Uranium mining has a new glow

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The uranium rush is on. The question is, how long will the Navajo Nation's ban on uranium mining last when developers are coming at the Nation from all directions?

International Uranium Corp. announced this week that it is reopening its U.S. uranium/vanadium mines beginning immediately, and will stockpile the ore at its White Mesa mill in Bluff, Utah.

IUC holds conventional mining properties in the Four Corners area, located in three distinct mining districts: the Colorado Plateau, the Henry Mountains and the Arizona Strip. IUC intends to begin mining activities immediately at the Pandora, Topaz, Sunday and St. Jude mines on the Colorado Plateau, followed by two additional mines in 2007.

All of IUC's mines on the Colorado Plateau are fully permitted, according to the company. Plans are to complete permitting on the Tony M mine with production set for 2007. IUC also will review and revise the engineering estimates for the fully permitted Arizona 1 Mine in the Arizona Strip with development also set for 2007.

Work will begin on the Bullfrog property in spring 2007 with production set for mid-2008.

International Uranium President Rod Hochstein said, "IUC is happy to be back as a significant U.S. uranium producer and at a time of record uranium prices."

As of June 12, the Spot Price for Uranium-308 was $45 a pound.

The White Mesa mill is one of only two operating uranium mills in the United States. IUC initially anticipates producing 3.4 million pounds of U308 and 5.9 million pounds of vanadium, beginning in late fourth quarter 2007 or first quarter 2008. Thereafter, IUC plans to average 1.5 and 2 million pounds per year of U308 and vanadium.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Laramide Resources has filed a permit application to test drill 10 uranium exploration holes at Mt. Taylor, about 11 miles northeast of Grants. Rio Grand Resources holds the underground mine at Mt. Taylor.

Testing in San Mateo
About two months ago The Independent received unconfirmed reports that 27 drill rigs had moved into the San Mateo area, allegedly to drill for uranium at a former mine site.

This week, The Independent learned that Western Uranium Corp. began test drilling April 19 on the Treeline Project near Grants. Treeline is located in both Cibola and McKinley counties about 20 miles west-northwest of Grants.

The project includes 480 acres of private land leased by Western Energy Development Corp. and about 3,380 acres of lode mining claims located by WEDC.

The first-phase drilling consisted of six conventional rotary holes to test north and south trends of mineralization initially reported by Conoco Resources in the 1970s. A 1978 internal memorandum from Conoco stated that there was approximately 1.5 million pounds of U308 contained in 593,448 tons at a grade of 0.13 percent U308.

Western Uranium headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with its executive management team in Reno, Nev. is a mineral exploration company with a focus on uranium. The company also has exploration properties in Kings Valley, Nev.

The Treeline property and its uranium resources were acquired by WEDC in October 2004 through a lease with Sedi-Met Inc. In March 2005, WEDC exercised its option to purchase and acquire the property through 2017.

The Treeline property was drilled originally by Conoco and others during the early to mid-1970s. Western Uranium said Treeline is on trend between two past uranium producers, the Marquez Mine and the San Mateo Mine.

Uranium on the Treeline property lies at a depth of between 500 and 1,000 feet and is below the water table, suggesting that portions of the deposit might lend itself to in-situ leach mining, the company said.

Western Uranium's goals in 2006 are to confirm, infill and expand areas of known uranium mineralization with drilling and to identify additional uranium channels. WEDC is testing a number of historical exploration approaches as well as several more modern methods of detecting uranium to locate trends for test drilling.

According to the permit application, it is not known whether any cultural resource survey has been performed on the site.

BHP/Russia alliance
Also this week, BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's largest diversified natural resources company, and MMC Norilsk Nickel, Russia's largest mining and metals company, announced the launch of an alliance to explore and develop mineral resources in the Russian Federation.

BHP in New Mexico plans to produce coal for the Desert Rock Energy Project at its Navajo Mine.

BHP said the agreement signed Monday with Russia initially will concentrate on a range of commodities in northwest Russia and western Siberia.

The agreement provides for joint identification of attractive mineral exploration and development prospects in Russia, to be followed by the establishment of joint local companies to develop specific projects.

BHP Chief Executive Chip Goodyear said the alliance with Norilsk Nickel is a "win-win and provides significant growth opportunities for both companies."

He said it is an important step for BHP and represents diversification of its geographical base. "We look forward to working with our new partner in Russia," Goodyear said.

BHP generated turnover of $31.8 billion in 2005, and attributable profit of $6.5 billion. The current market capitalization of BHP is around $130 billion, according to the company.