The Grand Daddy Boom in Uranium

Approaching his 50th year in the uranium business, the quiet but assertive Chairman and Chief Executive of Uranium Resources (OTC BB: URIX). Paul K. Willmott talked to us about the current uranium bull market. Willmott discussed the third uranium bull market he's experienced with both exuberance and caution.

Interviewer: How do you feel about the rising uranium price? And how high do you think it will go?

Willmott: Looking at the oft-quoted number of over $100/pound, that number came out of an analysis from a gentleman at MIT (Thomas Neff, MIT Center for International Studies). What he did was use the high point of 1980s with a time-value of money, and came up with $100. I am not saying that the prices could never get to that level. I'd never say that. There could be a price spike, and there are a lot of things that could or could not happen. The prices will rise to cover projected and estimated costs of production. It will also get to a level that will induce people to invest in companies, or for the company to invest in the business to get a rate of return.

Interviewer: How are the production costs different now as opposed to then?

Willmott: If you go back to the 1980s, the majority of the uranium was being mined by underground mining methods. Underground or open pit methods were used here in the United States: most of it in New Mexico, a lot of it in Colorado and Wyoming. The cost of production in those days was somewhat in the mid to high $20's. When you put a rate of return on it, it got the market price up into the high $30's. Since then, the major mining in Canada now is not at Elliot Lake or at Bancroft, Ontario, both underground and where it was before. The majority of uranium mining now is being mined in high grade ore bodies in the Athabasca Basin, which back in the 1980s was basically unknown, unexplored or unfound. In the United States, there is virtually little or no underground mining of uranium. It's all done by low-cost ISL. Same as in Kazakhstan. You still have open pit mining of low-grade ore bodies, but those are very inexpensive to mine as in Africa. You also have byproduct in Australia.

Interviewer: Are you saying uranium prices are determined by production costs, not supply concerns?

Willmott: The big point is the major cost of uranium today is significantly less than what it was in the 1980s. If you go back to my basic premise, which is that price rises to cover cost of production, I don't see that you can make the comparison of taking the high point in the 1980s and transposing it over today on the time-value of money basis, and coming out with something over $100/pound. That's not to say the market could not get over $50/pound. I think it very well may. I think it will be the spike or an anomaly. And I think it will ultimately fall back as production comes on to the current demand of uranium.

Interviewer: What about Asian demand?

Willmott: There's lot of talk about reactors in China, in India, Russia, and elsewhere. Talk of reactors in Europe staying on longer. That could prolong the cycle. I think that you will find over the next 5-7 years there will be enough uranium discovered, or discovered, put into production, licensed and permitted, to meet our current demand for uranium. That cycle may get prolonged a lot longer as these other (nuclear) plants may or may not come on.

Interviewer: Won't the U.S. alone put an additional squeeze on the current uranium inventories by building another 10, 15 or 20 reactors?

Willmott: No, because if you look at the lead time on the announcement of these plants, the lead time to get these plants on, I think you're looking at five to ten years at best. The I don't think it's going to be as long for the Chinese, because they don't really have environmental concerns, regulatory concerns or intervener concerns. It certainly would put a crimp on existing and forecasted production. In terms of the long-term needs, they will ultimately be met. The current prices today are impacted by the current needs and some perception about the future.

Interviewer: TradeTech LLC recently announced, in a news release, that a large percentage of the spot uranium price rise in 2005 came from speculators and investors?

Willmott: If you look at what spot demand is, compared to the long-term demand, usually the spot is around 20 million pounds. Last year, I think it was around 30 million pounds. (Editor's note: On January 27, Trade Tech reported slightly less than 30 million pounds for 2005.) That's 20-30 million pounds of demand out of total demand of 180 to 190 million pounds. Of that demand, this past year, around 10 million – that's the latest number I know – came from speculators, hedge funds, and the Uranium Participation Corporation (TSE: U). Certainly, it was a very major influence of a very small part of the market. Every week, everybody is excited about what the spot price is going to be on Monday night for UXC or Friday night from Trade Tech. It's a little bit of the tail wagging the dog. Most certainly, the demand of 10 million pounds or so by the hedge funds had a very significant impact on the spot market for 2005.

Interviewer: But will this speculative uranium buying continue?

Willmott: Some of these people were able to get in while the spot price was in the low $20's. Now that the price is at $37.50/pound, they've done quite well. If this price increase plateaus, and I project the spot price to be about $40/pound by the middle of this year, and then I'm not sure. I don't know how long it will take to get up to $50. It might go up quite rapidly. What you're going to see, as you can see with some of the (publicly traded) stocks out there, I think the major increase could very well be behind us. You will get an increase, but it certainly will not be in the couple of hundred percent increases that we've seen in 2005.

Interviewer: Is the oft-quoted $100/pound number realistic then?

Willmott: The uranium spot price is going to go to some level where there will be enough money brought in by investors to do the necessary exploration and development. There may be a price spike along the way. My feeling is it's just not going to climb up and get over the $100 range that a lot of people are talking about. It could be a price spike, but I don't think it's sustainable.

Interviewer: After the price spikes, or runs higher, where do think the uranium price will settle?

Willmott: As the prices rise, on a longer term basis, there will be production that comes online, as is always the case. I am on record as having said that the price could very well get up to a level where it's $50, $60 or $70/pound. But it will ultimately fall back to a level that more represents the cost of production. If you look at the places where they are exploring for uranium now, in Athabasca, and you look at the current costs of production, it's my feeling that somewhere in the high $20's or low $30's is where the price will ultimately be for uranium. I think it's going to take anywhere from five to seven years, may be ten, before production gets to that level. And that's in today's dollars.

Interviewer: Have prices become unrealistic in the uranium sector?

Willmott: I think there's a lot of speculation out there, which may be a bit unrealistic. That's more in the stock prices. Certainly, the need for uranium is there. I just think people are over-reacting as to what's going to ultimately happen.

Interviewer: After World War I, a British army major in the Belgian Congo discovered uranium oxide with concentrations as high as 80 percent. That very quickly ended the long-term radium boom in the Colorado Plateau, an element which had been extracted from uranium. Could a major discovery end the recent excitement in this bull market?

Willmott: I don't think any single discovery, whether it will be in Athabasca or elsewhere, no single discovery is going to overcome the total supply that is ultimately needed.

Interviewer: You've talked about Kazakhstan. Do you believe this is the wild card for the world market?

Willmott: Yes, it is. There are very large, very economic deposits there. They've made some very grand plans on what they're going to produce. I personally don't think they're going to get there, not in the time frame they state. Then, of course, there are the uncertainties, such as the political. I can't reflect on that, but there are uncertainties there. I don't think they're going to put on production as fast as what they have stated. I don't think there is any single source that will do it (alleviate the supply shortage). I think it will go a fair distance in filling the shortfall or projected shortfall. I don't think it's going to satisfy it. But, you're looking at somewhere around 80 or 90 million pounds of supply shortfall. Even if they get up to 25-30 million pounds, that's not going to be enough.

Interviewer: Do you believe a bust will follow this excitement?

Willmott: Yes, but when you say bust, a lot of it is going to depend upon a market that doesn't relate to current supply and demand. There's a lot of supply out there that people will tout. Like "here come the Kazakhs," or "the expansion of Olympic Dam," or those type of things. Most supply and demand projections that we've been using in the company, and are using, have already anticipated these things. They're not unknown ore bodies. The ore bodies in Africa, they've been known for a long time. Rossing staying on has been known for a long time. Midwest Lake has been known for a long time – it was found 22 years ago. Cigar Lake was 22-23 years ago. A lot of the production you are seeing now, which is coming on and people are getting excited about, have been known and have been factored in for supply and demand projections for a long time.

Interviewer: How does the record price rise in 2005 compare to sustained high prices in the 1970s and early 1980s?

Willmott: I think that the 2005 price rise is a reflection of the shortage that is there. In the 1980s, the shortage, the price rise, then, was on a perception basis. The perception was that all of the utilities were going to get into nuclear power. I remember Eisenhower saying it was going to be too cheap to even meter. What happened was that all of these utilities were going to build all of these nuclear reactors. And then they realized the reactors were going to need uranium. That created a pseudo demand.

Interviewer: Why do you call this a false demand?

Willmott: The utilities all wanted to get into nuclear power. They made that decision. They then needed uranium to run their reactors. What happened then was the U.S. Enrichment Corporation told the utilities, "Look, if you want to get your uranium enriched, you are going to have to sign up for it now, basically on a take or pay contract." With all of these grandiose plans, the utilities signed "take or pay" contracts with the USEC to supply uranium and to get it enriched. During the period, while they were committing, there was such a demand for uranium by all of these utilities that it caused the price to go up.

Interviewer: And then there was Three Mile Island.

Willmott: The demand for nuclear power went away after Three Mile Island. But, the utilities had already committed with mining companies to buy the uranium and they had already committed with USEC to enrich it. When the bloom went off the rose, there was no need for the uranium. The demand for the uranium went away, but the uranium kept coming out. That created a huge overhang that caused the prices to plummet and stay down for quite a number of years until the actual production was consumed. The "real" demand really turned out to be based more upon perception. When that perception died, the need for nuclear power died, but the supply kept coming out.

Interviewer: What about the demand today?

Willmott: Demand today is real. What is different in this cycle, besides the difference in the mining methods and the costs, which we've gone over, is that this is really a REAL demand right now. It's coming from the utilities that realize there is an impending shortage of uranium.

James Finch contributes to StockI and other publications. His archived articles can be found at Please contact James Finch with your feedback and comments by emailing him at: jfinch@

Exposed: The World’s Best Kept Uranium Secret

Perhaps the White House flap as to whether or not Saddam Hussein's government tried to buy uranium ore from the country of Niger was the best publicity Niger has had about its uranium production for more than two decades. How many geologists know that the Republic of Niger ranks fourth, behind Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan, in terms of the quantity of uranium annually produced worldwide?

