By Penny Langford
URAVAN, Colorado : Metals One Plc (AIM: MET1) has formally expanded its strategic partnership with DISA Technologies to begin recovering uranium and vanadium from eight abandoned mine waste dumps across the historic Uravan Mineral Belt. The agreement, announced Friday, marks a significant operational shift for the company as it leverages advanced remediation technology to monetize legacy mining liabilities without the typical capital intensity of primary extraction.
The expansion follows successful preliminary assessments of the Uravan Project, a cluster of 59 unpatented mining claims located near the historic Buckhorn mine in western Colorado. Under the terms of the revised partnership, Metals One will provide DISA with access to the waste material: remnants of the region’s mid-20th-century mining boom: in exchange for a gross revenue share of the recovered minerals.
Crucially for investors, the deal is structured to shield Metals One from the financial volatility of operational costs. DISA Technologies will bear all capital expenditure (Capex) and operating expenses (Opex) associated with the deployment and management of its proprietary High-Pressure Slurry Ablation (HPSA) units. In return, Metals One will receive between 2.5% and 4% of all gross revenues generated from the sale of recovered uranium concentrate ($U_3O_8$) and vanadium pentoxide ($V_2O_5$).
A New Chapter for the Uravan Mineral Belt
The Uravan Mineral Belt, stretching roughly 70 miles across the Colorado-Utah border, has long been the backbone of the American uranium industry. Between 1948 and 1979, the district produced nearly 13% of the total uranium consumed in the United States. However, the collapse of uranium prices in the early 1980s left behind a patchwork of hundreds of small, abandoned mines and millions of tons of unprocessed waste rock.
For decades, these waste dumps were viewed solely as environmental liabilities. The current metals market, however, has fundamentally revalued these materials. With the uranium market outlook for 2026 showing continued supply constraints and rising demand from the nuclear power sector, the economics of "re-mining" have become increasingly attractive.
"This is not just an extraction play; it is a remediation-first strategy," said a Metals One technical consultant familiar with the project. "We are taking material that the state and federal governments want cleaned up and using 21st-century technology to extract value that was previously unreachable by conventional milling methods."
Technology Focus: High-Pressure Slurry Ablation (HPSA)
The linchpin of the expansion is DISA’s High-Pressure Slurry Ablation technology. Conventional uranium processing requires crushing and grinding vast quantities of ore to liberate the target minerals, a process that is both energy-intensive and water-heavy. HPSA takes a different approach by utilizing kinetic energy within a slurry.
In the HPSA process, waste material is mixed with water and propelled at high velocities through specialized nozzles. The resulting collisions between particles strip the mineral-rich coatings from the surface of the waste rock. This allows for the separation of the uranium-bearing "fines" from the inert, barren rock. The result is a concentrated mineral slurry that can be transported to existing processing facilities, such as the White Mesa Mill in nearby Utah: the only fully licensed and operating conventional uranium mill in the United States.
By focusing on the surface of the particles rather than grinding the entire rock, HPSA significantly reduces the environmental footprint of the operation. The process uses less water, requires a smaller physical footprint, and produces a clean, sand-like waste product that can often be returned to the site as stable fill material.
Operational and Financial Structure
The low-risk nature of the agreement is designed to appeal to shareholders wary of the high burn rates often associated with junior mining companies. By offloading the operational risks to DISA, Metals One effectively creates a royalty-like stream from its Colorado assets.
Operational Highlights:
- Target Sites: 8 identified waste dumps within the Uravan Project area.
- Primary Commodities: Uranium ($U_3O_8$) and Vanadium ($V_2O_5$).
- Metals One Capex/Opex: $0.
- Revenue Share: 2.5% to 4% of gross sales.
- Regulatory Status: DISA maintains a first-of-its-kind U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) service provider license for remediation.
This structure allows Metals One to preserve its cash reserves for its primary exploration targets while participating in the upside of current commodity prices. According to mining investment valuation metrics, companies that can generate cash flow without significant debt or equity dilution are often positioned for higher multiples in a rising commodity environment.
The ESG Advantage: Turning Liabilities into Assets
Beyond the financial metrics, the Metals One expansion aligns with broader Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) trends sweeping the mining industry. The Uravan Belt has a complex history of contamination, including the complete evacuation and burial of the town of Uravan in the 1980s due to health risks.
By treating these legacy waste dumps, the Metals One-DISA partnership contributes to the environmental cleanup of the region. The removal of radioactive material from unmanaged piles reduces the risk of groundwater contamination and windborne dust. For policymakers, this model represents a private-sector solution to a public-sector problem: the thousands of abandoned uranium mines across the American West that lack dedicated funding for cleanup.
The NRC’s decision in late 2024 to approve new licensing options for emerging remediation technologies paved the way for this project. DISA's service provider license allows it to move from site to site, treating waste without the multi-year permitting delays that typically plague new mine developments.
2026 Market Context
The timing of the expansion is bolstered by a robust 2026 outlook for critical minerals. Uranium prices have sustained levels above $80 per pound as utilities scramble to secure long-term contracts amid a shift away from Russian supply. Simultaneously, vanadium is seeing renewed interest not only for its traditional use in high-strength steel but as a primary component in vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) for long-duration energy storage.
Metals One’s decision to include vanadium in the recovery scope is strategic. The Uravan Belt was historically a vanadium district first, with uranium often treated as a byproduct. The ratio of vanadium to uranium in the region's waste dumps can be as high as 5:1, providing a significant secondary revenue stream that can offset the costs of the primary remediation effort.
Conclusion and Next Steps
The immediate priority for the partnership is the mobilization of the first HPSA unit to the Uravan claims. Preliminary sampling of the eight waste dumps is underway to prioritize the highest-grade material for initial processing.
As the global energy transition accelerates, the demand for domestically sourced, low-carbon minerals will only increase. Metals One, through its partnership with DISA Technologies, is positioning itself at the intersection of resource recovery and environmental stewardship. By transforming Colorado's mining past into a source of 2026 energy production, the company is proving that "waste" is simply a matter of perspective: and technology.
Project Summary: Metals One Uravan Expansion
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Project Name | Uravan Uranium & Vanadium Project |
| Location | Montrose & San Miguel Counties, CO |
| Partner | DISA Technologies |
| Technology | High-Pressure Slurry Ablation (HPSA) |
| Number of Dumps | 8 Abandoned Waste Piles |
| Ownership | Metals One (75% interest, 100% option) |
| Financial Terms | 2.5% – 4.0% Gross Revenue Share |
| Operational Risk | Borne by DISA Technologies |
Social Media Snippet (LinkedIn/X)
Metals One Plc (AIM: MET1) is scaling up in Colorado! The company just expanded its deal with DISA Technologies to recover uranium and vanadium from 8 legacy waste dumps in the historic Uravan Belt.
The Highlight: Zero Capex or Opex for Metals One, with a 2.5–4% revenue share. This is a massive step for low-risk resource recovery and ESG-driven remediation.
Read the full deep-dive on how High-Pressure Slurry Ablation is turning mining liabilities into 2026 energy assets: [Link]
#MetalsOne #Uranium #MiningNews #UravanBelt #ESG #CriticalMinerals #2026Outlook #NuclearEnergy
