Western Uranium & Vanadium recently announced the acquisition of property in Utah to build a state-of-the-art mineral processing plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Site and facility design and permitting have begun. The facility will be designed and constructed to recover uranium, vanadium and cobalt from ore mined both from mines owned by Western and ore produced by other miners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It will utilize the latest processing technology, including Western\u2019s patented Kinetic Separation process, which will result in lower capital and processing costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mine development and ore production have already commenced at Western\u2019s Sunday mine complex. That ore will provide feed material to the facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt the request of a number of individuals and entities, the facility will be designed to recover cobalt, a metal essential in battery technology and electric vehicles,\u201d the company said. \u201cWithin\u2026Utah, there are numerous occurrences of cobalt which may be economical to mine, if a processing facility were available. Construction of the cobalt circuit at the facility will be dependent on the availability of feed material.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Western officials said they are confident that the uranium market is in the early stages of a sustained upswing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSupply and demand are in balance at present, due to historical inventory, but demand is projected to far exceed available supply in the next several years. New projects will require capital, equipment and people. Capital for good projects appears to be available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWestern is committed to pursuing minimally dilutive financing options for the facility in order to maintain its tight share structure. The ready supply of mining and processing equipment, as well as the workforce needed, may be the larger challenge to meet future demand. The company will continue to be proactive as it has been in the reopening of the Sunday mine complex.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n