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According to publicly available information, the Energy Queen Project is a Development stage conventional uranium project located in eastern Utah and Colorado, USA. The Energy Queen Project is currently part of a larger land package termed the La Sal Project comprised of seven individual mines and properties that includes the Energy Queen, Redd Block, Beaver, La Sal, Pandora, Snowball, and Pine Ridge mines. The project is 100% owned by EFR Colorado Plateau LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Energy Fuels Inc. (“Energy Fuels”). The larger La Sal Project covers 9,500 acres of mineral rights.

In a news release dated December 21, 2023, Energy Fuels further stated that it was commencing production at the La Sal mine and two other mines which will stockpile ore at the White Mesa Mill until such time that sufficient material is accumulated to justify a mill campaign, which is expected to occur in late 2024 or early 2025. URC’s Energy Queen Royalty (defined below) coverage is not within the area anticipated to be mined in the immediate future, as production focuses on the Beaver and Pandora properties on the project.

The La Sal Project is located approximately 24 miles southeast of Moab, Utah and is easily accessed from the all-weather Utah State Highway 46. Utah 46 enters the La Sal Project land about one mile west of the Energy Queen lease. The Energy Queen headframe, visible from the highway, is located approximately 500 ft south of Utah 46 and is accessed by a gravel road. As stated in the La Sal Technical Report (defined below), ore is planned to be processed at Energy Fuel's White Mesa Mill, 70 miles away in Blanding, Utah.

Unless otherwise indicated, the scientific and technical information herein regarding the Energy Queen Project has been derived from the technical report titled "Technical Report on the La Sal Uranium Project, McKinley County, State of New Mexico, U.S.A.", with an effective date of February 22, 2022, prepared for Energy Fuels (the "La Sal Technical Report"), and from Energy Fuels' annual report on Form 10-K Report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, copies of which are available under its profile on EDGAR and Energy Fuel's website.

The Company owns a one percent (1%) GVR royalty (the "Energy Queen Royalty") on the production of uranium- or vanadium- bearing ores, yellowcake and black flake produced from uranium/vanadium ore and all other mineral products and all by-products mined or extracted from the Energy Queen Property, less costs of weighing, sampling, assaying, and analysis, sales brokerage costs, allowable transportation costs, and any allowable taxes where applicable. The Energy Queen Royalty covers Utah State mineral lease ML-49313, covering 483.58 acres, and the Buck#1, Jude#1, and Jude#2 mining leases, covering a total of 61.98 acres combined. The Energy Queen Royalty currently applies to approximately 546 acres, or approximately 6%, of the overall La Sal Project area.

In lieu of the royalty payment, the Company may at its election, on an annual basis, take its royalty as an in-kind production royalty of concentrates with 30 days' notice prior to the beginning of the calendar year.

In a news release dated December 21, 2023, Energy Fuels further stated that it was commencing production at the La Sal mine and two other mines which will stockpile ore at the White Mesa Mill until such time that sufficient material is accumulated to justify a mill campaign, which is expected to occur in late 2024 or early 2025. URC’s royalty coverage in the Energy Queen mine area is not within the area anticipated to be mined in the immediate future.

In February of 2022, Energy Fuels filed the La Sal Technical Report, which includes a mineral resource estimate for the Energy Queen Project. The report disclosed an estimated inferred mineral resource of 749,000 lbs. eU3O8 (147 thousand short tons or 133 thousand tonnes at an average grade of 0.25% eU3O8). In addition, the report states inferred resources of 3.13 Mlbs of V2O5 (147 thousand short tons or 133 thousand tonnes at an average grade of 0.1.07% V2O5).

Energy Fuels states that uranium resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 0.17% U3O8, that vanadium resources are estimated based on calculations from U3O8 vs V2O5 regression analysis. In addition, the cut-off grade is calculated using a metal price of $65/lb. U3O8 and that no minimum mining width was used in determining mineral resources, and that figures are based on a tonnage factory of 14.5 ft3/ton (Bulk density 0.0690 ton/ft3 or 2.21 t/m3).

Due to a lack of information on the location of the inferred mineral resources on the Energy Queen Project in the La Sal Technical Report, the Company is not able to determine the relative proportion of resources that are covered by the Energy Queen Royalty.

Energy Fuels further stated that the mineral facilities at the La Sal Project are all existing facilities in historic mining areas, and approvals by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service have been obtained under Environmental Assessments and Finding of No Significant Impacts (FONSI’s) under The United States National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. 

Numerous underground mines near outcrops in the eastern part of the La Sal Trend (La Sal Creek Canyon District) extracted vanadium and uranium during the early 1900s. Deeper deposits of the central La Sal Trend (the area of the La Sal Project) were discovered in the 1960s and developed for production in the 1970s through vertical shafts and declines. The Energy Queen mine, then known as the Hecla Shaft, was started in 1979 by the Union Carbide/Hecla Joint Venture. The Energy Queen mine stopped production in 1983 due to inadequate uranium prices. Low uranium and vanadium prices forced all production throughout the district to cease about 1991.

Denison Mines Corp. ("Denison") began producing from the Pandora Mine in 2006 and later from the Beaver Shaft/La Sal decline following its acquisition by International Uranium Corporation. Ore production by Denison and by Energy Fuels (following its acquisition of Denison's U.S. Mining Division) between 2006 and 2012 from the mines in the La Sal Project area totaled approximately 412,000 tons (1,658,000 lbs. U3O8 at an average grade of 0.20% U3O8 and 8,431,000 lbs. V2O5 at an average grade of 1.02% V2O5). From 2008 through mid-2012, Denison drilled 220 exploration and fill-in (confirmation) holes in the project area. Energy Fuels drilled another 27 holes on the Energy Queen property and the State land to the northwest of the Energy Queen from 2007 through 2012. Due to declining uranium prices, production ceased in October 2012 at the Beaver/La Sal Mines and in December 2012 at the Pandora Mine.

The La Sal Technical Report states that only limited mining took place at the Energy Queen Mine between 1981 and 1982. Most of the underground work was development focused and material was only mined when it was encountered during this development. The mine shut down prior to any significant mining activities. The La Sal Technical Report states that records from the Union Carbide/Hecla joint venture indicate that 11,791 tons at average grades of 0.17% U3O8 and 0.84% V2O5 (40,043 lbs. U3O8 and 198,607 lbs. V2O5) were mined. The La Sal Technical Report states that, due to the underground surveys not being fully reliable to remove the material in the same way as Beaver/La Sal and Pandora, the total tons and pounds were subtracted from the Energy Queen Mineral Resource.

In its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, Energy Fuels disclosed that it pursued a small-scale test mining campaign targeting vanadium at its La Sal Complex in 2018 and early 2019, along with rehabilitation of existing mine workings, including the Energy Queen shaft, which ceased in early 2020.