Uranerz Energy Corporation (“Uranerz” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide this uranium mine construction update. In August 2011, Uranerz commenced construction of its first in-situ recovery (“ISR”) uranium mine, called the Nichols Ranch ISR Uranium Project, in the Powder River Basin area of Wyoming, U.S.A. Construction is well underway and is currently on schedule. The Company’s focus is on the construction of the processing plant, the office and laboratory, the maintenance facility, and the installation of monitor and production wells required for ISR uranium mining. Six drill rigs are engaged in production well installation.
Several key milestones have been achieved by Uranerz for the development of its commercial mining facilities at the Nichols Ranch ISR Uranium Project, including:
-- the completion of project access roads; -- the completion of concrete pads for the Nichols Ranch production facility, the office and the maintenance shop; -- the delivery and setting of all process tanks, ion exchange columns, and sand filters; -- the construction of a bulk cement silo and acquisition of ancillary service equipment; -- the completion of the power substation; -- the completion of the water supply; -- the hiring of four new employees for well-field development at Nichols Ranch; -- the purchase of well-field construction equipment; -- the installation of 72 monitor wells for mining unit 1 at the Nichols Ranch property; and -- the commencement of production wells installation at the Nichols Ranch property.
The walls and roofing are substantially complete on the office and maintenance buildings. The ion exchange columns, sand filters, and all process tanks are set on their pads at the central plant and the walls are now being installed. It is expected that construction will continue through the winter, with completion sometime in the second half of 2012.
The Nichols Ranch ISR Uranium Project is licensed for a production level of up to two million pounds of uranium (as U3O8) per year with initial production targeted for 600,000 to 800,000 pounds per year after ramp-up. The Nichols Ranch project will also serve as a platform to develop the Company’s other Powder River Basin properties, which enhances the economics of potential additional satellite projects.