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By the end of 2014, Wyoming could have another uranium producer on its hands. Peninsula Energy was just granted the Source and Byproduct Materials License for the Ross permit area.
In fact, this week, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted ASX-listed Peninsula Energy (ASX:PEN) a highly anticipated Combined Source and Byproduct Materials License (SML), setting the stage for uranium production in the final quarter of 2014.
In Wyoming, Peninsula holds the Lance in-situ recovery uranium project at the northeast end of the Powder River Basin. Over the course of the last five years, the company has successfully delineated a JORC-compliant resource of over 53.7 million pounds of U3O8, one of the largest mineral resources in the United States.
For Peninsula, the SML is the culmination of a four-year permitting process involving several local, state and federal regulatory bodies. Being granted the SML is the final step in the licensing process for the central processing plant at the Ross project, and the license gives Peninsula the ability to produce uranium from the project. The company has been steadily working on site preparations at the central processing plant since October 2013, and with the SML now in its possession, it can finalize the construction of the plant and install production well fields at the Ross permit area.
Gus Simpson, executive chairman of Peninsula Energy, is pleased with the news, and said that the path to production has now been cleared. “The Board would like to congratulate our management and permitting team in Wyoming on the issuance of the SML which concludes four years of dedicated and detailed permitting work,” he added.
When Uranium Investing News spoke to Peninsula Energy back in February, Simpson explained that the company is looking at a producing 2.2 million pounds of uranium, ramping up over several years. Beyond that, the company has plans to look for satellite orebodies surrounding its project that can be incorporated “with a separate ion exchange operation and truck loaded resin to our central processing plant.”
With the start of production scheduled for the last quarter of the year, Peninsula is looking at generating some cash flow, which will be beneficial as the company looks to expand the Wyoming projects and continue the development of the Karoo project in South Africa. Peninsula is also investigating the acquisition of uranium assets in Australia, a move that would give the company significant geographical diversification.
Securities Disclosure: I, Vivien Diniz, hold no investment interest in any of the companies mentioned.
Related reading:
Peninsula Energy: Setting the Stage for Diversified Uranium Production