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SEGMENT INFORMATION
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
Segment Reporting [Abstract]  
Segment Information
SEGMENT INFORMATION
The Company is engaged in uranium extraction, recovery and sales of uranium from mineral properties and the recycling of uranium bearing materials generated by third parties. As a part of these activities the Company also acquires, explores, evaluates and, if warranted, permits uranium properties. The Company’s primary mining activities are in the United States.
The reportable segments are those operations whose operating results are reviewed by the Chief Operating Decision Maker (CODM), the Chief Executive Officer for the Company to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance provided those operations pass certain quantitative thresholds.
In order to determine any reportable operating segments, management reviewed various factors, including geographical location and managerial structure. It was determined by management that a reportable operating segment generally consists of an individual property managed by a single general manager and management team.
The Company previously had two reportable segments, the conventional uranium recovery segment (the “Conventional Uranium Segment”) and the in-situ uranium recovery segment (the “ISR Uranium Segment”).
The Conventional Uranium Segment
The Conventional Uranium Segment consisted of a standalone conventional uranium recovery facility (the “White Mesa Mill”), conventional mining projects in the vicinity of the White Mesa Mill located in the Colorado Plateau, Henry Mountains, Arizona Strip, and the Roca Honda Project (“Roca Honda”) in New Mexico, and the Sheep Mountain Project (“Sheep Mountain”) in Wyoming. At December 31, 2017 the conventional mining projects in the vicinity of the White Mesa Mill, with the exception of shaft sinking and evaluation activities at the Company’s Canyon Mine Project, are on standby, being evaluated for continued mining activities and/or in process of being permitted. The White Mesa Mill also processes third party uranium-bearing mineralized materials from mining and recycling activities.
The ISR Uranium Segment
The ISR Uranium Segment consisted of an operating uranium recovery facility to recover concentrated uranium from wellfields of the Nichols Ranch Project located in Wyoming and a uranium recovery facility and wellfields maintained on standby as part of the Alta Mesa Project in Texas. The Nichols Ranch Project also includes the Jane Dough property and the Hank Project. Additionally, the segment includes other mineral properties in the vicinity of the Nichols Ranch Project and the Alta Mesa Project. The Nichols Ranch Project and surrounding assets were acquired as part of the Company’s 2015 acquisition of Uranerz Energy Corporation and the Alta Mesa Project was acquired in June of 2016.
Change in segment reporting
Due to changes during 2017 in how uranium is delivered under contractual requirements, the Company reevaluated its segment presentation. Key factors for establishing two operating segments at the time were each segment had a vice president of operations, sales contracts for each segment were satisfied by the output of the respective segment, no commingling of finished product and the expectation was that higher prices would expand each segment's opportunities. At the time the CODM was receiving internal reporting including, operating profits for each segment, capital allocations for the development of each segment, contract revenue for each segment stayed with the segment and cost reporting per pound.
During 2017, due to the changes above, the Company has concluded it has only one reportable segment. The Company has re-negotiated its primary remaining sales contract to allow deliveries from for any produced material (versus it originally required deliveries only from ISR materials sourced from Nichols Ranch production) and the contract is now filled with material from the White Mesa Mill. Nichols Ranch uranium is now finished at the White Mesa Mill, where originally it was completed at a third party facility. At this time the CODM does not receive any internal reporting including operating profits by location and is not making capital recommendations by location.