ABSTRACT: New Directions for Wyoming Uranium

Ray E. Harris

Owing to several interrelated factors, Wyoming's conventional uranium production plummeted from 5.5 million tons of ore in 1979 to 200,000 tons in 1989. The number of producing conventional mines decreased from 17 in 1979 to one in 1989. Yet, during this period of disaster for the industry, two companies began production using a new direction, in situ (solution) mining. Although one of these recently (1 February 1990) suspended operations, two more in situ operations are planned for Wyoming.

Because it is probable that there will be a future increase in the worldwide demand and price of uranium, the current challenges for the domestic uranium industry are to locate new uranium deposits capable of competing with Canadian and Australian producers and to initiate, when possible, new methods of production, such as the in situ method. Both of these options are available in Wyoming.

Although it is against bottom-line profitability for industry to fund exploration in down times, the very future of the industry may depend upon successful exploration programs. In Wyoming, there are unexplored occurrences of uranium similar to the high-grade unconformity-related deposits mined in Canada and Australia. There are also other kinds of non-roll front uranium occurrences in Wyoming that warrant investigation by innovative researchers. New extraction techniques could make some of these as well as some proven but presently inactive roll front deposits profitable to mine.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91002©1990 AAPG Rocky Mountain Section Meeting, Denver, Colorado, September 16-19, 1990