Named after the river which runs through it, Niger produces nearly four times the uranium currently mined in the United States. More uranium is mined in Niger than in Russia, South Africa, India, China, Brazil, Ukraine Namibia or Uzbekistan. In fact, if you added up the total amount of uranium mined in South Africa, China, India, Brazil, Czech Republic and the Ukraine for 2004, Niger would trump the combined production of those six countries. Until Dr. Jon North came along, uranium mining was pretty much monopolized by Cogema and a consortium that includes Spanish and Japanese interests.

"This is the fourth largest uranium producer in the world," raved an excited Dr. North into his cell phone during our taped interview. "Niger has never had an entrepreneurial and nimble junior mining company ever explore for uranium. And this is the first one." North was talking about Northwestern Mineral Ventures (TSX: NWT; OTC BB: NWTMF). "Imagine if Australia, Canada and Kazakhstan having never had a junior company looking for uranium. It's absolutely absurd to even consider the concept."

The Republic of Niger supplies about 9 percent of the world's annual production to meet the growing need for uranium to fuel the world's nuclear reactors. According to the IAEA-NEA Red Book of 2003, the sub-Saharan Niger ranked #4 behind Australia, Kazakhstan and Canada for total uranium reserves. In the 2005 update, it fell to seventh place. It may be that this country is under-explored. In 1981, Niger produced a peak of 4366 tonnes of uranium. As with others, mining production plummeted with the spot price of uranium during the 1980s and 1990s. The slump hit the country hard because Niger depends upon uranium for more than 30 percent of its exports, more than $100 million. Five percent of the country's tax revenues come from uranium mining.

Dr. North discussed how he came to obtain concessions for both his company, North Atlantic Resources (TSX: NAC) and Northwestern Mineral Ventures, in which he serves as a director and helps guide geological colleague and president Marek Kreczmer. "I traveled around the Sahara Desert twice on field trips with a local Niger geologist before I decided to apply for permits. When I did this in 2004 with the minister of mines, he said to me, 'You know, you're the first person to ever do this, and the only people who have done this are energy companies or governments.' So, I told him I would like to apply for two permits." North obtained two for Northwestern Mineral Ventures and another for North Atlantic Resources.

Salt Tectonics the Key to Uranium in Niger

North explained, "We selected the projects based on the geologic ingredients that we felt were important in the control and distribution in the uranium, such as, but not limited to, northwest trending fault corridors, northeast trending fault corridors, and inliers of stratigraphy that are popping up through younger parts of the stratigraphy." According to North, the salt structures are the key to finding uranium in the Republic of Niger. "The northeast and northwest faults, and the inlier there, are all salt-related structures," North remarked. An inlier is an area or formation of older rocks completely surrounded by younger layers. "For decades, the oilfield people have understood, emphasized and completed research on salt, the deposition and then the movement of salt through stratigraphic sequences," North pointed out.

Salt is very common but it doesn't last very long in stratigraphy and it escapes, North explained. "When it escapes, it forms walls and diapirs (an anticlinal fold where the salt has pierced through the more brittle overlying rock)." Oil exploration geologists pay attention to these because they tend to form permeability barriers to oil and gas deposits. North is interested in them for a different reason, "We noticed that the salt diapirs, where they escaped through the sequence in Niger, coincided with the distribution of uranium deposits."

Uranium in the Republic of Niger is mined by open pit because of the sandstones. "These are redox deposits," North noted. "They tend to be associated with reduced layers and structures, such as the former salt diapirs and faults in the stratigraphy. At the time, we didn't really understand why we were doing that. We just knew there was an association with uranium deposits and these structures in Niger."

That appears to have made Dr. North's job a walk in the park, or in this case, a walk in the desert. How do you inexpensively explore concessions of 2,000 square kilometers each? That's about 24 miles and 30 miles each, both in the desert. "If you do the target selection carefully, and you stick to the salt diapirs, those really narrow down the search," North revealed. "When we do our first multi sensor mag and radiometric survey, which will happen in the next couple of months, we will map out those structures and features, and look for radiometric anomalies associated with them. When we have that data, we'll have at least 50 drill targets on those projects." There appear to be no scarcity of drill targets on the concessions.

Without that data, North believed he could have picked out ten high quality drill targets, just from the geology map. "They show up as circular bull's eyes on geology maps," North noted excitedly. "In the desert they show up as low hills. They're topographic anomalies where you have about maybe 50 meters of relief. It's just a low rise because the desert is flat as piss on a plate." North explained that you can drive anywhere by pointing your vehicle and stepping on the gas. "The only things in your way are these very low hills, and those hills are related to either faults or inliers (exposed older rocks surrounded by younger rocks)." Initial targeting comes straight from a topography map.

A Vote of Confidence on Current Progress

But what about the availability of drill rigs for this project? North conceded there is a global shortage. But he shot back, "There's a drilling company in West Africa called West African Drilling services – and surprise! surprise! – I've been working with them for the past four years." North has already discussed moving a rig in with them. "Quite honestly, it's not a big issue," he said. Neither is labor or the cost of drilling. "We pay an all-inclusive cost of approximately US$150/meter," North told us. "Labor costs are very low, about one-third the cost of North America. We use all local people because that's what we do in Mali. There are lots of highly trained, skilled geologists in Niger."

Clearly, Northwest Mineral Ventures is excited. "We are very pleased to be one of the first North American companies to acquire exploration permits in Niger – a country that has not been explored using modern techniques and has, until now, been one of the world's best-kept uranium secrets," Northwestern's Chairman and CEO Kabir Ahmed told Reuters in wire service story published in March.

Northwestern Mineral President Marek Krezcmer, who has been a geologist for more than thirty years, seventeen of which were spent exploring in Africa, was also enthused about the company's prospects in Niger, "We know there is uranium mineralization on the surface, based on the work which was done by Jon North. I think we can succeed. We're going to find uranium." Kreczmer is familiar with geology in Africa and doing business on this continent. "I've worked in Tanzania, Zambia, Swaziland, Ethiopia and Eritrea," said Kreczmer. He was optimistic about developing Northwestern Mineral Venture's uranium concessions, "Our business plan there is to discover mineralization, and (have) probably someone like Cogema become a partner of choice."

At Cogema's seven open pit uranium mines which feed the Arlitt mill, the grades have run 0.3 percent with 2003 production at 1126 tonnes. At the two open pit uranium mines which feed the Akouta mill, grades have run at between 0.4 and 0.5 percent with 2003 production at 2017 tonnes. Krezcmer explained that Northwestern's exploration licenses are valid for a period of nine years, three-year licenses which are renewable three times. The country's mining act, according to Krezcmer allows Northwestern to apply for a mining license, which can be granted for between 25 and 70 years.

We were concerned with any political situations, but both North and Kreczmer assured us the country is stable. "When I first went to Niger in November 2004, and that was during the last election, it honestly looked like a lot of fun. Everybody had a little piece of rag tied around their wrist or tied to the antenna of their car to represent their political affiliation." Kreczmer added, "My experience working in Africa is that because this country relies so heavily on foreign aid, the World Bank has great influence."

The Republic of Niger has North's vote on confidence. He has worked for the past few years as Chief Executive of North Atlantic Resources, which hopes to develop its Kantela gold property in Mali. Niger and Mali and demographically and geographical identical, he told us. North feels Niger is going to become more aggressive in developing its uranium properties. He talked about how the President of Niger told his minister of mines, "Get out there and advertise Niger as being open for business. We want people to come in here and invest. We want to give them mineral rights, and we want them to do what Mali is doing." From the looks of it, the first to jump on the Niger bandwagon were Northwestern Minerals and North Atlantic Resources, but they won't be the last.

"My experience with Niger is that it's a peaceful, democratic country with no civil unrest. Let's put it this way. They have less civil unrest than France." Ironically, French is one of the country's official languages. "You gotta be fair, right?" asked North. "The French recently stormed the Bastille in France, and they didn't do anything like that in Niger."

Just how exhilarated is Dr. Jon North? "The excitement in the market is we do the airborne survey," he enthused. "We find some radiometric anomalies that correlated within inliers. We show the model. If that doesn't excite people, then I don't think their hearts are beating."

James Finch contributes to StockI and other publications. His archived articles can be found at Please contact James Finch with your feedback and comments by emailing him at: jfinch@

Why Does a Company’s Uranium Resource Calculations Double?

Have you ever wondered how a uranium company's "resource calculation" can increase, sometimes even double? I did and I began making inquiries about this. In February, during a meeting, it was a topic of discussion with William Boberg, Chief Executive of UR-Energy (TSX: URE). I have also had talks with David Miller, President of Strathmore Minerals (TSX: STM; Other OTC: STHJF), and his senior geologist, Terrence Osier. The differences in resources reported by a company, in at least one of the examples found below – Strathmore Minerals' Church Rock property, is because of the mining methods to be used. The grade-thickness applied to the resource may differ between conventional mining (underground, open pit) versus in-situ solution mining. That can increase the size of the estimated resource.

A Canadian listed mining company can not announce its uranium resource estimate unless it files a document called a National Instrument 43-101 (NI-43-101). You may read in some news releases: These are historical estimates. The NI 43-101 came about after the 1997 Bre-X Minerals debacle. Possibly the worst mining scam in Canadian history, it was preceded and followed by other, lesser mining scams. Canadian regulators instituted measures to prevent a repeat performance. A National Instrument 43-101 means that an independent, qualified person has visited the property, reviewed the historical data, and reaches a conclusion on whether or not the property has merit.

Some of the oft-repeated grumblings by uranium insiders include, "This isn't a gold property in an Indonesian jungle." In fact, they are correct. Many of the properties held by some of the front runners for uranium mining development in the United States have had thousands of exploration drill holes, and hundreds (if not thousands) of delineation drill holes. Using UR-Energy as an example, this company's Lost Soldier project has had more than 3,700 drill holes within a two square mile area. Historically, New Mexico and Wyoming have been two of the world's top uranium producing areas. It is probably impossible to correctly estimate the total number of holes that have actually been drilled in these two states. In one geological textbook, Boberg suggested that millions of feet have been drilled in Wyoming.

