colorados uranium boom about to begin

FOR ALL THAT HAVE RESEARCHED & BELIEVE IN BLR, OUR JOURNEY IS ONLY JUST BEGINNING.

AND WHAT A JOURNEY IT WILL BE. :)
_______________________________________________________________

Mining: Frenzy of uranium exploration in Utah, Colorado.

Sunday, June 10, 2007.

The Denver Post.
GATEWAY, Colo. — Plans for 100 new nuclear power plants around the world have pushed the price of uranium skyward and set off a frenzy of exploration in Utah and western Colorado.
Image (Deseret Morning News graphic)
Deseret Morning News graphic
More than 18,000 new mining claims in the two states have been filed in the past year. The number of uranium companies snatching them up has jumped from 10 to more than 400 over the past couple of years. And since 2002, when the yellow-and-orange-tinged ore fell to $7 a pound, the price has climbed nearly 1,900 percent.
This area of the country holds a rare and valuable combination of uranium and vanadium — both processed from the same ore — and pieces are falling into place to turn exploration into a full-fledged mining boom.
"I think it's going to go big-time this time," said Terry Bunker, who has ridden out 40 years of ups and downs since he began, at 14, mining uranium with his father near Uravan, Colo.
Bunker once again has strapped on his miner's belt and is going into the dank depths of the Whirlwind Mine, where miners are shoring up a tunnel in anticipation of hauling out ore this year.
Nearly everything is in place to "go" — from the miners' dusting off jack-leg drills and Geiger counters to the $138-a-pound-and-still-climbing price for uranium, coupled with worldwide demand that outstrips supply by 80 million tons.
There are 440 nuclear power plants operating in the world, using much of the world's processed uranium. An additional 100 are expected to be built, increasing demand for the metal.
That push has the makings of a uranium boom on the order of the 1950s atomic delirium that swept across the Uravan Mineral Belt — one of the richest uranium deposits in the country — when Charlie Steen hit his mother lode and turned Moab into a hotbed of millionaires.

The long-shuttered uranium mill near Ticaboo, Garfield County, was recently purchased by SXR Uranium One, a large Canadian company. (Douglas C. Pizac, Associated Press)
Douglas C. Pizac, Associated Press
The long-shuttered uranium mill near Ticaboo, Garfield County, was recently purchased by SXR Uranium One, a large Canadian company.
Different times
But out here, where Marie Curie once packed uranium out by mule and where the metal for the world's first atomic bomb was chipped out of rock walls, the feeling is more of a horse race before the starting bell.
"This is the slowest boom I've ever seen," joked longtime miner Johnny Dufur, whose family is sitting on 70 claims in southeastern Utah.
Dozens of companies are refurbishing old mines or drilling new ones in the Uravan belt, which curves across western Colorado and eastern Utah. At least three companies plan to reopen or start mills. One company is proposing to dissolve uranium with a soda-and-chemical mixture in the ground under the Eastern Plains. And the federal government is in the final review process to decide whether to reopen nearly 20,000 acres of previously reclaimed land in western Colorado to more mining.
The pace of actual production, however, is slowed by a number of factors.
Staking a claim can still involve driving four stakes in the ground to mark the corners of the 600-foot-by-1,500-foot plots. But permit requirements are much more complicated and time-consuming: It can take a year to get a permit. Environmental regulations are tougher. The cost of meeting these requirements has climbed high enough — as much as $100,000 for a small mine — that independent operators often can't afford to work their own mines.
Workers are hard to come by because many left for other areas when uranium bottomed out in the 1980s. Companies are advertising for experienced miners and mill workers as far away as West Virginia.

Mining for data
Richard Dorman, vice president of exploration for Universal Uranium Ltd. of Winnemucca, Nev., said knowledge also has been lost. Miners who knew where deposits were located are now gone. Records have been lost from companies that long ago went bust. He said he spends as much time around Moab mining for data as he does drilling for veins.
"Dusting off these operations and getting them back into working order is a challenge. It's going to take some time," said Stuart Sanderson, president of the Colorado Mining Association.
One of the major holdups since uranium prices began skyrocketing in 2005 has been the lack of a mill to process the uranium into concentrate known as yellowcake.
Three of the four uranium mills in the country aren't operating. The 25-year-old White Mesa Mill, near Blanding, has been processing only uranium waste material but is undergoing $15 million in upgrades to process ore and is promising to put out a long-awaited order for ore this week.
"We can take as much as they can deliver. This should kick off some activity. It should be the beginning of a long-term revival," said Ron Hochstein, president and chief operating officer of Dennison Mines Corp., the Canadian company that owns the mill.
Energy Fuels Inc., the company that owns the Whirlwind and 22 other blocks of mining claims, is preparing to submit permit applications by year's end for another mill in the west end of Colorado's Montrose County.
"We believe there is plenty of room for two mills," said George Glasier, president of Energy Fuels Resources, the Colorado subsidiary.
Another large Canadian company, SXR Uranium One, recently purchased a long-shuttered mill at Ticaboo, Garfield County, with an eye toward a reopening. The Cotter Corp.'s mill in Caqon City, Colo., and a mill near Rawlins, Wyo., are still closed.
PowerTech Inc., a subsidiary of a Vancouver, B.C., company, is trying to get around the milling problem with plans to do in-ground leaching of uranium on some of the 5,700 acres to which the company has mineral rights in northeastern Colorado..

