StockInterview: What will be the key to a successful U.S. ISR operation?

David Miller: The key to ISR will be permeability, grade, thickness, and depth – pretty much in that order. With low or no permeability the deposit will need to be conventionally mined. A high permeability, low or medium grade deposit at less than 1000 feet will be a very attractive operation. After you have a certain volume of uranium to justify the capital costs of an operation, I would rather have good permeability and low grade than low permeability and high grade, if I am going to use ISR as my recovery technique. Of course with conventional mining I will take the highest grades we can get.

StockInterview: How large would a uranium deposit have to be to justify the conventional mining method?

David Miller: Near-surface, open-pittable deposits could be as small as a few hundred thousand pounds to be economic if a mill is nearby. To justify a new mill, for example in New Mexico, a critical mass of about 50 million pounds of uranium is needed. Grades can vary greatly. If the deposit is shallow and mined by open pit, with a mill nearby, then grades could be as low as 0.05 percent U3O8. With a 1500 to 2000-foot underground mine, grades above 0.20 percent may be required.

StockInterview: How many U.S. uranium deposits do you suspect can be economically mined using conventional methods for less than $65/pound?

David Miller: There are probably more than one dozen deposits in the U.S. with uranium resources recoverable at less than $65/pound. The resources would likely exceed more than 200 million pounds.

StockInterview: Why do you believe companies will proceed with conventional mining instead of ISR mining? They are more expensive to set up and more labor-intensive.

David Miller: Conventional mines will access much larger deposits. The individual projects which justify a mine and mill will have to be deposits of 30-million to 50-million pound and larger. Also, with higher grades a deposit has less permeability. You cannot properly address the mineralization with ISR in the higher grade deposits. Percent-recovery of the total uranium resource should generally be higher with the conventional mining. Conventional mining can recover all the good ore, even in low permeability areas.

StockInterview: It appears Strathmore Minerals and SXR Uranium One plan to move forward with conventional mining. What obstacles do you expect as you come closer to mining your deposits?

David Miller: The Number One problem will be finding experienced miners. It has been over twenty years since we did conventional mining. I was involved in the very last underground uranium mine in Wyoming. The miners I worked with are all in their fifties now or older. While some would make great mentors we will need a new generation of young, tough miners that are not afraid of getting dirty. We may have to recruit some from the hard rock mines of Canada to teach the new generation of miners in Wyoming and New Mexico.

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