ANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(MARKET WIRE)--Jun 19, 2006 -- Uranerz Energy Corporation ("Uranerz") (OTC BB:URNZ.OB - News)(FWB: U9E) is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with Black Range Minerals Limited ("Black Range") of West Perth, Australia, to joint venture its Cyclone Rim and Eagle projects located within the Red Desert area of southwest Wyoming.
The Cyclone Rim project consists of 23 federal mining claims and an adjacent 640-acre Wyoming state lease with the uranium mineralization clearly extending into the lease area. This property is located in Sweetwater County, Wyoming. The Eagle property consists of 28 federal mining claims and is also located in Sweetwater County. Both properties have historical exploration drilling from the 1970s, and Uranerz is in possession of some of these data in the form of electric and lithologic drill logs, together with drill hole maps depicting location, depth, grade and thickness of the mineralized roll fronts. A third-party registered geologist under contract to Uranerz has reported resources of 1,307,877 pounds in the inferred and indicated categories plus 1,600,000 potential pounds for the Cyclone Rim property, and 1,154,000 inferred pounds and 762,000 prognosticated pounds for the Eagle project, all as U3O8.
June 2004, uranium reserves in Texas stand at 23 million pounds of U3O8 based upon $50/pound uranium. By comparison, Wyoming and New Mexico reserves, using that same benchmark, reach as high as 363 million and 341 million pounds, respectively.
This may explain the rush by junior exploration companies, such as Strathmore Minerals (TSX: STM; Other OTC: STHJF), Energy Metals Corporation (TSX: EMC), UR-Energy (TSX: URE), Uranerz Energy (OTC BB: URNZ), Kilgore Minerals (TSX: KAU) and others, to Wyoming. The large quantities of pounds are in Wyoming, not Texas. It may also explain why Uranium Resources (OTC BB: URRE) has looked beyond Texas into New Mexico to develop its ISL operation, and Strathmore Minerals has quickly been advancing through its permitting stage on one of its properties in that state. It is fitting that the big past uranium producing states may again become tomorrow’s leading U.S. producers. In any event, the entire world of ISL mining owes a debt of gratitude to Charles Don Snow for his pioneering efforts in bringing a heap leach experiment into full fruition as modern-day in-situ mining.
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