Strathmore grows Gas Hills claims

Strathmore Minerals’ (STM-V, STHJF-O) has snapped up more land in the Gas Hills uranium district of Wyoming, historically the second-largest uranium producing area in the United States.

The Gas Hills district was one of the most prolific uranium producing areas in the U.S. during the last uranium cycle, with total production exceeding 100 million lbs. The majority of production in the area was from conventional open-pit mining.

Strathmore has staked an additional 658 claims stretching over an area of 56 sq. km to consolidate its landholdings and bring its total concession area at Gas Hills to more than 117 sq. km.

The newly acquired land is around areas of known deposits that had been planned and some fully permitted for open-pit mining, but were later abandoned when prices for uranium tanked in the mid-1980s.

Strathmore controls 100% of its Gas Hill projects, which now make up its core uranium holdings in Wyoming.

The newly acquired lands in the Beaver Rim are just south of the historical mining operations run by companies such as Utah International/Pathfinder, now part of Areva (ARVCF-O), Federal-American Partners, and Union Carbide.

Strathmore got into uranium exploration in 1996 and focused on what had been found in the last uranium boom. The Kelowna, B.C.-based company started acquiring property in the U.S. when the uranium price was between US$7 and US$15 per lb. U3O8. The spot price at presstime was US$75 per lb. U3O8.

Three of Strathmore’s previously claimed properties, George-Ver, Bullrush and Loco-Lee, were extensively drilled in the 1970s by Federal-American Partners and planned for open-pit development during the 1980s. More recently, the properties were held by Cameco’s (CCO-T, CCJ-N) U.S.-based subsidiary, Power Resources. But the company abandoned the properties in 2001 — prior to the up-tick in uranium prices.

As a result, significant infrastructure already exists, including haulage roads and electrical power lines. According to historical documents, the three properties were originally designed to produce a total of 1.5 million lbs. of uranium from eight shallow open pits.

In February, Strathmore advanced its various uranium projects in Gas Hills to the mine permitting stage. The company estimates it will take between three and six years to complete the permitting process.

Strathmore recently acquired historical data that suggests the mineralization trends southward from the main mining district onto its newly acquired lands. The next step: to see if it is amenable to advanced in-situ leach (ISL) techniques.

ISL mining requires less manpower. Under conventional mining, about 500 workers are required per 1 million lbs. of uranium mined, compared with ISL, which requires 75 workers per 1 million lbs. of uranium mined, the company says.

Strathmore is planning an extensive exploration drilling program to further develop its near-surface deposits across much of the Beaver Rim during the late spring and early summer of 2008.

In the meantime, additional exploration drilling on its Jeep property, an ISL joint venture with Yellowcake Mining (YCKM-O) is scheduled for next year. The drilling is expected to continue the expansion of the uranium resource identified by its recently completed 4,000-metre drilling program.

News of the land acquisition on Oct. 10 sent Strathmore’s shares up 7 to close at $2.47 apiece on a trading volume of 96,600 shares.