WUC's annual report reinforces the key role that ablation plays...

WUC's annual report reinforces the key role that ablation plays in the company's business strategy. In fact, ablation is the only thing that differentiates WUC from the plethora of uranium juniors that compete for investors' attention.

While WUC obtained a 25-year license to use ablation (by dropping the hammer on its former JV partner Ablation Technologies), it was unable to wrest ownership of the patent from AT. AT retained the right to use and license ablation, a fact that WUC has misrepresented in some securities filings.

WUC's strategy involves using ablation to concentrate uranium at the mine site, without the use of chemicals, and without the requirement to obtain a radioactive/source material license. Concentrating uranium at the mine greatly reduces transportation costs to a mill for final processing.

All these factors are critical to the economics of ablation, and the value proposition of owning WUC shares.

Unfortunately, the recent decision by Colorado regulators, supported by the NRC, that ablation requires a uranium milling/radioactive material license has adversely affected the economics of ablation. WUC has responded by announcing its disagreement with the decision along with efforts to persuade regulators to modify or reverse the decision.

Whether these efforts bear fruit remains to be seen. Convincing regulators to reconsider and perhaps arrive at a more favorable determination will be expensive, involving attorneys, consultants, and possibly further lab testing. Regulators will likely be forced to re-open the public hearing process. The next few months will be a critical test of WUC's strategy.