Vanadium's boost
Canada's biggest uranium producers have been buying up claims, mines and mills, mostly in the Uravan belt because, unlike in Canada or anywhere else in the United States, the formation holds uranium and vanadium. Canada's uranium deposits are more concentrated with richer ore, but the steel-hardener vanadium adds an $8-a-pound bonus — up from $1.36 — to uranium.
A few small miners are taking a crack at that prize in spite of the difficulties and bringing back mines with fanciful names harkening back to boom times — Yellowbird, Pie Face, School Marm and Fairy King.
Mitch Shumway, whose family has been mining for four generations and has about 100 claims around Blanding, has been retrofitting old equipment and wading through the frustrating tangle of permitting.
Glasier said the rewards could be substantial. He estimates some of Energy Fuels' mines can bring in $800 to $900 worth of vanadium and uranium for every ton of mined material. He estimates if the Whirlwind operates for 20 years at today's prices, it could yield $1 billion in uranium and vanadium.
Uranium consultant Arden Larson said there's still plenty of uranium to go around, but it is not an easy ore to mine. Uranium veins are harder to follow and more scattered than those of some other minerals.
"There are 100 million to 200 million tons out there. Half of that hasn't been found yet," Larson said. "It's like the raisins in the pudding.".

Uranium's critics
Not everyone is happy about uncovering those raisins.
The Navajo Nation has outlawed mining and milling on its vast reservation in Arizona and New Mexico. Citizens in Weld County, Colo., have banded together to fight against PowerTech's plans to leach uranium from under their farm fields.
Conservation and environmental groups decry anticipated environmental damage and object to the fact that more mining and milling will create a new headache where toxic tailings from previous booms haven't been cleaned up.
"There is an absolute history of not cleaning up in this industry," said Cathy Kay of Western Colorado Congress.
But in the sparsely populated and barren expanses of western Montrose County and eastern Utah, uranium is synonymous with prosperity to those who have been chasing the big strike for generations and now feel the stirrings of another boom.
"I guess," Dufur said, "you can't ever quit dreamin'."
_______________________________________________________________
mmmmmm AND PLENTY MORE :)

****************BLACK RANGE MINERALS ****************
_______________________________________________________________

Black Range Minerals is an Australian Stock Exchange-listed, diversified resources company focused on growth through acquisition, exploration and development.
The Company is rapidly moving it's two key projects towards feasibility, namely:

* The advanced, high-grade Taylor Ranch Uranium Project in Colorado, USA, where results from historic exploration indicate there are probably 10-15 million pounds of U3O8; and

* The high-grade Ferris-Haggerty Copper Deposit in southern Wyoming, USA, which was once the world’s 27th largest copper mine, but where no modern exploration, and no drilling has ever been undertaken. Considerable reserves of unmined, high-grade ore remain at this deposit.

The Company also continues to aggressively explore its other projects, including:

* Its 100%-owned Koonenberry Base Metal Project in New South Wales, and

* Two advanced uranium projects – Cyclone Rim and Eagle in Wyoming USA, that it is operating and exploring through a JV with URANERZ ENERGY Corporation.

The Company is also pursuing the acquisition of several additional quality uranium projects

_______________________________________________________________

Taylor Ranch Uranium Project, Colorado, USA

The Company acquired the advanced, high-grade Taylor Ranch Uranium Project in Colorado, USA during November 2006. It has a 100% interest in the rights to explore for and mine uranium on approximately 4300 acres of the Taylor Ranch, located approximately 30 kilometres northwest of Canon City.

_______________________________________________________________


Cyclone Rim and Eagle Uranium Projects, Wyoming, USA

Overview.

In June 2006 Black Range Minerals signed an agreement with Uranerz Energy Corporation of the USA to form a joint venture to explore and develop the advanced Cyclone Rim and Eagle Uranium Projects located in the Red Desert area of southwest Wyoming.