Insistence by the Toronto Stock Exchange that companies file a National Instrument 43-101 on their properties has worked out in favor of investors. One case in point is Strathmore Minerals. On January 4th, the company issued a news release announcing an increase in its uranium resource estimate at its Church Rock, New Mexico property. The second sentence read, "The 43-101 report provides a new resource estimate which has increased to 11.8 million pounds of U3O8 from the historically reported 6 million pounds U3O8."

This begs the question, asked at the beginning of this article: "Have you ever wondered how a uranium company's "resource calculation" can increase, sometimes even double?" Much of what follows is advanced geological mathematics and may be confusing. Behind all the geometrical calculations, there are a few simple explanations. When a major mining company, such as Kerr-McGee, was establishing a uranium resource estimate, it was because its exploration team needed to prove the value of the project and get approval from its board of directors before investing in capital costs.

Kerr-McGee used the "Circle Tangent" resource method (don't fall asleep now; we'll explain that in a moment). Uranium mining in the 1970s and 1980s was mainly underground mining. Capital costs were well above $100 million for a mine and mill complex. They wanted to ensure they had plenty of uranium to feed that mill.

It should be noted that Kerr-McGee, and other underground operators, used a 6-foot true thickness cutoff combined with a 0.1 percent grade cutoff. This is 0.6GT. Six feet was the height of the mining equipment and operator. Phillips Uranium used 8ft at 0.075 percent, but still 0.6GT, because their equipment was larger.

When the price of uranium rose in the late 1970s, reports, maps, and resource calculation sheets started to show 6ft at 0.05 percent (0.3GT) on them. The price went up, the recoverable grade went down. However, the 6-foot height did not change, just the grade they could economically mine.

With in-situ recovery, the thickness of the intercept doesn't matter so much. A lower grade cutoff can be used. When Strathmore reported an initial cutoff grade of 0.03 percent (standard for ISL operations), their geologists used a 0.3GT cutoff to directly compare with the 6ft of 0.05 percent resource of 10.9 million pounds which Kerr-McGee used in 1979.

Most uranium mining in the United States is likely to be in-situ solution mining (ISL). Another method used to calculate resources in tabular deposits is called the "polygonal" method. Tabular deposits are amenable to ISL mining. Some believe these are far more accurate in estimating uranium resources. Others disagree.

It's not that there is more uranium on the property, or over the past 20-25 years, more uranium "grew" or floated onto the property. It is that the size of the uranium mineralization has been more accurately described. As bonus to investors, the stock prices often run higher after such announcements are made. In the case of Strathmore Minerals, the stock price rallied by about 10 percent after the company announced the increase in its resource estimate.

Guidelines

The guidelines for defining the amount of uranium mineralization have to do with geometric patterns. Kerr-McGee used blocks in 1985, according to the company's guidelines. Kerr-McGee would define an ore body, decide if feasible to mine, and then build the mine. When underground and mining, they would proceed with longhole drilling and find more ore. Below is an excerpt from a Kerr-McGee document, which describes how to construct blocks for a "measured resource."

"For each surface drill hole intercept of material equal to or above thickness and grade cutoffs, a circle shall be drawn using a radius equal to one-half the horizontal distance to the nearest below cutoff hole which tested the entire thickness of the same sedimentary unit, or a radius of 50 feet, whichever is less.

Although the 50-foot radius is the standard area of influence in New Mexico, this can vary depending on the area. Development in Wyoming, for example, currently uses a 25-foot radius circle for open pit "shallow" intercepts (250' depth).

Two or more above cutoff holes may be connected to construct a Measured block by lines tangent to the circles provided that:

The above cutoff intercepts TIE, that is, they are in the same lithologic portion of the same sedimentary unit and at least one foot of the intercepts can be connected with each other by a horizontal line.

There are no below cutoff holes which tested the same sedimentary unit falling within the Measured block.

By comparison, Pathfinder Mines, Ranchers Exploration, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and others used the polygonal method. It was first described in 1966 and is used as an acceptable method for calculating a uranium resource (reference appear at the end of this article). Strathmore Minerals uses the Equi-Distance Perpendicular Bi-Sector Polygonal Resource Method because both David Miller (President) and John DeJoia (vice president of technical services) previously worked for Pathfinder Mines. DeJoia is overseeing the geological and permitting work in Santa Fe for Strathmore's properties.

This polygonal method is described below in constructing the AOI (area of influence) polygons from surface drill holes:

(1) drill holes are plotted on the map,

(2) drift direction and distance are plotted, and

(3) lines are drawn connecting neighboring drill holes (we used the bottom-hole location of the drill holes {i.e. end of drift}).

(4) perpendicular lines were drawn equi-distant between the connected drill holes,

(5) these perpendicular lines were connected with other perpendicular lines, thus

(6) creating an equi-distance AOI polygon about individual drill holes.

(7) the areas for each AOI polygon were determined.

The areas are then applied to an Excel file containing the drill hole data (intercept depths and thickness, grade, etc.) to arrive at the various mineral resources calculated at the desired GT (grade x thickness of 0.1 to 1.0) cutoffs. According to Strathmore Minerals senior geologist Terrence Osier, "For the various resources we reported we used a limited, maximum size to the polygon's area of influence." With the Church Rock resource estimates, Osier explained the parameters for limiting the resources were as follows:

Measured: 100 ft x 100ft (10,000ft2)

Indicated: 200ft x 200ft minus the measured resource

Measured and Indicated: maximum sized polygon of 200ft x 200ft (40,000ft2)

Inferred: 400ft x 400ft minus the measured and indicated resource.

Using the polygonal method, companies are increasing their resource estimates above the historically provided data. Additionally, as the spot price of uranium continues to rise (or at least remains above $40/pound), the quantity of economic uranium mineralization increases. At some point, if spot uranium stabilizes at a much higher level, all of the uranium development companies may have to upwardly revise their resource estimates.

(Editor's Note: Special thanks to Terrence Osier, Strathmore Minerals senior geologist, for providing StockI with this invaluable data.)

REFERENCES

Parker, H.M., 1990, Reserve estimation of uranium deposits, in Kennedy, B.A., ed., Surface Mining, 2nd Edition: Society for Mining and Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., Littleton, CO, Chapter 3.4.2, p.355-375.

Popoff, C.C., 1966, Computing reserves of mineral deposits: principles and conventional methods: U.S. Bureau of Mines Informational Circular IC 8283, 113p.

Sandefur, R.L., and Grant, D.C., 1976, Preliminary evaluation of uranium deposits. A geostatistical study of drilling density in Wyoming solution fronts, in Exploration for uranium ore deposits, Proceedings of a Symposium, 29 March to 2 April, 1976, by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, p.695-714.

James Finch contributes to StockI and other publications. His complete archived articles on uranium and other topics can be found at Many of these feature articles include valuable maps, charts, and other graphics which can better help you understand the content of his articles. You can write to James Finch at jfinch@ All emails will receive a prompt response.

Investment Series – Investor Versus Trader

Many people have mixed up the terms " Investor " and " Trader " to mean the same thing. They can't be more wrong. It is exactly the mixing up of these 2 very important terms that led to many people starting on the wrong foot in the capital markets.

An Investor is a person who puts his money where it can potentially generate a return. He does not usually get involved in the money making process. Investors include buyers of investment real estate and buyers of funds.

A Trader is a person who fights in the capital markets front line personally in order to generate equity. He is the one who personally chooses the investment instrument (e.g option trading), makes an opinion on it and executes a series of trades in order to make money out of it.

Too many people have mixed being a trader for being an investor. This has led to a lot of misunderstanding. The misunderstanding comes from the wide spread teaching that anyone can choose to break out of the "rat race" by choosing to be an investor rather than a worker. That person then turns to exploring option trading or forex or such instruments "as an investor" and completely finds that not everyone can excel in those areas.

While it is true that anyone can be an investor by putting your money in a well diversified portfolio, not everyone can be a successful trader. Active trading requires far more skill and finesse to master and to make consistent money for income replacement. This is especially true when a lot of the strategies that are available today are highly subjective.

However, only by being a trader will anyone be able to generate the legendary returns that they yearn so much. And being a trader is exactly the hardest to do unless you have a proven system to follow or someone to mentor you.

Therefore, before you take the plunge into the capital markets, make sure you know what you are really into. If you have decided to become a trader, make sure you keep your full time job while you look for a proven system to learn. A proven system is something like the Star Trading System which I have followed with great success for years.

Jason Ng is the Founder of Masters 'O' Equity international. He is a fund manager specialising in options trading and his Star Trading System has helped thousands. Please visit www.MastersoE .

Who Else Wants to Use a Forex Demo Account?

Have you ever wondered how important it is to practice? When trading the Forex market is a very wise idea to use a Forex demo account. The word "demo" means practice. It also means that you can use someone else's money to see if the Forex works for you.

I have been trading, the Forex for about a year. I used a demo account before I began to use a live trading account and real money. Using a demo account stops you from worrying about money and let's you concentrate on learning strategies, technical trading, fundamental trading and seeing how the world news affects the market.

A demo account will provide you with live quotes, live charts, and streaming news. These tools are essential to your Forex trading. You can test and evaluate trading strategies under real market conditions with no risks. A good Forex broker will provide you with live support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year free of charge.

And yes, you do need a broker to trade the Forex. You can set up a free practice trading account through a Forex broker with no money involved, and it takes about three or four minutes. The broker will provide you with about $50,000 in fake money that you can use in your demo account to practice trading the Forex market. The beauty of this is that you can lose all the money in your account and then open a new account and start over. A demo account is usually good for 30 days. After your account expires, you can set up another one. You can use demo accounts for as long as you want.

After using a practice account, you can go to live trading for as little as $300. This is called a mini trading account. A mini trading account is designed for those who are new to the Forex market. A mini account lets you trade in smaller contract sizes, so you have less risk. If you open a live mini account a good broker will also let you have a demo account at the same time. This allows you to test your strategies.

One of the great things about trading the Forex market is that the brokers do not charge commissions. You probably have seen advertisements for stock market brokers that say they have low commissions (may be $7 a trade). What they don't tell you is that the commission they charge is only to get into the trade. You have to pay again to get out of the trade. So the trade would cost you, $14. With a Forex broker, you are not charged anything to get in or out of a trade. You can get in and out of trades as many times as you wish at no charge.

