URANIUM: Uranerz makes first resin shipment to Cameco’s Smith Ranch plant

WYOMING – Uranerz Energy Corp. of Casper, WY, has made its first shipment of uranium-loaded resin from its Nichols Ranch in situ recovery (ISR) project in the Powder River Basin. The shipment went by truck to the Smith Ranch processing plant owned by Cameco Corp. of Saskatoon, SK. Uranium concentrate will be extracted from the resin pursuant to a toll processing agreement between the two companies.

The ISR method used at Nichols Ranch involves pumping groundwater from wells, fortifying it with oxygen, baking soda and carbon dioxide, then injecting into the uranium deposit within a contained aquifer. The solution dissolves the uranium, and once loaded is pumped to the surface via recovery wells and piped to the plant. The solution flows though ion exchange columns and attaches to resin beads in the columns.

When the loaded resin reaches the Cameco plant, the uranium is stripped from it, precipitated, dried, packaged, and transported to a conversion facility where it will be sold to Uranerz's customers.

The Nichols Ranch project contains 2.95 million lb of uranium oxide in measured and indicated resources grading 0.114% U₃O₈. The inferred resource, grading 0.087% U₃O₈ contains 246,753 lb of uranium oxide.

Learn more about Uranerz and the ISR mines it is developing in Wyoming at Uranerz.com.