Considerable resources of uranium were delineated at both the Cyclone Rim and Eagle Projects during exploration in the 1970’s. Exploration target estimates are approximately 3 million pounds of uranium oxide (U3O8) at the Cyclone Rim Project and approximately 2 million pounds of U3O8 at the Eagle Project. Both deposits are shallow and amenable to in-situ leaching and/or open-pit mining. With the imminent recommissioning of the Sweetwater Uranium Mill, located just 25km from both projects, the Company could potentially be in production from these deposits in the foreseeable future.

_______________________________________________________________

Ferris-Haggerty Copper Deposit, Wyoming, USA

During September 2006 the Company secured an exclusive option to earn up to a 90% interest in the historic high-grade Ferris-Haggerty Copper Deposit, located in southern Wyoming, USA.

This acquisition provides the Company with an exceptional near-term production opportunity, together with an outstanding exploration play.

The Ferris-Haggerty Copper Deposit was discovered in 1897 and was brought into production the following year. Two shafts and several adits were used to explore and develop the deposit to a depth of approximately 200 metres. The main orebody averages eight to ten metres in width, but is up to 20 metres wide in places. The orebody grades 6% to 8% copper and 3g/t to 4g/t gold. Mineralisation remains open at depth and numerous additional lodes remain untested.

Historic mining focused almost exclusively on the upper portion of the orebody. Weathering resulted in depletion of copper in the shallowest portions of the orebody, substantially enriching the upper zones. Grades in this upper zone averaged over 20% copper.

Mined ore was transported by what was at the time, the world’s longest aerial tramway, to a purpose-built mill and smelter complex located in the foothills of the Medicine Bow Range, some 25km away. At that time the Ferris-Haggerty Copper Deposit was the 27th largest copper mine in the world.

Mining operations ceased in 1908, when fire destroyed the mines’ processing facilities and a drastic decline in copper prices precluded the viability of rebuilding the facilities. Records indicate that approximately 10,000 tonnes of copper were produced from the mine prior to its closure.

No mining or modern exploration has been undertaken at the project subsequently.

Based on results of previous workers, the Company estimates that there are at least 1 million tonnes of unmined ore remaining within the lower, explored but undeveloped portions of the Ferris-Haggerty Copper Deposit, at grades of 5% to 6% copper and 3g/t to 4g/t gold. No exploration drilling has ever been undertaken. There is considerable potential to discover additional mineralisation both at depth and along strike from the known deposit.
_______________________________________________________________

Koonenberry Base Metal Project, NSW

The Koonenberry Base Metal Project is located 100km east of Broken Hill in western NSW. Black Range holds a 100% interest in two granted exploration licences that encompass 579km2 of highly prospective terrain covering the southern third of the Koonenberry Belt.

Since the commencement of the Company’s initial drilling programme in October 2005, 72 holes have been drilled for over 11,000 metres. The historic Grasmere Copper Deposit and the newly discovered Peveril Copper Deposit, located some 2,000 metres to the northwest of the Grasmere Deposit, have been the focus of the majority of the Company’s drilling. Relatively thick, high-grade shoots have been identified at both deposits. Substantial mineralisation has also been intersected in the deepest holes at both deposits, at depths greater than 400 metres. There is considerable potential to extend the resources at both of these deposits with further drilling.

In July 2006 The Company announced that, following its intensive exploration programmes, it had increased the JORC-compliant resource at the Koonenbery Base Metal Project by more than 1000%, to:

5.75Mt at 1.03% Cu, 0.35% Zn, 2.30g/t Ag and 0.05g/t Au

containing approximately 60,000 tonnes of copper .

Mineralisation has been intersected over the entire 4,000 metres of strike that has been drill-tested to date. This mineralisation remains open in both directions along strike and at depth.

Exploration Upside.

Exceptionally encouraging results have been returned over the entire 4,000 metres of strike that have been investigated during the Company’s recent drilling programmes. These results confirm that the Grasmere and Peveril Copper Deposits are part of a considerably larger and significant mineralised massive sulphide system.

To date only 4 kilometres of the stratigraphic horizon that hosts the mineralisation has been explored. More than 50 kilometres of this prospective horizon remains untested within the Company’s exploration licenses. The Company will continue to aggressively explore this horizon.
_______________________________________________________________

CHEERS TO ALL HOLDERS, AND TO THOSE STILL UNDECIDED :)

IMO *** BLR IS ONE SPEC.STOCK WELL WORTH CONSIDERATION
_______________________________________________________________