I advocate using a practice account until you are very comfortable with trading the forex market. Although I still consider myself a "newbie" when it comes to trading, I know, the practice account helps me a great deal.

I found a good Forex course that taught me everything I needed to know as a beginner and then moved me on to a more advanced level. If you're interested in the course that I took (and learned a great deal from) you can access that information below. It worked for me; I know it can work for you!

Greatest success with your trading,

Sue R. Edwards

Find a new & exciting career trading the Forex! Get a FREE report at:

This report will explain the Forex in-depth! It can change your life!

Find a new & exciting career trading the Forex! Get a FREE report at:

This report will explain the Forex in-depth! It can change your life!

Sue Edwards has a new career online working for herself. Sue has a very diverse background in: Banking, Taxi Driving, Auto Mechanics, Industrial Mechanics, Internet Trainer, Nuclear Power, Computer Repair and Law Enforcement. Sue is, also, an active foreign currency trader and internet marketer.

Rising Commodity Prices Causing New Turmoil Through The Mining Sector

The Gold and Silver Index (XAU) is holding steady above 120, having reached a high above 156 in January, a level it had not seen since September 18, 1987. The spot uranium price is higher than it's been since January 1980. Crude oil? Filling up your gas tank should remind you that oil prices are still painfully high. So all of this must mean mining companies are thrilled with their good fortune? WRONG! There's a snowballing crisis in the mining sector, which has been kept off the typical investor's radar screen. This new emergency could drive commodity prices to even higher levels over the coming months, and possibly until the end of the decade.

The two-decade long bear market drove many geologists out of the mining sector. Drilling companies went bankrupt. Even with the recent explosion of activity in the mining sector, exploration in the sector is less than one-third of its peak in 1981, when more than 5,500 drill rigs were running.

The mining sector's labor and drill rig shortage has gone past the "we're in a crisis" stage. Without qualified geological staff and drill rigs for exploration and development programs, companies may fail to get their projects online fast enough to satisfy the worldwide demand for their metals, whether it is gold, silver, copper, or uranium. The Baker Hughes North American rotary rig count is a good barometer of how strongly the commodities boom has impacted the sector. In 1999, the U.S. and Canadian drill rig count reached its nadir of 488. On March 17th, the number stood at 1546 and climbing. Over the past seven years, the count jumped 316 percent. Compared to a year ago, the North American Rotary Rig Count is up by nearly 20 percent.

During the course of our three-month investigation, we found the labor and equipment shortage applied not only to uranium but also to coal, oil and gas, coal bed methane and precious metals exploration. Ed Calvert, who runs Nucor Drilling Inc in Wyoming, exclaimed, "There just aren't any rigs available in the U.S. You may find one, but it's a problem finding the right rig at the right time." His company began searching for a drill rig in September for drilling scheduled to commence June 1st. Calvert explained that the big oil companies had signed up rig contracts so they wouldn't get caught short, adding, "Whether the rigs are being used daily or not, they are paying the fees to hold them."

Vancouver-based Max Resources announced in early January of this year they had received permits to drill on their Thomas Mountain uranium prospect in Utah. They hoped to drill in late January, depending upon drill rig availability. Max Resources recently announced it planned to start drilling on or about the middle of March. Norman Burmeister planned more wisely, announcing in mid January Kilgore Minerals would drill the company's Idaho gold property in July.

The drill rig shortage pales when compared to the frighteningly tight labor market in the mining sector. According to the February 2006 Employment Situation Summary, published by the U.S. Department of Labor, "Mining continued its upward trend in February, adding 5,000 jobs." Cynthia Pomeroy, Director of Wyoming's Department of Employment confirmed the crisis, "There is definitely a labor shortage."

Matt Grant, assistant director of the Wyoming Mining Association adamantly announced, "There are 800 direct job openings in the mining business that could be filled today." He quickly noted another 2400 indirect jobs to service the mining industry remain empty, begging for bodies to satisfy those positions. Starting geologists make between $35,000 and $50,000 annually. Top geologists command $200,000 and higher. Mining consultants get $800-1000/day. Even day helpers on drill rigs can charge $22/hour or more. Wyoming state and county development associations have attended job fairs in Michigan earnestly trying to fill the growing job vacancy by recruiting laid-off auto workers.

David Michaud, president of TheJobP finds jobs for geologists, metallurgists and others in the mining sector. A mining engineer and consulting metallurgist, having graduated from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and until recently the operations manager for Corriente Resources in Ecuador, he began his internet employment agency for the mining sector because the demand was overwhelming. "Headhunters who have been around for twenty years say they've never seen a market like this," Michaud stressed. "For the last ten years, the mining industry fed mining graduates to the wolves. Now they need them. All are busy with no takers to those far away places." Michaud lambasted the mining companies for their lack of foresight, "Mining companies have to expect the demand for professionals, such as production geologists, will go up with the price of metals. There were no jobs for the past eight years." He added, "It takes two to five years to train them."

For example, Michaud is desperately trying to fill a South American mining company's job opening for an experienced metallurgist. "Free housing, two cars, four weeks off annually, two plane tickets, basically no living expenses, and a salary starting at US$150, 000," Michaud sadly explained because no one has jumped at the offer. "In the field of metallurgy, including mill managers, metallurgical engineers, techs and operators, about 150 new jobs are offered each month." Only about one-half will be filled. Michaud warned the copper mining companies were in especially dire straits to fill new job openings.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration announced in its most recently published annual report, "The U.S. uranium production industry initiated a turnaround in 2004. All U.S. uranium drilling, mining, production, and employment activities increased for the first time since 1998. More companies conducted exploration and development drilling than in the prior 2 years. Employment in the U.S. uranium production industry totaled 420 person-years, an increase of 31 percent from the 2003 total. Wyoming accounted for 33 percent of the total 2004 employment, while Colorado and Texas employment almost tripled since 2003. Overall, $86.9 million went to drilling, production, land, exploration, reclamation and restoration activities in 2004."

While the spot uranium price continues rising, exploration companies may find it harder to recruit veteran uranium geologists, to sign contracts for drill rigs, and to operate those rigs. Nucor's Calvert laughed, "Finding and keeping employees is definitely a problem." Michaud explained, "Finding a metallurgist is hard enough. Finding one with uranium experience is almost impossible." David Miller, president of Strathmore Minerals, lamented, "Expertise in the uranium industry started with geologists who made discoveries in the late 1940s through the late 1970s. They trained the next generation, which coincided with the 1970s uranium boom. That boom was short lived and fizzled out by 1981. A very small number of professionals continued in the uranium industry, during the twenty-year bear market. Now that the number of uranium companies has skyrocketed to more than 420, there is a potentially catastrophic shortage of uranium expertise." The generation gap has come to haunt the industry.

What's the solution? Many, such as Michaud, believe, "Retired baby boomers are coming out of retirement to fill the generational gap and ride their last metal rush into the sunset." Bloomberg News ran a story on December 8th discussing developments in the oil sector, "U.S. producers and contractors such as Ryder Scott, which assesses drilling projects and oil and natural-gas reserves, are working harder to keep their oldest employees and recruit college graduates because there aren't enough new engineers to go around. Engineers who help find petroleum deposits are in demand…"

Aging talent has found its way back into the uranium sector. Aging geologists such as Dr. Boen Tan, who helped discover two of the Key Lake uranium deposits in Canada's uranium-rich Athabasca Basin in the early 1970s, is now helping Forum Development explore for new uranium deposits at its Costigan Lake, Key Lake Road and Maurice Point projects in Athabasca. Uranerz Energy's entire advisory board consists of former Uranerz professionals, including top geologists, Dr. Franz Dahlkamp and Dr. Gerhard Ruhrmann. Respectively, they have 45 and nearly 30 years experience in the sector. Strathmore Minerals geological team includes former Pathfinder Mines employees, a subsidiary of Cogema, including board member Dieter Krewedl, President David Miller, and vice president of technical services, John DeJoia. Some of these companies bring more than 200 years of experience, collectively, to their new ventures. But without sufficient new mining school graduates to mentor under them, future exploration and development may become stalled.

What is troubling about the uranium market, in particular, is that the soaring spot uranium price shows no signs of abating. The crisis comes at a time when President Bush announced his nuclear initiative, as more U.S. utilities plan to add to the country's nuclear fleet, and as China and India clamor for a reliable source of uranium to fuel their aggressive nuclear energy programs. Without uranium for those reactors, the power plants won't produce the electricity required to meet their demand. As an aside, uranium mining is the stage in the nuclear fuel cycle where the environmentalist fanatics are baring their teeth. This past November, an office manager at Albuquerque's Southwest Research and Information Center, an anti-nuclear activist group reportedly funded by Mott's Applesauce and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, told us when we went undercover, "We want to stop the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle, which is uranium mining."

Don't say the warnings weren't made well in advance. At the World Nuclear Association (WNA) Symposium in 2004, Dr Moukhtar Dzhakishev, a Russian physicist and a former deputy minister of energy and mineral resources, presented his conclusions, "Firstly, natural uranium mining capacities cannot satisfy reactor requirements. Secondly, accumulated uranium inventories will be exhausted sooner or later. Thirdly, the spot price does not reflect the actual problems and, on the contrary, is capable of misleading all of us about the urgency of investments to be made in the development of new mining facilities."

In his speech, Dr. Dzhakishev emphasized to the WNA, "Judging by these facts, the conclusion is evident: one day nuclear power plants will face a natural uranium shortage and it is not necessary to be a prophet to foresee this. It is clear today that the key to the solution of the major problems of the uranium market lies with the development of the potential of the uranium producers."

This past August, Angela Jameson reported in the online version of The London Times, "A GLOBAL shortage of uranium could jeopardise plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations in Britain… a recent report by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada said that there was likely to be a 45,000-tonne shortage of uranium in the next decade, largely because of growing Chinese demand for the metal."

