Vancouver – Uranium Energy (UEC-N) has added another healthy resource estimate to its collection of uranium projects in the United States. The company, which plans to soon become a producer, released a National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource estimate for its Palangana project in south Texas after acquiring the property only two months ago.
The 2,500-hectare Palangana project is a past-producing uranium mine based around in-situ recovery (ISR). The project falls within the south Texas uranium belt and is located in Duval County.
The estimate puts Palangana’s measured and indicated uranium resource at 356,523 tonnes grading 0.135%, for 1.06 million lbs. U3O8, contained in two zones known as Production Area 1 and Production Area 2. Inferred resources, which sit within six separate deposits, add 297,557 tonnes at 0.176% for an additional 1.15 million lbs. U3O8.
The resource is concentrated in sandstone-hosted, roll-front deposits that sit within paleochannels on the east side of the Palangana Dome. The Gulf Coast piercement salt dome, roughly 3.2 km in diameter, dominates the local geology and earlier exploration efforts primarily probed the edges of the dome. The new resources sit farther east.
Uranium Energy secured ownership of the Palangana project when it took over the South Texas Mining Venture (STMV) in late 2009 from Uranium One (UUU-T) and Everest Exploration. Uranium Energy issued 2.5 million shares to Uranium One for its 99% stake in STMV, and issued 200,000 restricted shares and paid US$1 million for substantially all of Everest’s assets, including its 1% interest in STMV.
Uranium Energy also gained ownership of the fully licensed and permitted Hobson ISR processing plant in the deal, as well as a portfolio of exploration-stage properties in south Texas. Uranium Energy plans to make the Hobson plant into a central processor for its various uranium projects in south Texas, including Palangana, which is roughly 160 km south of the plant.
The Hobson plant was first constructed in 1978 and fully refurbished and expanded in 2008 to the present drying and packaging capacity of 1 million pounds of U3O8 per year. Installation of a second and larger vacuum dryer would double capacity at the facility.
Uranium Energy has secured all necessary permits to begin developing the Palangana project. The company received the final necessary permit in January when the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued a radioactive materials license to the company, the first such license issued in Texas since 2002. No comments were received about the project during the public comment period.
The company has a number of other uranium projects throughout the southwestern U.S. in various stages of development.
Uranium Energy’s share price was up US8¢ on the day, closing at US$3.71. The company’s 52-week share price range was between US31¢ and US$4.16, with a steady and rapid climb in mid-2009. It has 57 million shares outstanding.
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