Lic App Filed for Jane DoughUranerz Submits License Application for Third Powder River Basin Mining Unit <>
Casper, Wyoming, May 21, 2014 - Uranerz Energy Corporation ("Uranerz" or the "Company") (NYSE MKT and TSX: URZ; Frankfurt: U9E) is pleased to announce that it has submitted the source material license amendment application for its Jane Dough unit to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ("NRC"). The Jane Dough permit area, located in the Central Powder River Basin of Wyoming, U.S.A., is contiguous to and immediately south of the Company's wholly owned Nichols Ranch unit which recently commenced in-situ recovery ("ISR") uranium mining operations.
Uranerz is applying to add the Jane Dough unit as an amendment to the existing license for the Nichols Ranch ISR Uranium Project, which includes the Nichols Ranch and Hank units. In this area of the Powder River Basin, uranium mineralization commonly follows along oxidization-reduction ("redox") boundaries and these boundaries at the Nichols Ranch unit continue southward through the Jane Dough unit (see Figure 1 below). Due to the close proximity of these two units, the Company expects to install only the wellfields at Jane Dough and will transfer mining solutions to and from the processing plant at the Nichols Ranch unit through pipelines. This operational configuration should avoid the expense of constructing a separate satellite plant at Jane Dough, resulting in considerable savings in capital and time, and should serve to greatly enhance the project economics and extend the mine life at the Nichols Ranch facility.
Paul Goranson, President and Chief Operating Officer stated, "Now that the Nichols Ranch facility is fully operational, we see the Jane Dough unit as being the next project to be developed. Given that this application is being filed as an amendment to the existing Nichols Ranch ISR Uranium Project license, we expect to see considerable time savings in the NRC review and approval process."
The Jane Dough unit was formed by combining the Doughstick, South Doughstick and North Jane uranium properties. Jane Dough is one of several advanced-stage projects within the Uranerz portfolio that has yet to be developed. The Company has reported NI 43-101 resources for six projects which include Nichols Ranch, Jane Dough, Hank, Reno Creek, West North-Butte and North Rolling Pin. National Instrument 43-101 reports have been prepared for the three properties that comprise the Jane Dough unit and the resource information is summarized in the table below:
Property Name(1) | Pounds eU3O8 Measured(2) | Average Grade % eU3O8 | Pounds eU3O8 Indicated(2) | Average Grade % eU3O8 | Pounds eU3O8 Measured & Indicated(2) | Average Grade % eU3O8 |
South Doughstick | 583,684 | 0.122 | 1,268,989 | 0.120 | 1,852,673 | 0.121 |
Doughstick | 112,140 | 0.074 | 407,603 | 0.074 | 519,743 | 0.074 |
North Jane | 117,413 | 0.103 | 245,580 | 0.088 | 362,993 | 0.092 |
TOTALS | 813,237 | | 1,922,172 | | 2,735,432 | 0.108 |
(1) Some of the properties included in the table above are owned by the Arkose Mining Venture and some are owned 100% directly by Uranerz. Uranerz owns an 81% interest in the Arkose Mining Venture and is the project operator. The pounds included in this table are directly attributable to Uranerz. (2) The estimated mineral resources above are based on a grade range of >0.01% to 2.65% with a grade cut-off of 0.03% and grade-thickness ("GT") cut-off of 0.20. GT represents grade multiplied by the thickness and is calculated by multiplying eU3O8 grade (in percent) by gamma anomaly thickness (in feet) as determined from down-hole radiometric probing. For example, a drill hole that has 10 feet of 0.10% uranium mineralization has a GT of 1.0 and would be considered a good hole by ISR mining standards.