The upward spiral of the commodities boom is racing ahead at full speed. Depending upon whom you talk to, the labor and drill rig shortage is either very bad or worse than you can possibly imagine. If there are commodity inventory shortages right now, what happens by the end of this year, or later this decade, if current exploration efforts get grounded because companies lack the trained personnel, the proper equipment and the expertise to explore and/or develop their properties? You can't run a drill rig if you can't get your hands on one. You can't drill the property if you can't find drillers to run the rig. While commodities prices soar to levels not seen in twenty or thirty years, the tight labor and equipment market could ratchet prices to much higher levels. And junior uranium development companies, with proven pounds-in-the-ground assets, should become sought-after acquisition targets by those who have the staff and drill rigs to bring the projects online.

For investors, the labor and drill rig shortage has a silver lining. As inventories dwindle lower, commodity prices will continue rising. For junior uranium investors, this might someday be realized as the "hidden reason" why spot uranium prices continued rising past $40/pound. If you don't drill for the commodity, you can't find it and develop it. This strengthens the case for $50/pound uranium in the near future. Now we understand why Strathmore Minerals' David Miller warned us in November, "I wouldn't be surprised to see uranium prices double again."

James Finch contributes to http://StockI and other publications. His archived articles can be found at

An Inside Look At Cameco’s Smith Ranch Uranium Facility

Cameco Corp (NYSE: CCJ) is the 800-pound gorilla of the uranium sector. Cameco is to uranium what Wal-Mart is to retailing, and what Saudi Aramco is to petroleum. On a percentage basis, Cameco dominates its sector more so than either of the two. Cameco probably has more clout in turning off the electricity now powering your computer than any other company in the world.

This week, the spot price of uranium rose to $40/pound, for the first time since Ronald Reagan was president. That should help grow the uranium business in Wyoming by leaps and bounds. In Part 5, we look at the largest U.S. uranium producer, Cameco-owned Power Resources.

Understanding 'In Situ Leach' Uranium Extraction

"It took $284 million Canadian to build, and it operated with 546 people," said Patrick Drummond, Plant Superintendent for Cameco subsidiary Power Resources' Smith Ranch facility. He was pointing to Kerr McGee's Smith Ranch underground mine on the wall across from desk, which was later converted into an ISL operation, first run by Rio Algom. "This operation cost US$44 million to build and 80 people to start." Drummond was referring to the In Situ Leaching (ISL) uranium extraction facility, known as Smith Ranch. "That should give you the scale of the ISL versus an underground mine," he explained.

The aging, but sprightly, Drummond knows his uranium. He's worked in underground mines, open pit mines, and uranium mills since 1980. From 1996 to the present day, he's worked in Wyoming for Power Resources at the company's ISL uranium extraction facility. "I started off in the coal mines in Scotland," boasted Drummond, who claims he can spot a coal miner in a bar, just by looking at the veins in his hands. "I worked up in Elliot Lake and the massive underground mines up there." Clasping his hands and looking down, he seemed to apologize, "It's also a massive environmental problem to clean up, a major undertaking. Quirk Lake was one of the bigger mines up there. It cost a lot of money to clean it up."

The New Face of Wyoming's Uranium Mining is the ISL uranium extraction method, also known as solution mining. The differences between mining uranium underground and an ISL operation are both minor and vast. Both methods mine uranium beneath the surface. So both methods are underground mining. However, that is where the similarities end. "With underground, you bring up the ore, grate it, crush it, and extract the uranium from the ore," Drummond explained the basics of underground uranium mining. "That ore becomes waste, which is known as tailings. You then have to service these big tailings and then decommission."

ISL is the new breed of mining. "With ISL, we don't do that," continued Drummond in his day-long lecture to our editorial team during a VIP tour of the Smith Ranch facility. "To mine underground with ISL, you drill the holes where the uranium is and extract the uranium from the underground ore," he said. "Then, you process that into yellowcake."

It's not all wine and roses for Drummond, though. He pines away for his underground mines, "From a mining perspective, it's not mining so it is not as exciting. Drummond laughs, "ISL is like a water treatment plant. We take water out and remove some ions." He makes it sound so simple, "We remove the water from the underground and remove the ions, being the uranium ion. Then, we put the water back under the ground." All of the water goes back into the ground? Actually no. Drummond explained, "We take our water out and we put 99 percent back in. The one percent we call 'bleed.' It's a control function."

Drummond cites more comparables, "To start an underground mine, it would take a year to do the shaft before you could start mining. Then, there's the development cost of the mill complex. You have all that outlay of cost before you can get any benefit. It's expensive to do underground -- $200 million plus – because of the upfront development costs." From his perspective, the miner in Drummond has come to like solution mining. "ISL is easier. It is a lot cheaper: less expensive capital costs and less operating expenditures. It is less labor intensive." Asked about the deadly radon emissions, often cited as a danger in underground mining, Drummond shot back, "This is a zero emission facility."

Analyzing the two methods, he said, "You can start producing faster with an ISL operation. You start your first header house, and you can start producing and make money." He added, "So you get a return on your investment faster." What's the downside? "We also recover less uranium with ISL," Drummond admitted. "Some of Cameco's mines in Saskatchewan are running around 5, 10, 15, and 27 percent uranium. In this area, or in an ISL, it runs less than one or two percent. It's very low." Plus the uranium ore body must be found below the water table. He added, "You can only do ISL in rock that's porous and has water in it in the first place."

To put it in the simplest terms, billions of years ago, the uranium found its way into the underground aquifers of Wyoming's sandstones. "We add oxygen and get the uranium back into solution," Drummond remarked. "We complex it with CO2 to keep it in solution, and then bring it to the surface. We extract it with an ion exchange base." According to Drummond, extracting uranium works on the same principle as a water softener. "We add salts to the resin to get the uranium to back off from the resin. Then, we take that uranium and make it into a final product called yellow cake."

And why it is called yellowcake? "Some of it is yellow; some of it is green or dark green. Some of it is black," Drummond patiently explained. "The color is a function of how we dry it, not how we process it. There is a very definite correlation between drying temperatures of yellow cake and color." It all depends on what chemicals you use while processing uranium. At Smith Ranch, we make uranium peroxide. It is very clean and yellow. We complex uranium with hydrogen peroxide to make our product. You can make different types of yellowcake. You can make a uranium diuranate, a complex made with ammonia." Yellowcake can be made with other chemicals.

How is Wyoming's ISL uranium dried? "We dry the uranium with vacuum dryers," said Drummond. "The benefit of vacuum dryers is first of all, it's a vacuum so everything is sucked inside the canister so nothing escapes into the environment. There are no gases that escape."

Investigating the Environmental Issues

It was, at this point, we felt it appropriate to inquire about all the puzzling worries many of us might correlate when thinking about nuclear energy and uranium. How safe is all of this really? "When we first started uranium mining, we inherited people from the gold mines," Drummond explained. "They were underground, and smoking, breathing in the dust. In the early days, we didn't have good ventilation. In underground mining, you've got to keep the air moving." Hard rock underground mining produces dust. "The shards of silicone you are breathing stick to the follicles on your lungs," he noted. But that doesn't happen during the ISL extraction process. No emissions, a farm of well fields with underground pipes and tubing, and very detailed safeguards explain they the lobby wall of Power Resources is lined with Safety Award certificates and plaques.

"On a daily basis, when we leave the facility, we are scanned for alpha radiation," continued Drummond. "Depending upon your position here, you get urinalysis once per week or once per month. We also check for radiation levels." How did Drummond fare on his most recent radiation check? "I was way below," he laughed. "There are guys on the beach in Malibu that have higher radiations than I have."

What precautions does Power Resources take to protect the environment during the ISL extraction process? "Since 1996, we have had zero excursions," Drummond announced with steeliness in his voice. "We take very great pains to look at the topography, so if we do have an excursion, we make sure it does not enter what we call the 'waters of the state.' Any channel that could take that and move it into the 'waters of the state,' is something that we are very cognizant of."

After the holes are drilled into the well fields, a company does a 'baseline sample.' Drummond said, "That's a sample of the constituents in the water. When we mobilize the uranium, we mobilize other items. It is our duty here, after we start the well field, to return the aquifer back to baseline when we are done." He added, "If we know what's in the water before we start, then we know how to restore it to background." Restoration of the underground tampering with Mother Nature can take anywhere from 18 to 36 months.

The company is meticulous in restoring the landscape as well. Any restoration work on the surface is called "reclamation." That can involve farming. "When we start a well field, we have to, by license, remove the topsoil and store it somewhere," Drummond explained. "When we go back to reclaim the property, we take all the pipes out, we take the houses down, and cut our wells off. It's all identified. We put an ID marker on the well. In 50 years time, when Farmer Joe comes around and wonders what was there, the state can say, 'That was a uranium well.' From the time we've stopped mining, we put everything back to normal."

It takes from two to four months, or up to seven years, to exhaust a well field, depending upon the roll fronts. While it can take up to 24 months to put in a well field, reclamation and restoration take longer. "We put back the topsoil on, depending upon the weather, as soon as we can," said Drummond. "We re-seed, during the spring or the fall, which is the best time for seeds. The seed we use is dictated by the regulators so we use a certain amount of native vegetation." Because it's very dry at the Smith Ranch, nearly bordering on desert, and because it is also very windy, slapping down the topsoil won't last very long. "First, we plant some fast-growing oats to establish a root bed," he explained. "If we just planted grasses, it would all blow away. Because we plant the oats, we have fat antelope and fat deer." From our observations, the sheep were well-fed and frisky.

How does Wyoming ISL mining compare to other places, such as in Texas or in Kazakhstan? "In Wyoming, the water is pristine, very clean, even compared to Texas, where they do ISL," answered Drummond. "The water's pretty clean down there also." Is the uranium the same? "When we bring our uranium to the surface, it comes up as uranyl dicarbonate," he responded. "In Texas, it comes up as uranyl tricarbonate." What's the difference? It's in the processing of the uranium. "We get about 8.5 pounds of pounds of uranium per cubic foot of resin," he explained. "In Texas, they get about 3 to 4 pounds of uranium per cubic foot of resin."

