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• 1.0 Introduction <br />Lyntek Inc. has been contracted by Energy Fuels Resources Corporation (Energy Fuels) <br />to develop a treatment method and portable water treatment system for the Whirlwind <br />Mine located in Mesa County, Colorado. This underground uranium vanadium mine <br />consists of the former Urantah Decline and Packrat Mine, which are adjacent mines that <br />were operated by Pioneer Nuclear and Umetco, respectively. The mine workings are <br />being reopened under exploration permits with the Bureau of Land Management and the <br />Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety. Recent inspections of the <br />workings indicate that the lower portions of the mine workings are flooded and will need <br />to be dewatered as part of exploration activities. <br />Energy Fuels is also currently preparing applications for afull-scale mining operation. <br />Although dewatering will be required to reopen the mine, once the mine is operating, <br />most of the water flowittg into the workings will be consumed by mining activities. This <br />conclusion is based on historic information from the area and estimated net water <br />consumption for drilling and dust suppression. Energy Fuels anticipates that treatment <br />and discharge of mine water will only occur intermittently once mine operations start. <br />The available historical data indicates that the average ground water inflow was 1 to 5 <br />. GPM for the Urantah Decline and 1 to 2 GPM for the Paclaat Mine, or about 6 to 7 GPM <br />total. Most of the ground water inflow is originating from the Brushy Basin geologic unit <br />above the water workings, as the ore wne (Salt Wash unit) is relatively dry. The ground <br />water enters through the decline, an existing vent hole, historic drill holes, and natural <br />fractures in the rock, <br />The historic and current water quality data show that the mine drainage water has a pH <br />ranging from 8.4 to 9.0 with low levels of sulfides, suspended solids and most other <br />contaminants. Based on the available data, the following metals species may be present in <br />the untreated water at higher levels than allowable for surface release without treatment: <br />Radium, Uranium, Arsenic and Selenium. <br />Lyntek focused on developing a small, portable treatment system that could be used to <br />treat mine water during initial dewatering of the mine workings and that could later be <br />moved to other locations, if dewatering was no longer needed or needed only <br />intermittently at this site. <br />• <br />3 <br />