CORPUS CHRISTI, TX, Dec. 13, 2016 /CNW/ – Uranium Energy Corp. (NYSE MKT: UEC, the “Company”) is pleased to announce that the Company’s Burke Hollow in-situ recovery (“ISR”) project in South Texas has been issued the Final Mine Area Permit by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (“TCEQ”). Burke Hollow is the third project to be developed as part of the Company’s hub-and-spoke strategy that is designed for low-cost ISR mining operations.
Amir Adnani, President & CEO, stated: “We are very pleased with the progress made at Burke Hollow over the past four years. The issuance of the Final Mine Area Permit represents a culmination of successful drill campaigns and permitting activities that have coalesced into a major accomplishment for the UEC team. Our South Texas portfolio of low cost ISR projects remains our cornerstone asset, and the addition of Burke Hollow to our permitted Palangana and Goliad projects gives the Company a strong foundation on which to establish UEC as a leading uranium producer in the years to come.”
The Mine Area Permit authorizes over 11,000 acres for mining multiple production sands within two large confirmed production areas discovered to date. TCEQ has earlier issued two final Class 1 disposal well permits for the Burke Hollow project. Concurrently, the Radioactive Material License is in technical review and the Aquifer Exemption request has already been submitted to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”). The receipt of these permits, in addition to the already approved disposal well and mine permits, would allow for production development to commence at Burke Hollow, one of the Company’s largest ISR projects.
The Company began exploration drilling at the Burke Hollow project in 2012, and discovered three mineralized trends later the same year. Subsequently, the project has been expanded to its current size of almost 20,000 acres. To date, uranium mineralization has been discovered in two distinct and separate trend areas of the property, resulting in an inferred mineral resource of 5.12 million pounds of uranium (“U3O8“) grading 0.09% U3O8*. The mineral resource estimate is based on a total of 246,400 feet of drilling in 526 holes completed since mid-2012. Only approximately 50% of the project acreage has been explored to date. The project is located approximately 45 miles from the Company’s Hobson Processing Plant.