www.pel.net.au
Peninsula Energy (ASX: PEN) is an emerging ASX listed Uranium producer with assets in the USA and South Africa. The company is focused on advancing the Lance ISR Projects, located in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming USA through to production, and to take the Karoo Projects in South Africa further up the development curve.
Peninsula Energy granted deep disposal well license for Lance Uranium Project
Peninsula Energy (ASX: PEN) has taken another step toward commencing mineral extraction operations with the approval for the construction and testing of Underground Injection Control (UIC) Class 1 wells at the Lance In-Situ Recovery (ISR) Uranium Project, Wyoming, USA.
The UIC permit was granted by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ) on 13 April 2011, and is the first of three main licenses the company needs to commence mining operations at Lance.
This deep disposal well (DDW) license permits the company to construct and test five such wells in the Ross Permit area and has been granted in short time, reflecting the quality of the application studies, the licence applications, the ongoing outreach program and the level of acceptability of uranium extraction in Wyoming.
Gus Simpson, Peninsula’s executive chairman, said “the deep disposal of mineral processing waste is the most controversial part of ISR mining.
"The grant of the DDW permits is the major milestone we need to achieve in the permitting process and another important step toward the company commencing mineral extraction operations at Lance."
The company stated the DDWs "will be used to inject low-level wastes into an isolated rock formation at a depth in excess of 8,000 feet below the surface."
Peninsula expects these to meet the water management requirement of an ISR operation at the Ross Project.
The permit was issued after a review by both the WDEQ and United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) as well as a public notification and comment period, and is the culmination of 30 months of detailed environmental, geological, hydrological data gathering and analysis by the company.
Peninsula is now waiting on the review and grant of its Source Material Licence and it’s Permit to Mine applications lodged with the NRC and WDEQ on 31 December 2010 and 13 January 2011 respectively.
On March 25 Peninsula intersected more high grade uranium from drilling at its Lance uranium project, which will add to Inferred Resources at the next Resource upgrade.
