Uranium Resources, which has in-situ recovered (ISR) over 8M lbs of uranium out of the earth since the company’s inception in the rich Texas Gulf Coast uranium region back in 1977 (now holding four major properties, while controlling two evaluation projects in the region), reported positive groundwater safety findings today on their Church Rock Section 8 project (McKinley County, New Mexico), drawing on the extensive material contained in the Section 8 / Navajo-Gallup Groundwater Report and Conjunctive Use Evaluation study.
This study, which was a joint effort between the City of Gallup and the Navajo Nation authorities, looked at the environmental impact of ISR operations at the project with respect to existing water wells for the respective entities, in addition to those wells serving Fort Wingate and Rhoboth. Conclusively, the evaluation shows that not only is the ISR methodology extremely safe and environmentally friendly, but that no discernable risk exists for groundwater contamination.
This is a glowing report that spells a big green light for URRE’s Church Rock S8 project and it details clearly that there should be no complications for future mining operations either, something which allows the interested parties to rest easy, secure in the knowledge that the wells and the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project will remain untainted. The long-term results are always important in uranium mining and it is indeed reassuring to have a good future vector for extraction mapped out in the study. With future wells not being a problem, the site could quickly evolve as the company’s major flagship project in New Mexico.
The company currently holds some 206k acres (152.9M lbs of in-place mineralized uranium material) in New Mexico, with a 1M lbs/year production license. After accumulating vast amounts of data in the form of assay certificates, drill hole logs, maps, and technical reports over the last two decades, URRE is well-positioned with a variety of properties like Church Rock to really make a name for itself in New Mexico. New Mexico and Texas form a strong resource base for URRE and with this kind of undeveloped uranium potential under the company’s thumb, the possibilities for partnering are increasingly choice as the asset base is expanded, especially with larger firms that lack access to new resource targets, or with junior’s who lack the logistical capacity and know-how of a URRE.
Senior VP of Health, Safety, and Environmental Standards for URRE, Mark S. Pelizza, was quite pleased with the results, confirming to shareholders that the satisfaction of both chief parties via this joint effort roundly substantiates the company’s own analysis. Church Rock looks safe to mine and the company’s ISR proficiency will prove to be not only ideal for extraction, but extremely delicate. Of course this is one of the benefits of ISR in general and URRE is a master of the technique, which uses injection and recovery to literally drink the uranium right out of the ore body, leaving the rock undistributed.
Pelizza called the jointly developed study a “solid step forward” towards satisfying the concerns of the Navajo Nation, with whom URRE is still in talks and he underscored how the study was essentially over-designed to yield high tolerances for safety.
The Navajo Nation and the City of Gallup pegged veteran engineering, geoscience, and hydrology firm, B. Stephens and Associates, Inc., to handle the report preparation, and it is important to note that the groundwater migration rates and proximity of supply wells were both calculated as being well above projections. In addition to this over-design characteristic, employed out of circumspection and to give the interested parties all the more reason to okay the project, natural dilutive geochemical processes which would remove the element over time were also disregarded, resulting in truly high-fidelity assertions. Given this over-design of the parameterization, in combination with the positive final safety results, investors will be keen to see just how fast uranium development activity accelerates for URRE at Church Rock.
With over 430 operating reactors on earth today, chewing up over 177M lbs of yellowcake each year (36% over last year’s production), the fundamental dynamics are clear for nuclear. Four to six new reactors may come online domestically by 2020 after a three-decade stint of depressed construction, while abroad in places like China, they have 25 being built, including some of the most advanced in the world. Yes, the future for nuclear power is indisputable and globally the market is quite large for the kind of high-quality yellowcake URRE will be pulling out of the ground in New Mexico and Texas, giving shareholders solid price horizons and investors a hot play with some serious upside potential.
For more information on Uranium Resources, visit www.UraniumResources.com
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