Drummond described the Smith Ranch ion exchange operation, "We have two columns in the ion exchange, each with about 500 cubic feet of resin." The resin costs about $200/cubic foot and, barring mechanical damage, can last up to thirty years, according to Drummond. The polymer beads – they look like tiny plastic ball bearings – capture the uranium during the processing phase. "In Kazakhstan, you get about two to three pounds of uranium per cubic foot of resin," he continued. "They use hydrochloric acid because of the water conditions. Of course, you've changed the chemistry of the water and have all the acid to clean up." Drummond described the water in Kazakhstan as very brackish, and yellowish. "The TDS (total dissolved solids) is very high," he added. "The water's not fit for human consumption anyways." He laughed, "Using acid over there cleans their water up."

James Finch contributes to http://StockI and other publications. His unedited and archived work can be found at Feedback to James Finch is welcome: jfinch@

The Forex Market and Its Success Potential

The Forex market (or Foreign Exchange market) has become one of the most lucrative forms of stock trading in history. Until recently, this market was limited to government banks and lending institutions. Today, any investor can take advantage of this profitable market easily.

The Forex market is a sector of the stock market where someone can buy and sell foreign currency by phone, online or other methods 24 hours a day. It is now one of the most profitable and largest markets in the world, with over $2 trillion worth of currency being traded daily!

In this unique market, currency is bought and sold based on the fluctuation of exchange rates. You're actually buying one type of currency with another type of currency and profiting from the difference if you buy and sell at the right time.

For instance, someone who buys Euro dollars with U.S. dollars will profit if U.S. dollars are worth even more at the time of selling (exchanging Euros back into U.S. dollars). It works similar to other stock market ventures except the broker makes money from the difference in the buy/sell amounts for the two countries.

There are three factors that can affect the value of currency and the exchange rate between two countries. Interest rates can change on a daily basis depending on the country's currency value. These interest rates affect the lending rates used to buy foreign currency when borrowing to do so.

The unemployment rate also affects a nation's currency value. The economy is usually very weak at times of high unemployment, thus causing the value of the currency to decrease. A third factor is when major political events take place in a country such as elections, national disasters, wars, etc.

These three factors alone can cause the exchange rates among countries to fluctuate tremendously, and they are worth watching if you're planning to invest in the Forex market.

The Forex market offers plenty of earning potential once you understand how it works. One reason this market is so lucrative is because you are able to trade any time of the day. It's not limited by corporate schedules or anything else.

Another reason you can profit is because brokers will lend you the money to get started - up to 100 times of your cash on hand! So, you'll have tremendous trading power right from the start.

The Forex market is a great business opportunity where you don't have to buy and sell a product, advertise your business or spend endless hours trying to implement new business strategies. You just invest and keep a sharp eye on foreign happenings!

Disclaimer: There is risk involved when you invest in the Forex market as there is with any other stock transaction.

Wyoming Could Play A Key Role In U.S. Nuclear Future

Will the Wyoming Uranium Province Rival Canada's Athabasca or Australia's Northern Territories?

"Geology is 90 percent terminology and 10 percent science," laughed Ray E. Harris, one of Wyoming's leading geological theoreticians, having been with the Wyoming Geological Survey since 1982. He died on March 7th. Two weeks earlier, we met with and interviewed Mr. Harris. Everyone we met in Wyoming, and who was interested in uranium mining, had, at one time or another, passed through his office, which was adjacent to the University of Wyoming in Laramie.

Ray Harris traveled the world, investigating and studying uranium deposits. He was well versed on the geology of every significant uranium deposit on earth and was also involved in the exploration, development and mining of uranium. In a Geological Survey of Wyoming Public Information Circular, published in 1986, Ray Harris presented a unique, and possibly controversial, thesis, "The genesis of uranium deposits in Athabasca, Canada and Northern Australia – Wyoming exploration significance." In his introduction, Harris wrote:

"Wyoming has some uranium occurrences in geological environments similar to those of Australia and the Athabasca Basin, and appears to have the potential for a uranium deposit similar in magnitude to those deposits."

Harris acknowledged in his paper, "Reported reserves for these two regions are 436,360,000 tons of U3O8, or one quarter to one third of the noncommunist world's proven reserves." At the same time, the total 1982 U.S. uranium reserves at $30/pound stood at 203,000 tons. Wyoming's piece of that mineable pie stood at 32,700 tons. His was a bold statement, open to debate it not outright dispute and dismissal.

Perhaps there may be truth in Harris' claim. In 1981, E.S. Cheney published an article in American Scientist, entitled "The Hunt for Giant Uranium Deposits," where he explained a giant deposit would contain more than 100 million pounds of recoverable U3O8. But can the parts amount to more than a single giant uranium deposit? William Boberg in his 1981 article, "Some Speculations on the Development of Central Wyoming as a Uranium Province," published in the Wyoming Geological Association Guidebook, wrote, "The Wyoming Uranium Province consists of several uranium districts (Gas Hills, Shirley Basin, Crooks Gap, Red Desert, Powder River Basin and Black Hills) each of which is made up of a few to numerous individual uranium deposits. In Part 2 of this Wyoming Series, uranium savvy Senator Robert Peck speculated there were "50 to 60 million pounds of recoverable uranium in the Gas Hills proven by previous drilling."

Warren Finch in U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin #2141 (1996, US Government Printing Office, Washington), wrote in his paper, entitled "Uranium Provinces of North America – Their Definition, Distribution and Models," that "… provinces are identified by the distribution of major uranium clusters, generally of a size of 500 tons and more U3O8…" Since January 1970, when S.H.U. Bowie described how to go about defining uranium provinces and searching for major uranium deposits in a paper he presented tot the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, geologists have been eager to compare similar geological settings between geographically diverse uranium deposits, and more accurately define uranium provinces.

Ray Harris wrote in his previously quoted article, "There are no producing ore bodies in the United States similar to those of the Athabasca Basin and Northern Australia, but two deposits, not currently being mined, may be of similar genesis. These are the deposits near Chatham, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and at Copper Mountain, Fremont County, Wyoming." (Editor's Note: According to the Strathmore Minerals website, the company's Copper Mountain property, previously drilled by Anaconda Uranium Corp through 1997, lists an historical contained resource of more than 38 million pounds of U3O8. Strathmore has not done sufficient work to verify this resource estimate.)

Harris explained that a high-grade uranium deposit in the United States, of geological similarity to an Athabasca Basin grade deposit, could not be quickly ruled out. He cited the Chatham, Virginia uranium deposit, grading four pounds per ton of ore, and which he believed might contain 30 million pounds of uranium oxide. He wrote, "… the setting is similar to non-conformity uranium deposits… on first glance, it seems to have formed similarly to the Athabasca and Northern Australian deposits." Unfortunately, the Virginia legislature voted to ban uranium mining, which offers a temporary setback on this deposit. That is not the case in mining-friendly Wyoming, where in Part One of this series, the state governor is urged companies to bring uranium projects and money to his state.

Wyoming's Geology Potential for U.S. Utilities

It is known that Wyoming has multiple roll-front uranium deposits in its sandstones. A pro-mining state, prolific numbers of roll-front uranium deposits, and a rising spot uranium price in a uranium bull market all combine to make Wyoming the U.S. center for in situ leach mining (ISL), also known as solution mining. However, as Ray Harris had suggested during our interview there may be larger uranium source, possibly one that may be competitive with Athabasca Basin or Northern Australia. It is a premise he had argued in the 1980s, in the previously quote work, and again in 1993, Harris' paper, entitled "Geological classification and origin of radioactive mineralization in Wyoming."

In his 1986 work, Harris concluded, "Given the impressive length of exposure, the relatively shallow subcrop depths of favorable nonconformities in Wyoming, and the great amounts of uranium available for mobilization, a nonconformity-related uranium deposit should exist somewhere in Wyoming." One possibility, as Harris suggested, may be in Fremont County's Copper Mountain area. Harris wrote that at the Copper Mountain area, "Uranium occurs in fractured and faulted Precambrian rocks and in the nonconformably overlying Eocene Tepee Trail Formation. The uranium occurrence is subeconomic but of promising grade and size." He added, "The uranium is spatially related to fractures and subsidiary faults associated with the Laramide North Canning fault. Rocky Mountain Energy Company has conducted detailed drilling on the North Canning deposit."

Harris explained that mineralization occurs in the Precambrian granite and enclosed metasediments. The mineralization is said to be primarily low-temperature pitchblende and coffinite. Harris compared the North Canning deposit to nonconformity- related uranium deposits. He wrote, "It is likely that the deposit formed by processes similar to those that operated in the Athabasca and Northern Australian regions." We checked with David Miller of Strathmore Minerals (TSX: STM; Other OTC: STHJF) about their Copper Mountain holdings. He responded by email, "We own all the federal minerals in the area that covered uranium mineralization: about 75 percent of the gross uranium resources. The Canning Deposit is owned about 60 percent by us and 40 percent by Neutron. Strathmore Minerals has around 100 mining claims in the area."

The source of Wyoming's roll-front uranium deposits are open to debate and have yet to be clarified. In 1981, William Boberg wrote, "The major deposits of Wyoming occur in the Lower Cretaceous Inyan Kara Group of the Black Hills, in the Paleocene Fort Union Formation in the Powder River Basin, in correlative Eocene sandstones in all of the major uranium districts." Warren Finch later described Wyoming's roll-fronts, in his previously quoted work, "The predominant type of uranium deposit is the roll-front sandstone deposit in Tertiary continental fluvial basis developed between uplifts. These ore deposits were formed by oxidizing uranium-bearing ground waters that entered the host sandstone from the edges of the basins. Two possible sources of the uranium were (1) uraniferous Precambrian granite that provided sediment for the host sandstone and (2) overlying Oligocene volcanic ash sediments." Ray Harris appeared to lean more toward the former. William Boberg has argued more toward the latter explanation for a uranium source.

Boberg wrote, "It appears that currently available evidence is in support of a hypothesis calling for combined sources of Precambrian granites and volcanic ash falls which produce a unique, uranium-rich, ore-forming liquid that invades very porous and permeable young sediments to form large altered tongues and discrete deposits in a geologically short period of mineralization." It has been calculated that a typical altered "tongue" would take 700,000 years to form; a typical roll-front uranium deposit could be formed over 50,000 years.

