(Wyoming Business Report, March 4) – Yet another in-situ uranium mine is getting closer to operation with the receipt of its final supplemental environmental impact statement from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Peninsula Energy Limited, an Australia-based company operating as Strata Energy Inc. in Wyoming, announced the news today, saying its final red light should turn green March 31 when it expects to obtain a Source and Byproduct Material License from the NRC. That permit will allow the company to “own, receive, possess, use, transfer, provide for long-term care, deliver or dispose of byproduct material or residual radioactive material … or any source material after removal from its place of deposit.”
If the company earns that permit as expected it should be able to commence construction in earnest of its facility for the Ross Permit Area in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. It is one of three adjacent permit areas the company owns, and would be the first to enter production phase if all goes as planned.
“We are very pleased to receive the SEIS,” said Peninsula Executive Chairman Gus Simpson in the release. “With the grant of the SML, expected shortly, Peninsula will have concluded the licensing process and have a clear path to production.”
The company broke ground on the Ross Project for pre-license construction in October 2013, doing basic preparation work for roads and building sites at the facility. At the time, the company announced it expected to start production by the second half of 2014. When pre-construction began, the project had been under regulatory scrutiny for four years.
According to proactiveinvestors.com, the Lance Uranium Projects could eventually produce 2.2 million pounds of U3O8 per year with a net present value $323 million after a capital expenditure of $114 million to reach steady production.
“With progress at Lance projects ramping up, Proactive Investors believes the investment case is becoming even clearer for Peninsula and that the upcoming award of the SML, the start of construction and onset of production will mean the current valuation of $82 million is very light on a medium-term outlook,” the site wrote.
Peninsula’s stock traded 14.8 percent higher on the news today in the Australian Securities Exchange.
