The programme, which began in late December, will run over 12-14 weeks, using contract mining services provided by Nevada company GenX Mining Contractors. Mineralised material recovered during the programme will be transported to the White Mesa Mill in Utah, owned by Energy Fuels Inc, for processing. The aim is to collect key technical, operational, and economic data required as one of the steps to support a potential production restart decision at what IsoEnergy describes as one of the few fully permitted, past-producing conventional uranium mines in the USA.
IsoEnergy Director and CEO Philip Williams described the bulk sample as a major milestone for the project. “This programme is designed to generate the real-world data we need to evaluate a potential full scale production restart under current market conditions. With permitting, infrastructure, and toll milling already in place, Tony M has the potential to be among the next conventional uranium mines in the US to return to production as demand for secure domestic supply continues to grow,” he said.
Tony M is is about 66 miles (107 km) from the town of Blanding and 127 miles west of the White Mesa mill. It produced nearly one million pounds of U3O8 during two different periods of operation from 1979-1984, under Plateau Resources, and from 2007-2008, under Denison Mines Corp. It was acquired by IsoEnergy through a share-for-share merger with Consolidated Uranium Inc in 2023, and the company says it has been maintained in a “ready state”. Its current NI 43-101 mineral resource estimates are 6.606 million pounds U3O8 (2541 tU) of indicated resources and 2.218 million pounds U3O8 in the inferred resources category.