Boberg speculated it was the numerous and extensive uranium-enriched ash falls from Middle Eocene volcanism, which was responsible for these deposits. He wrote, "Of greatest importance is the fact that a series of volcanic events from a variety of extrusive centers began about 50 million years ago generating tremendous volumes of ash, which was distributed across Wyoming and adjacent states for greater than a 40-million year span of time."

His explanation of the volcanic ash provides a valuable insight into how Wyoming's uranium deposits were formed:

"The volcanic ash, when flushed by the first rainfall, produced a unique fluid, which was acidic and charged with ions. The chemical reaction of the buffering on this fluid on contact with the Precambrian granites, the ash and other rocks brought the pH back to approximately neutral but leached additional uranium from the granites and probably the ash. The high rainfall and climate assured a steady supply of dissolved oxygen to the fluid resulting in the formation of a unique, oxidizing, uranium-enriched fluid, which entered the unconsolidated, reduced sediments oxidizing them and carrying the uranium to the eventual maximum extent of oxidation."

Boberg explained the development of the roll-fronts, writing, "Fluid flow through the very porous and permeable sediments would be relatively fast allowing for the development of large oxidized tongues with the young sediment as well as scattered uranium deposits at the redox (oxidized reduction) interface within approximately a million years. Deposits formed near the granitic highlands would be larger and of higher average grade because of the proximity to the dual source of granite and ash."

J.D. Love's uranium discovery in Tertiary sandstones, in 1951, was a near-surface roll-front type of redox deposit. A roll-front deposit follows a sinuous linear trend, often C-shaped. Colorado and Utah miners began calling the cross-sectional configuration a "roll" in the early 1940's. Roll-fronts occur in sandstones, bordered above and below by less permeable shales. In Wyoming, the "rolls" are bordered by altered and unaltered sandstone. It is generally concave from altered ground and convex into unaltered ground. Harris' idealized roll-front uranium deposit would have "uranium concentrations decrease abruptly away from the concave boundary, and concentrations gradually decrease away from the convex boundary in reduced rock."

Uranium is not always present everywhere along a roll front. It may be unevenly distributed and there are often other elements, such as vanadium, selenium, molybdenum, copper, silver, lead and zinc. Geologists look for where coarse-grained sandstones grade into finer grained or clay-bearing equivalents as indicators for uranium ore. As uranium geologists know with roll-front deposits, it may be mined as long as it is below the water table. Once deposits are brought above the water table, the uranium concentration can be eroded and severely modified.

It is not the roll-front uranium deposits, which interested Harris, but the tabular redox uranium occurrences found in many parts of Wyoming. He found those most prominently in the Cretaceous Inyan Kara Group in the Black Hills. Harris explained, "The uranium mines in New Mexico and many other parts of the Colorado Plateau are also tabular deposits." The tabular bodies, Harris noted, describe their irregular tabular form, and are found parallel to bedding, dissimilar to roll-front mineralization, which crosses bedding. Harris believed some of the tabular bodies in Tertiary rocks were "the limbs and detached limbs of roll fronts left in less permeable rocks at fluvial channel margins." He also said that tabular bodies could be preserved in oxidized rock due to high concentrations of other rock, such as coal or pyrite.

In any event, Harris agreed with other geologists that Wyoming is a uranium province with uranium occurring in nearly all major time divisions in the state. He concluded, "Uranium was available for mobilization during every major weathering period related to the nonconformities." In our final minutes together, he was convinced that many of the uranium development companies should sink more funds into exploration and find the elephant uranium deposits, which he pointed out in three different parts of uranium. To his way of thinking, that was more exciting that the simple ISL extraction of uranium from previously drilled areas. As with others interviewed, few of those areas will hold surprises, but instead offer the steady, cash-producing uranium extraction that help develop budding companies. That's what U.S. utilities, and utilities from other countries, are eagerly seeking right now. Wyoming uranium could fuel many of the U.S. nuclear reactors as more companies commence ISL uranium operations.

James Finch contributes articles to http://StockI and other publications. His unabridged and archived uranium articles can be read at You can reach James Finch by email at jfinch@

Stock Trading Personality - What is yours?

Stock Trading Personality.

Before we put any money into the stock trading, we need to define our stock trading personality.

1) The first step in this process is to determine whether we are traders or investors. When you know your trading personality, you will know type of stock trading plan and strategies to employ.

Investors adopt a "buy and hold" philosophy. They hold positions for a long period of time. This can be weeks, months, or even years. Traders are different. They want to make money yesterday! Traders hold positions for days or weeks and in some cases for just a few hours.

Investors and traders use many of the same tools and techniques, but they adapt them to their stock trading personality and timeframe. The timeframe used is sometimes chosen for us.

For example, if your profession or job does not allow you to monitor the market during the day, it will be very difficult to function as a trader, even though your personality may pre-dispose you to active stock trading.

Investors choose solid quality stocks because they will hold their positions for longer periods. They use fundamental analysis to select stocks that have strong ratings and a promising long-term outlook. Investors are not concerned with the daily price fluctuation because they know that they own fundamentally strong companies that in the long run should eventually go up in price.

2) Traders on the other hand can chose a style that matches their own personalities and risk tolerance. A day-trader is one who is in and out of a stock in one day and never carries a position overnight. Relatively few traders can function in this stressful environment for very long. Most traders fall into the categories of swing, momentum, or position stock trading.

This individual usually does their stock trading from a few days to a few weeks, depending upon the market. They let the prices determine entrances and exits. The fundamentals are not as important to a trader as they are to an investor; price movement takes precedence.

Both the traders and investors can make good use of technical analysis to determine the timing of their entries into the market, as well as accurate exits. However, precise entries and exits are of more importance to traders than to investors.

Both investors and traders should monitor their positions on a daily basis. Neither need spend more than thirty minutes each day tracking and evaluating their portfolio.

Traders who decide to do stock trading full-time to make their living must decide whether they are willing to make the time commitment to follow the market intra-day. This does not mean that they are glued to the computer following every stock tick. However, there are decisions that often must be made during the course of the market day that will affect their positions. The fact that we follow the market on an intra-day basis does not mean that we are day traders.

Most traders are also investors, although the reverse is not necessarily true. Even traders who normally hold positions in their trading accounts for a few days at a time typically also manage their retirement funds in an IRA or other retirement plan. These accounts are normally not actively traded, so you might say that those of us who have both types of accounts have a "split personality." This is not a bad thing; both disciplines have much to offer.

The investor who does no active stock trading might do well to learn the disciplines of active stock trading, particularly in the area of technical analysis. The time may come when their investments will grow large enough that they can choose to quit their day job and trade full-time. The ability to monitor the market during the day may allow them to reap the benefits of active stock trading, provided their personality allows for it.

Whether you consider yourself a trader or an investor, make sure that you learn well how to make good entries and exits. Discipline is very important to stock trading. It does no good if you buy the right stock after it has made its run, and sell it to close at the same price.

The other discipline that applies to both traders and investors is proper money management. It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of the use of stop loss orders. It is also vital to know your targeted exit point before you enter any trade.

Investor or trader - which is better? Whichever fits your personality, risk tolerance and life style. Don't let anyone tell you that you should be one or the other. Examine yourself, and do what lets you sleep well every night.

The best thing is to have a proper and yet effective strategy to trade stocks more successfully before embarking it as a stock trading career. One of the best books I have come across is The Way To Trade which you can get by clicking here.

Remember, pursuing a career in stock trading is like running a marathon – slow and steady. A lot of stamina and enthusiasm is needed to sustain you. More importantly, you must enjoy the process and journey of success! If you are not getting the results you are getting in stock trading be sure to check that book out.

Eddy owns a few blogs on option trading and online stock trading and stock trading.

Stock Trading Tips and Ideas.

Forex Is The Best and More Lucrative Home Based Business?

The first reason why you should trade the forex market is because it is the most lucrative home based business. Although It is not a new market, it is still unknown by non traders. It is more amazing when you know that most of the traders are not aware of the huge opportunity of the forex. The Forex or Foreign Exchange Currency Market is open to the public since 1998.

With the economic situation today and the fear of most of the people worldwide to wake up a morning and be jobless, without resources to feed their family, there is an increasing need in lucrative home based business.

On another hand, it is really difficult to find a real opportunity which will allow you to make a living from your home computer. You got to put hours of recherches and invest some hard earned money, with the fear of being involved in a scam company.

Let' s say you found a good opportunity, and honestly, there is a lot of legitimate business you can make a lot of money if you are serious. But, is that what you really want? Most of the opportunities on the web today, even if you make big profits, are held by someone else. That mean that when you participate in those turnkey businesses, you do not have any control.

It is really amazing to see all these people who want freedom, more time with their family and friends, more time for their favorite hobbies... and the most important, fire their boss, going the same way.

To understand, they want to be free, they found that on the web you can make money and be free, all that they need, but if you look at the situation, 80% of these people fired their boss, to meet another boss on the Internet! A virtual boss, who is making them work, but they don't feel it, because they have the impression to be free, they work wherever and whenever they want, and better than all that, they have never seen their boss.

People make money in these programs, they may win $5000 a month or more but actually, the owner of the program is making tons of money.

There is a way to make much more money on the web that you think now, and Internet seekers and people in general should discover trading, specially the forex market. While the word market could intimidate some people, believe it, no one must be afraid about that, and think about the difficult stock market, or commodities, futures...

The forex market which is also called FX is not really as difficult as it seems.

There is not that much technical vocabulary to learn, and the risk is considerably low, if you compare to the other markets like the stock for instance.

The fact that home businesses seekers should really consider is that you can choose at which time to trade, and where you want to trade; you need only an Internet connection, and that's it, you are ready to tape in the biggest market of the world with $1,5 trillion activity everyday in the same way banks and large corporation do it and it is not difficult at all. Rather it is simple, and the methods already tested by serious traders will help you in your adventure.

Franck Silvestre.

Forex Trading Demystified

Forex involves the trading of currencies. It is the largest financial market in the world and has an estimated daily turnover of 1.9 trillion dollars. This turnover is larger than all the worlds' stock market on any given day.

