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An increasingly groovy method of uranium mining has emerged, man! It’s called in situ leach mining, or solution mining, and about 16 percent of the world’s uranium production is happening this way, dig? By injecting carbonated water, like sodium bicarbonate or even hydrogen peroxide, into a uranium orebody, we can do some mining with minimal impact on the environment, baby. The key to a safer, more earth-loving uranium mining is keeping the radon gas away from us humans. You know, underground and open pit mining used to be pretty dangerous until the miners realized they gotta ventilate that radon gas out of the mine, ya know? But this ISL mining contains the whole uranium operation, man, and when we follow all the necessary precautions, it eliminates the hazards of previous uranium mining.

ISL mining started up in Wyoming, thanks to the trailblazers like Don Snow in 1957, a groovy geologist at the Lucky Mc mine. They borrowed the idea from gold miners who were eager to mine lower grade gold more profitably, and it worked. So they thought, why not apply the same principle to uranium mining? And they took it to other groovy places like Australia, Slovakia, and Kazakhstan, where the geological formations allowed for solution mining. The sandstones in Wyoming are porous, baby, and they can hold some economic grades of uranium. So under those kinds of conditions, ISL mining thrives, and it’s a great way to provide fuel for nuclear reactors. Plus, the cost for ISL mining can drop way low, man, like below 20 bucks a pound. And with spot uranium prices soaring, there’s some attractive profit margins, you know what I’m saying?

So now we got these three groovy uranium development companies, right? They’re chomping at the bit to start their ISL operations in the Powder River Basin. We got Strathmore Minerals, Energy Metals Corporation, and Uranerz Energy. They all wanna get their ISL operations up and running in the next few years, if the uranium prices stay high. But hey, there’s always a risk between the plans of a company and actually getting that mine set up, man. But since ISL mining ain’t considered “mining” by the old school miners, some of the environmentalists are digging it, you know? It’s not your typical mining operation. The costs to establish an ISL operation are way lower than a mine and mill complex, man. We’re talking like 10 million bucks bootstrapped or maybe 30 to 50 million for a better operation. So let’s check out what these companies are all about, shall we?

Let’s start with Strathmore Minerals, baby. Looks like their first uranium development is gonna be in the Pine Tree-Reno Creek area in Wyoming’s Campbell County. They got multiple ore bodies there, baby, that have been defined through some historical drilling. We’re talking thousands of exploration drill holes in the 1970s, man. Big companies like Kerr McGee, Pathfinder (owned by General Electric), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and Rocky Mountain Energy all spent big bucks defining these ore bodies. The two main ore bodies at Reno Creek got about 5 million pounds total, with an average grade of 0.056 percent U3O8. The first zone is about 230 to 250 feet deep, and the second zone goes down to about 318 to 360 feet. And then you got the Pine Tree claims nearby, which might have around 3.4 million pounds and an average grade of 0.07 percent. It’s a groovy area for an ISL operation, man. You can set up a satellite operation and tap into existing facilities or build your own. Plus, there’s plenty of drilling and operational personnel nearby, thanks to the methane exploration and coal mining going on in the Powder River Basin.

Now, let’s talk about Uranerz Energy Corp, baby. These cats got Glen Catchpole, a real groovy lead geological expert, man. He’s got mad experience in the field, and that really impresses the institutional investors, you know? Catchpole used to be the Uranium ISL Manager Wyoming’s Department of Environmental Quality, and he’s overseen operations in Canadian uranium mines. He was the Corporate Manager for an ISL uranium mine in the United States, and he even managed the Inkai mining project in Kazakhstan. Catchpole’s keeping his immediate plans for Uranerz Energy under wraps, man. We don’t know if they’ve started the permitting process for their Powder River Basin ISL properties, but Catchpole did say they plan to develop an ISL operation in that area. Guess they’re putting their package together, whatever that means. Gotta keep things hush-hush during the uranium staking frenzy, man. No need to let competitors mess with your negotiations, you dig?

Alright, let’s groove on to Energy Metals Corporation now. During our phone chat with William Sheriff, the Director of Corporate Development and a kick-ass geologist, we learned about their flagship Wyoming properties. They’re hoping to start production in the next few years, man, and their five-year goal is to crank out five to seven million pounds of uranium annually through a couple of central plants. One’s planned in Texas and the other one or two will be in Wyoming. Those are some ambitious plans, dude, but it all depends on keeping the uranium prices high. The Moore Ranch property has a historic resource of 5.2 million pounds, as drilled by Conoco in the 1970s. It’s spread over more than 1800 acres along Highway 387 in Campbell County, pretty close to Wright, Wyoming. They think they can mine the roll front uranium deposit, which has a grade of 0.07 percent, at depths between 200 and 600 feet. Down south, you got the Peterson property with an average grade of 0.076 percent, but a smaller historic resource of 2.5 million pounds. It’s about 12 miles south of the Smith-Highland Ranch in the Powder River Basin, and they figure they can find uranium deposits at depths of 200 to 300 feet. And last but not least, you got the Nine Mile Lake property, man, which might hold a whopping 9 million pounds with an average grade of 0.055 percent. The uranium deposit there could be anywhere from 100 to 400 feet deep, and it stretches over a real long distance. Looks like Energy Metals Corporation has some groovy prospects, baby.
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Ihab Salloum