Environment, Social and Governance Principles

enCore is development company that is committed to be a uranium production company. Uranium is the only fuel that is used for the clean air generation of electricity using nuclear power. Currently, in the U.S., nuclear power generates almost 20% of all the country’s electricity. At the same time, it represents 55% of the clean energy generated in the U.S. The advantage of nuclear power is that it can generate this electricity with a relatively small footprint. As a comparison, a 40-acre nuclear generating station will produce 1,000 MWe at nearly 100% capacity, and on a capacity basis, an equivalent wind generation facility would require almost 400,000 acres of land. Uranium, as a source of energy, provides similar benefits. According to the Department of Energy, one pellet (the size of a pencil eraser) of 4.95% U235 nuclear fuel has the same energy content as 17,000 cu ft of natural gas, 3 barrels of oil, and one ton of coal.

enCore is committed to producing uranium in a manner that limits environmental impacts and serves to return the environment to conditions that existed prior to commencement of production. As a result, we are focused on In-Situ Recovery (‘ISR’) technology as a means to extract uranium. ISR is a lower cost method of uranium extraction with minimal disturbance to existing natural conditions, leaving the host rocks ‘in place’. This process has demonstrated superior environmental performance, especially in contrast to underground and open pit mining, and milling. The ISR process eliminates the need to blast, excavate and haul ore using large excavation equipment that can have long truck haul distances that require the consumption of significant quantities of fossil fuels, and often require the surface discharge of large quantities of water and dust emissions as well as large waste rock dumps. Existing uranium mills require large areas for the disposal of tailings, and significant emissions are derived from the processing circuits that are released to the environment. In contrast, the production facilities operated by enCore incorporate leading technologies for reducing and eliminating releases to the environment. As a result, the differences are significant and meaningful for everything from permitting to operations to reclamation. Using ISR technology to produce uranium, enCore is able to leverage the demonstrated environmental protections inherent in the process to produce a yellowcake uranium product that is used to fuel America’s nuclear fleet for the generation of 55% of clean energy.

The ISR technology uses injection and recovery wells constructed into a uranium ore body where a chemically benign solution of natural groundwater mixed with oxygen and sodium bicarbonate, similar in chemical strength as club soda. Using pipelines, the resulting uranium bearing solution is returned to an ion exchange facility, where the uranium is removed from the circulating groundwater, and the groundwater is reused for continued uranium recovery. The uranium is removed from the resin using a regeneration process that is commonly used in the water treatment industry. Then using limited quantities chemicals, the uranium is precipitated, dried and packaged. This process is conducted wet, and there are no measurable air emissions from the process. Once the uranium is depleted in the ore body, the groundwater is restored to water quality that matches the quality of use prior to mining. Then the injection and recover wells are plugged, the infrastructure is removed, and the land and water are returned to their prior use. Throughout this process, groundwater quality is monitored using a network of monitor wells and environmental monitoring stations.
The environmental advantages offered by ISR to produce uranium from construction, through production, and for reclamation ultimately allow for a minimal residual footprint after mining without the need for moving massive quantities of waste rock for backfill or a permanent impoundment containing tailings that must be monitored in perpetuity. We operate solely in the United States, where the most advanced environmental and safety regulations are in effect compared to the rest of the globe. Where we operate in the State of Texas, we work closely with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for measuring performance for protecting the environment, the public, and our workers.