Dec 6 2017
Anfield Resources Inc. will assess the possibility of adding a vanadium processing facility to its Shootaring Canyon uranium mill. This reflects Anfield's aim to capitalize on prospective opportunities as vanadium moves on to become an even-more significant commodity in the energy sector. To this end, Anfield has thus engaged BRS Engineering, Inc. for updating the company’s NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment linked to the Velvet-Wood Mine in order to include a vanadium milling circuit as part of a production setup.
We are excited to explore the feasibility of vanadium production at Shootaring via our Velvet-Wood mine. Importantly, the Velvet mine has historically produced 4 million pounds of uranium and 5 million pounds of vanadium. While uranium production remains our core pursuit -- especially in the current environment, where uranium producers Cameco and Kazatomprom have announced a combined uranium production cut of over 40 million pounds over 3 years -- we are nevertheless committed to seeing the effective development and production of vanadium resources contained and commingled in our feedstock ore. Importantly, a positive outcome related to this evaluation could have a positive effect on our uranium production scenario through by-product credits which will reduce our overall operating costs.
Corey Dias, Anfield's CEO
Shootaring Canyon Uranium Mill
The Shootaring Canyon Uranium Mill is one of only three licensed, constructed and permitted standard uranium mills still in existence in the U.S. Based at approximately 48 miles (77 kilometers) south of Hanksville, Utah, the Shootaring Canyon Mill is a standard acid-leach facility that is allowed to process up to 750 tons of ore each day, with a capacity to process up to 1,000 tons every single day. The mill was constructed in 1980 and during its operation period it processed and sold 27,825 pounds of U3O8. With the collapse of the uranium price in the early 1980s, the mill stopped operation.
Velvet-Wood Mine
The Velvet-Wood Mine is considered to have the potential to become a major source of vanadium based upon historical production. Between 1979 and 1984, Atlas Minerals was able to mine about 400,000 tons of ore from the Velvet Deposit at grades of 0.46% U3O8 and 0.64% V2O5, recovering almost five million pounds of V2O5 and four million pounds of U3O8.
The existing mineral resources of the combined Velvet and Wood mines have been projected to comprise of 552,000 pounds of U3O8 at a grade of 0.32% U3O8 (inferred resource) and 4.6 million pounds of U3O8 at a grade of 0.29% U3O8 (measured and indicated resource). Source: Velvet-Wood Mine Uranium Project, San Juan County, Utah USA NI 43-101 Mineral Reserve and Resource Report, Author: BRS Inc.; Date: 11/14/2014.