of operations, during mill operations, and during mill decommissioning. These conditions include requirements for submittal of detailed designs and plans, monitoring and testing, training, reporting, and financial assurance among others.
In accordance with the licence conditions, Energy Fuels Inc.’s subsidiary Energy Fuels Resources Corporation provided CDPHE with an $844,400 cash prepayment on March 4, 2011 that will be deposited in the State Treasury’s long-term care fund for eventual post-closure monitoring of the mill facility. The company also submitted a Decommissioning Funding Plan to CDPHE today for the phased prepayment of $11,070,890 that guarantees that adequate funds will be available to reclaim the mill facility after it is closed.
With the approval of the Radioactive Materials Licence, Energy Fuels now has both of the primary environmental permits needed to operate a uranium mill in Colorado. The other major permit is the Montrose County Special Use Permit, which was approved by the Board of County Commissioners on September 30, 2009. Environmental permits that are still pending are all in an advanced stage of completion and agency decisions on these permits are anticipated during the 2nd Quarter, 2011.