The forex market does not have a fixed exchange. The forex market is considered an over-the-counter (OTC) market. The forex market is completely electronic and trades are executed over the phone or on the Internet. Until 10 years ago the forex market was the preserve of large financial institutions. Now an ever-increasing amount of individual traders thanks to the advent of the Internet and an increasing amount of online forex brokers are trading forex.

Currencies are always traded in pairs. A typical pair would be EUR/USD (Euro over US dollars). The first currency is the base. The second currency is the counter currency. The pair can be viewed, as the amount of the secondary currency that is needed to buy 1 unit of the first currency. If you were to buy the above pair you would buy Euro and simultaneously selling US dollars. If the pair were sold the reverse would happen you would sell the Euro and buy the US dollar. This might sound confusing but simply think of the pair as one item and you are buying or selling one item. If you think the Euro will go up against the US dollar you buy the EUR/USD pair. If you think the EUR will decrease against the US dollar you sell the EUR/USD pair.

When you see forex quotes you will see two numbers. If we use the EUR/USD as an example you might see 1.2350/1.2355 the first number 1.2350 is the bid price and is the price traders are prepared to buy euros against the US dollar. The second number 1.2355 is the offer price and is the price traders are prepared to sell the EURO against the US dollar. The difference between the bid and the offer price is the called the spread. The spread for the major currencies is usually 3 to 5 pips (explained later).

The most common increment of currencies is the pip. If the EUR/USD moves from 1.2350 to 1.2351 that is one pip. A pip is the last decimal point of quotation. Most currencies quoted to 4 decimal points. The exception is the Yen, which is quoted to 2 decimal points eg 139.41. The term pip is just forex lingo so if a forex trader says the EURO has gone up 20 pips against the US dollar add 20 points to decimal part of EUR/USD pair.

Forex is traditionally traded in lots also referred to as contracts. The standard size for a lot is $100,000. In the last few a mini lot size of 10,000 dollars has been introduced and this has become increasing popular. Forex trading is leveraged with most forex brokers offering 1% margins. This means you can control one standard lot of $100000 with $1000. Typically you would need a minium of $2500 to open a standard size forex account.

A mini account can be opened with $300 with most forex brokers. To trade a one mini lot you need a margin of $100, which in turn controls $10000. If the currency goes up 1% and if you traded one mini lot of $10000 you would make $100 dollars or 100% of your original margin. Forex trading is a very lucrative market to get into and it is suggested that traders new to forex trading trade a mini account for an extended amount of time. Trading a mini account is a low cost entry to the forex market, as only $300 is required to open an account. You can still make money while you become more experienced in forex trading. You can trade one mini lot until you have made your first $100 dollars then start trading 2 mini lots. As you gain more experience you can trade standard sized lots.

Forex trading is becoming increasing popular with traders of other financial products. It can be traded in amounts a lot smaller than other financial products, which makes learning forex trading safer than other markets. Forex trading can be a very lucrative market, which no trader can dismiss.

To get more information about the opportunities of forex trading please visit

Wyoming Governor To Uranium Miners: Bring Us Your Projects!

"We're Ready: This State is in Play!"

The New Face of Wyoming's Uranium Mining

Part One of a Five-Part Series

Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal really likes the current uranium bull market, "I hope the price of yellowcake stays up, and things get moving." Yes, the Wyoming democratic governor strongly endorses uranium mining in his state. That would make sense because Wyoming is the largest U.S. uranium producer. More than 40 percent of the uranium reserves in the United States are located in Wyoming, according to the reserves and resource estimate published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Since hitting a bottom in late December 2000, the spot price of uranium has soared by more than 500 percent, reaching a high of $38.50/pound at the end of February. The last time uranium traded this high, President Ronald Reagan was into the second month of his first term.

Unlike some states, where uranium mining is frowned upon, or banned, Wyoming welcomes the industry with open arms. "We've always sort of been comfortable with the uranium industry," Freudenthal told StockI "The uranium industry is part of our history. It's not something that is frightening or alarming to us." Freudenthal clearly sees nuclear energy as a potential solution for the energy crisis, "I don't think anybody has any reservations that we need to have greater domestic capability in energy. I think, in the circles that worry about those equations, there is clearly a role for nuclear power."

Freudenthal urged the capital markets to act on the energy crisis by turning to Wyoming and mining the abundant supply of uranium, "There's got to be some clear signals to the capital markets that investment in this area will ultimately be rewarded. We certainly have the resource." Since June 2004, publicly traded junior uranium companies and speculators have created a staking frenzy in the state. Wyoming's Office of State Lands and Investments reported developers are snapping up tens of thousands of acres of state leases. The reading room, where prospectors and developers study potential federal lands for leasing purposes in the Cheyenne office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), was filled to capacity during a recent visit by the StockI editorial team.

StockI asked if the unusually high level of staking activity in Wyoming by publicly traded companies, such as Strathmore Minerals (TSX: STM; Other OTC: STHJF), Energy Metals Corporation (TSX: EMC), Kilgore Minerals (TSX: KAU), UR-Energy (TSE: URE) and Uranerz Energy (OTC BB: URNZ), was merely speculative, Freudenthal responded, "I think we're past the sort of speculation of people running through and picking everything up. We're down to serious players trying to make serious decisions." Good news for the above-mentioned uranium development companies: The Governor of Wyoming believes you mean business, and he's doing everything he can to encourage you!

Freudenthal was optimistic more companies would bring their projects to Wyoming, "These are not light investments. But you also don't go out and re-activate uranium production, if at the end of the day, you don't have a buyer." Governor Freudenthal is a good listener and acts quickly and decisively when facing facts. For example, when StockI informed him that decommissioned Russian nuclear warheads now powered about one in every twenty electric light bulbs in the United States, and that the swords-for-plowshares arrangement might end in 2013 (end of HEU), Freudenthal responded, "If that timing is correct, then they should already be making decisions to invest in Wyoming. I hope they do."

A large number of Canadian and European financiers believe there is a nuclear renaissance. Where does the Governor stand? "We're ready," Freudenthal shot back. "They just need to start bringing the projects and the money (into Wyoming). I think we have a very good regulatory climate. I think if they move into the 'in situ' (ISL) mining, we've got some experience with that." And if the public companies bring their projects to Wyoming, how does Governor Freudenthal feel? "This state is IN PLAY!" he exuberantly announced.

Asked to compare Wyoming with New Mexico, once a top uranium-producing state, he responded, "This state, historically, is just much more comfortable with commodity development." On the other hand, he somewhat deferred to New Mexico's own nuclear renaissance, where rumors are flying of a new nuclear power plant and the expansion of uranium mining and nuclear in that state, explaining, "New Mexico is closer to some larger energy consuming markets. They have fewer miles of transmission lines to build if they are going to get to California or Nevada. It wouldn't seem illogical if I were a private investor to look there first."

What does the Governor have to say to the new flock of uranium development companies, joining Cameco's Power Resources in mining Wyoming's uranium? There are several companies, which have staked land, and are now beginning to move their projects forward. Freudenthal advised, "They need to start allocating greater capital at a rate that the project sponsors are comfortable. We're past the speculators. People know it (uranium) is here. Nobody wants to hit the market too early. And they don't want to be too late. It'll move. I just don't know when. But when it does, we're in a position to respond to it. We've got the goods. We've got the right regulatory climate."

Would Governor Freudenthal invite or discourage a public utility in building a nuclear power plant in Wyoming? "I don't have a problem with one. The question really has always been, and most of what we are focused on, right now, is getting power lines built. If we don't have power lines, we're not going to get nuclear plants. We're not going to get coal-fired plants. We're not going to get anything. Ours is an export state. There is not enough internal demand for electricity to justify the construction of a plant." Freudenthal added Wyoming was "waiting to see if the larger economy is ready for some nuclear power plants."

Two years ago, his administration created the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority to work on getting power lines constructed. That may help remove the bug stalling the launch of Wyoming's first nuclear reactor, as well as exploiting the state's most valuable renewable energy source, wind. "We've got five or six areas that are world-class wind resources. We have people who want to build the turbines, but they have got to have access to the power grid. And I think the same is true in terms of whether it is a nuclear power plant, a coal-fired plant or this new combined-cycle plant, where you can convert coal to gas. Ultimately, the marketplace will decide which way they're going to go. But, no matter which one they do, I know my chances of getting it in Wyoming are greater if I have figured out our power line routes."

Freudenthal is popular, can think on his cowboy-boot clad feet, and can be decisive. And he is working on the power line routes, not just dreaming about what could be done. "We have some hopeful things," he explained. "We have been working with California on the Frontier Line." And what is the Frontier Line? U.S. Secretary of Energy announced in a press release a year ago, "This proposal exhibits the boldness and innovation the West is traditionally known for, as well as the multi-state cooperation and big-picture thinking required to make regional markets thrive." Secretary Bodman praised Governors Schwarzenegger, Freudenthal, Guinn and Huntsman, saying, "… the 'Frontier Line' project will begin the process of ensuring reliable electricity for some of our fastest growing Western States."

Being an export state, Wyoming has done well during the recent boom in commodities, enjoying the rising royalties from the production of oil, natural gas, coal and uranium. This past year, the state built up a surplus of nearly $2 billion. How does Freudenthal plan to spend this money? "We're putting a chunk into college scholarships, a chunk into infrastructure and a chunk into human capital investments." And next year, Freudenthal will have more such chunks to spend as high energy prices continue to demand the extraction of those abundant resources Wyoming generously offers the rest of the United States.

As a side note, Wyoming is a "red state," but with a very popular governor who is ironically a Democrat. While we did not discuss Freudenthal's political ambitions, Wyoming's previous leading political personality has been serving as Vice-President of the United States through most of this decade. Memo to Hillary Rodham Clinton: Don't overlook Dave Freudenthal if you want to woo the vast number of red states between the east coast and the left coast. This governor could help get your old room back at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

James Finch writes about uranium stocks and the uranium sector, which is again seeing the blossoming of many junior exploration and development companies - a development that first occurred over 50 years ago. James Finch contributes articles on stocks, uranium, mining and investment trends to http://StockI His archived articles and Market Outlook Journal can be viewed with full graphics and unedited commentary at