A team of geologists in Casper set out to find uranium deposits in an area north of the city around Pine Ridge and Pumpkin Buttes a dozen years ago.
That venture started to pay off Wednesday, when a Canada mining venture announced a $30 million investment in the Pine Ridge Uranium Project.
Winnipeg-based Snow Lake Energy, which runs its Buffalo Uranium Mine 50 miles south of Casper, is partnering with Global Uranium and Enrichment Limited (GUE). Both companies were attracted to discoveries made by Mark Doelger and Dr. Kent Sundell with Stakeholder Energy in Casper.
Now with an infusion of capital, what started 12 years ago is moving forward with plans for the next three years, according to a Thursday statement from Snow Lake.
Snow Lake did not return calls from Cowboy State Daily, but its statement offers several details about what’s on the horizon.
“Snow Lake and GUE plan on moving the Pine Ridge project through exploration and development and into the feasibility study stage of development,” reported the press release.
“The goal of our investments is to develop a domestic supply of uranium to help underpin the expansion of nuclear energy in the U.S.,” said Frank Wheatley, CEO of Snow Lake, in the statement.
A representative from GUE contacted by Cowboy State Daily said on-the-ground operations could begin sometime in the next few months.
Just Getting Started
Geologist Mark Doelger with Stakeholder Energy and Barlow & Haun in Casper, told Cowboy State Daily Wednesday that exploration into the Pine Ridge area began when uranium ventures had a hard time attracting capital.
“We started when uranium was really in the tank,” said Doelger. “The price was in the $20 per pound range. The uranium industry was dormant. And now, the price is $80 a pound or so. Companies have started again.”
Even now, after more than a decade, the Pine Ridge Project is still in the early phase of development, said Doelger.
“What is time to a geologist?” chuckled Doelger, who described how over eons, groundwater delivered uranium deposits to the Pine Ridge area.
Now, along comes the Pine Ridge Project with the goal of reversing that process by targeting deposits and extracting them as a fluid drawn up from the ground through pipes.
In-situ recovery (ISR) reverses the natural process for how minerals in groundwater collect into rich deposits, said Doelger. He explained how uranium is leached out of uranium deposits in sandstone underground and collected in a solution that’s pumped out and processed into yellowcake.
“The yellowcake is shipped out in barrels. It's benign. It's not dangerous and ready to be processed and enriched into fuel,” said Doelger.
Doelger compared future operations at Pine Ridge to the Cameco uranium operation that’s just east of Pine Ridge.
“It could be like that someday. But it’s a long road,” said Doelger.
“Essentially, it's a plumbing system,” continued Doelger, who estimated the start of mining and production to be more than five years away.
“There's no dust. There's no exposed ore body,” added Doelger.
A uranium project around Pine Ridge, about 20 miles north of Glenrock, recently received a $30 million investment to advance deeper exploration of the area. (Courtesy Kent Sundell) 
A uranium project around Pine Ridge, about 20 miles north of Glenrock, recently received a $30 million investment to advance deeper exploration of the area. (Courtesy Kent Sundell) 
A uranium project around Pine Ridge, about 20 miles north of Glenrock, recently received a $30 million investment to advance deeper exploration of the area. (Courtesy Kent Sundell)
Uranium Frontier?
ISR uranium operations are currently slated for potential development in locations spread across three Wyoming ranches adjacent to Pine Ridge.
“All three ranches are under contract to us,” said Doelger. “We have lands under lease, both federal and state, and we have surface use agreements, which allows us to proceed with our work.”
Underneath the Allemand, the Patterson and the Henry Ranch are promising uranium deposits, according to findings from more than 1,200 holes drilled in the area.
In a March 31 news release, Snow Lake CEO Frank Wheatley painted a bullish picture.
"The Trump Administration is focusing on national and energy security, and in particular the vulnerabilities of the uranium supply chain," said Wheatley. "Given the United States is largely dependent on foreign countries for its supply of uranium, the new administration is focusing its efforts on initiatives designed to expand domestic production of uranium in the United States.”
Wheatley added, “With the Powder River Basin in Wyoming being one of the preeminent uranium producing regions in the United States, coupled with the advanced stage of development of Pine Ridge, we strongly believe that Pine Ridge holds the potential to contribute to U.S. domestic production of uranium.”
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
