Uranium Co. Moves Forward with New Mexico Plans
Uranium Resources, Inc., a uranium exploration, development, mining and production company, has submitted applications to the New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department and the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer for a permit to conduct exploratory drilling in the Ambrosia Lake area.
“Our strategy has been to advance to production in New Mexico while continuing to produce in Texas. With slightly over 100 million pounds of in-place mineralized uranium material, we are working several tactics to get to production," said Richard Van Horn, URI executive vice-president and chief operating officer.
"This area in the Ambrosia Lake district, on which we have identified approximately 2.4 million pounds of mineralized uranium material combined on several sections, may be amenable to in-situ recovery mining (ISR). We have submitted the drilling request for Section 13 specifically in order to test the amenability of the uranium for ISR,” Van Horn explained.
The applications are for 10 uranium exploratory holes on land designated Section 13, which is west of the village of San Mateo. The mining area is removed from any commercial or residential structures and the impact to the land will be minimal as less than five acres are involved. It is expected that the permits will be received in the fall. URI will retrieve ore samples to evaluate the properties of the ore and determine if the uranium can be extracted by ISR methods.
“This is a great opportunity for URI to establish an ISR project in New Mexico and demonstrate that this process is safe and responsible,” said Van Horn. “URI has over 30 years of experience in ISR mining, and has proven with multiple wellfields that ISR meets all safety and environmental requirements of state and federal regulators.”
Since its incorporation in 1977, URI has produced more than 7 million pounds of uranium by in-situ recovery (ISR) methods in Texas where the company has ISR mining projects. URI also has 183,000 acres of uranium mineral holdings and 101.4 million pounds of in-place mineralized uranium material in New Mexico.