3.Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

 

Basis of presentation

 

These financial statements have been prepared by management in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (“US GAAP”) and include all of the assets, liabilities and expenses of the Company. All inter-company balances and transactions between the subsidiaries and/or the parent have been eliminated upon consolidation.

 

These unaudited interim consolidated financial statements do not conform in all respects to the requirements of generally accepted accounting principles for annual financial statements. The unaudited interim financial statements reflect all normal adjustments which in the opinion of management are necessary for a fair statement of the results for the periods presented. These unaudited interim consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited annual consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2014.

 

Exploration stage

 

The Company has established the existence of uranium resources for certain uranium projects, including the Lost Creek Property. The Company has not established proven or probable reserves, as defined by SEC under Industry Guide 7, through the completion of a final or “bankable” feasibility study for any of its uranium projects, including the Lost Creek Property. Furthermore, the Company has no plans to establish proven or probable reserves for any of its uranium projects for which the Company plans on utilizing in-situ recovery (“ISR”) mining, such as the Lost Creek Project or the Shirley Basin Project. As a result, and despite the fact that the Company commenced recovery of U₃O₈ at the Lost Creek Project in August 2013, the Company remains in the Exploration Stage as defined under Industry Guide 7, and will continue to remain in the Exploration Stage until such time proven or probable reserves have been established.

 

Since the Company commenced recovery of uranium at the Lost Creek Project without having established proven and probable reserves, any uranium resources established or extracted from the Lost Creek Project should not be in any way associated with having established, or production from, proven or probable reserves. Accordingly, information concerning mineral deposits set forth herein may not be comparable to information made public by companies that have reserves in accordance with United States standards.

 

 

Exploration, evaluation and development costs

 

Exploration and evaluation expenses consist of labor, annual exploration lease and maintenance fees and associated costs of the exploration geology department as well as land holding and exploration costs including drilling and analysis on properties which have not reached the permitting or operations stage. Development expense relates to the Company’s Lost Creek, LC East and Shirley Basin projects, which are more advanced in terms of permitting and preliminary economic assessments.  Development expenses include all costs associated with exploring, delineating and permitting within those projects, the costs associated with the construction and development of permitted mine units including wells, pumps, piping, header houses, roads and other infrastructure related to the preparation of a mine unit to begin extraction operations as well as the cost of drilling and completing disposal wells.

 

Capital assets

 

Property, plant and equipment assets, including machinery, processing equipment, enclosures, vehicles and expenditures that extend the life of such assets, are recorded at cost including acquisition and installation costs.  The enclosure costs include both the building housing and the processing equipment necessary for the extraction of uranium from impregnated water pumped in from the wellfield to the packaging of uranium yellowcake for delivery into sales.  These enclosure costs are combined as the equipment and related installation associated with the equipment is an integral part of the structure itself. The costs of self-constructed assets include direct construction costs, direct overhead and allocated interest during the construction phase. Depreciation is calculated using a declining balance method for most assets with the exception of the plant enclosure and related equipment. Depreciation on the plant enclosure and related equipment is calculated on a straight-line basis. Estimated lives for depreciation purposes range from three years for computer equipment and software to 20 years for the plant enclosure and the name plate life of the related equipment.

 

New accounting pronouncements

 

In April 2015, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU”) 2015-03, Interest - Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs. The update requires debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of the related debt liability instead of being presented as an asset. Debt disclosures will include the face amount of the debt liability and the effective interest rate. The update requires retrospective application and represents a change in accounting principle. The update is effective for fiscal periods beginning after December 15, 2015. Early adoption is permitted for financial statements that have not been previously issued.  We  elected early adoption of this standard effective the second quarter of this year.  The impact on the current statements is to move $152 thousand from current deferred loan costs to offset the current portion of the long term debt and to move $615 thousand of deferred loan costs previously included in non-current assets to offset the long term portion of the notes payable as of September 30, 2015.  As at December 31, 2014, we moved $190 thousand of current deferred cost to offset the current portion of long-term debt and $716 thousand of non-current deferred loan costs to offset non-current notes payable.  See note 11.

 

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)”.  The amendments in ASU 2014-09 affect any entity that either enters into contracts with customers to transfer goods or services or enters into contracts for the transfer of nonfinancial assets unless those contracts are within the scope of other standards (e.g., insurance contracts or lease contracts). This ASU will supersede the revenue recognition requirements in Topic 605, Revenue Recognition, and most industry-specific guidance, and creates a Topic 606 Revenue from Contracts with Customers.  The core principle of the guidance is that an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of the promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services.  The amendments were to be effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, including interim periods within that reporting period.  In June 2015, the FASB extended the implementation date for one year to December 15, 2017.  Early application is not permitted.  We anticipate that we will not be affected, however, we will continue monitoring the final terms of the standard and assessing any impact on revenue recognition as appropriate.

 

In July 2015, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2015-11,  Inventory (Topic 330): Simplifying the Measurement of Inventory.  ASU 2015-11 requires that inventory within the scope of this Update be measured at the lower of cost and net realizable value. Net realizable value is the estimated selling prices in the ordinary course of business, less reasonably predictable costs of completion, disposal, and transportation. The amendments in this Update do not apply to inventory that is measured using last-in, first-out (LIFO) or the retail inventory method. The amendments apply to all other inventory, which includes inventory that is measured using first-in, first-out (FIFO) or average cost. For all entities, the guidance is effective for annual periods, and interim periods within those annual periods, beginning after December 15, 2016. Early adoption is permitted. Therefore, the amendments in ASU 2015-11 will become required for us as of the beginning of our 2017 fiscal year. We are considering early adoption of this guidance as it is consistent with our current policies and not expected to have a material impact upon our financial condition or results of operations.