Another article on Uranium Ones Wyoming Project, it seems their intentions very much mirror Pens future plans.U1 will just have bit of a head start.Doesn't matter if the Bulls continue their upward trend, it seems very much the case by the gist of below China Market update.Main thing is that Pen is able to stick to their planned schedule.
Bring it on.
"By JEFF GEARINO Southwest Wyoming bureau Monday, August 17, 2009 6:43 AM MDT
GREEN RIVER -- Uranium mining may be making a comeback in Sweetwater County.
One of the world's largest uranium producers is seeking federal permission to construct an in-situ uranium recovery facility in northeast Sweetwater County near Bairoil, federal and company officials said.
In-situ recovery is a process by which a solution is injected through wells into a uranium-bearing ore deposit in order to oxidize and dissolve the uranium, which is then pumped in solution to the surface for processing.
Uranium One, Inc.'s recovery facility would produce yellowcake uranium, or concentrated uranium, in the form of U308.
The product would be trucked to Illinois for enrichment and eventual processing into fuel for nuclear power reactors, according to company plans.
The company is seeking permitting from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for its proposed Antelope and JAB Uranium Recovery Project, which will have an estimated 20-year mine life.
"We think it's a pretty promising project," said Donna Wichers, senior vice president of in-situ recovery operations for Uranium One.
"Wyoming's contribution to providing uranium fuel for U.S nuclear power plants will continue to be significant and is crucial to the clean energy needs of the country," she said.
The Antelope and JAB project area is located approximately 55 miles north of Rawlins and about 25 miles west of Bairoil, on the eastern side of the Red Desert and adjacent to the Great Divide Basin.
The company's proposed license area contains approximately 10,531 acres for the Antelope site and approximately 4,043 acres for the JAB site.
The Antelope property was explored in the 1970s through the early 1990s by several companies, including Teton Exploration/NEDCO, Newpark Resources, Kerr-McGee, Uranerz and Cameco Resources.
Wichers said Uranium One conducted verification drilling in 2007 in both sites. The company began baseline resource data collection during the spring and summer of 2007 and into the spring of 2008.
"There's quite a historic uranium resource out there ... and Union Carbide actually went through the permitting process for open pit mine on the JAB project site" in the late 1970s, she said. "So we pretty much know what the resource is."
Demand is up
Under project plans, the company will develop six injection/production wellfields that will feed a central processing plant to be constructed on the Antelope site.
The central plant will include an ion exchange facility with processing and yellowcake drying capabilities.
Wichers said the central plant will not only serve production from in-situ operations within the Antelope project boundaries, but will also process uranium ore from the JAB satellite area, and from other future satellites in the region.
The Antelope central plant will be initially designed to produce 2 million pounds of U308 per year.
Capacity could be expanded to 4 million pounds per year as other potential satellite wellfield sites are licensed and production increases, according to company plans.
Total mineable reserves for the Antelope and JAB project are not fully developed at this time, but the company estimates that in the JAB area, known resources to date are approximately 13.5 million pounds in the ground.
Wichers said the market is good and the demand is high for uranium right now, which makes the project economically feasible at this time.
She noted the market for uranium has greatly improved since the late 1990s and early 2000s, when uranium prices hovered around $8 per pound. The price is now at $48.50 per pound.
"There's a lot of domestic demand right now for uranium," Wichers said.
In 2006, total domestic uranium production in the United States was about 4.7 million pounds, according to federal figures. But during the same year, domestic uranium consumption was approximately 67 million pounds.
The company expects the project will create jobs. The central processing plant, once completed, could employ from 40 to 50 people full time.
"And, of course, we always try to hire locally," Wichers said.
She estimated the Antelope and JAB project could end up costing more than $10 million.
Pipeline of projects
The Antelope and JAB project is part of a "pipeline" of uranium projects the company will be undertaking over the next few years in Wyoming, primarily in the Powder River Basin and the Great Divide Basin, Wichers said.
Uranium One controls more than 100 million pounds of the estimated 300 million pounds of historical uranium resources located across Wyoming, according to company figures.
Uranium One currently has 61 ongoing or planned projects on approximately 293,000 leased acres in Wyoming.
The company announced this week it was buying several uranium facilities in the Powder River Basin, including mining and processing plants in Campbell and Johnson counties.
Uranium One spent $35 million for the Irigaray in-situ recovery central processing plant in Johnson County that will serve the Powder River Basin. The Antelope facility will recover uranium ore mined mostly from the Great Divide Basin.
Following approval of the NRC license application, construction of the first wellfield, the central plant, satellite and ancillary facilities is expected to begin in February. The facilities are expected to be completed in November 2010.
Construction of the second and third wellfields will follow within the next two years respectively.
Uranium One is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Canadian-based Energy Metals Corp. and is one of the world's largest uranium producers. The company is doing business in Wyoming as Uranium One Americas.
The NRC has the regulatory authority for licensing and inspecting in-situ recovery facilities in Wyoming.
As part of its review of the Uranium One license application, the agency is preparing a supplemental environmental impact statement.
The agency released a generic environmental study on the project in May.
Contact southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino at 307-875-5359 or [email protected].
WHAT IS IN-SITU LEACHING?
In-situ leach recovery is one of the two primary recovery methods that are currently used to extract uranium from under ground. In-situ facilities recover uranium from low-grade ores.
Unlike Colorado, Utah, Texas and a handful of other states, Wyoming does not have primacy over the Atomic Energy Act.
Therefore, companies such as Uranium One Americas must gain approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conduct in-situ leaching at its proposed Antelope and JAB uranium facilities.
And because it is labeled a mining process, it also falls under the authority of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality's Land Quality Division.
The process involves injecting a water and sodium bicarbonate solution, which is environmentally benign, down a series of injection wells to flow through the targeted sandstone formations containing uranium ore.
The process dissolves the uranium to mix with the liquid solution and it is brought to the surface through production wells.
On the surface, the solution is processed through a water treatment facility to separate the uranium. It is then dried to produce U308, or yellowcake.
The yellowcake is packed in 55-gallon drums for transport to a uranium conversion facility, where it is processed through the different stages of the nuclear fuel cycle to produce fuel for use in nuclear power reactors.
The uranium ore within Uranium One's Antelope and JAB project areas occurs in what's known as roll-front deposits. Most roll-front sandstone deposits that contain uranium in Wyoming are between 500 and 1,000 feet below the surface, according to the DEQ.
The formations also hold water, so the whole leaching process aims to control water. Injection and production wells are drilled in a tight pattern -- within 30 yards or so -- and monitoring wells are drilled around the production fields to contain the process.
Water containment and cleanup is overseen by both the NRC and the DEQ."
-- Jeff Gearino
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