Peninsula Energy establishes new Dagger uranium project
Peninsula Energy (ASX: PEN) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Strata Energy Inc have established the Dagger uranium development project in the US state of Wyoming.
The project boasts an initial inferred mineral resource estimate of 3 million tonnes at an average grade of 1037 parts per million uranium oxide for 6.9 million pounds of contained metal, based on historical drilling information.
It sits approximately 20 kilometres north-east of the company’s flagship Lance project, which is on track for a commercial production restart within the next 12 months.
Mineral rights
The Dagger project area consists of approximately 16.75 square kilometres of mineral rights acquired and consolidated over the last eight years for a total spend of $1.26 million.
The package comprises 2.75sqkm of federal rights purchased in 2015; 7.52sqkm of federal rights acquired by new claim staking last year; 3.88sqkm of mineral leases acquired from the State of Wyoming last year; and a 2.58sqkm state mineral lease acquired from a private vendor earlier this year.
The combined state and federal rights cover an area with historically-identified mineralisation contiguous to past uranium mining operations.
Dagger provides Peninsula with a high-grade uranium resource and location diversity within a top mining jurisdiction, as well as the opportunity to develop a satellite operation in close proximity to Lance.
A good fit
Peninsula chief executive officer Wayne Heili said Dagger would be a good fit for the company’s portfolio.
“Dagger perfectly complements the Lance project, which will be one of the largest uranium in-situ recovery operations in the US when it starts up,” he said.
“It will add greater depth and expansion optionality to our growing company, buoyed by a robust uranium market which provides a supportive environment for re-emerging producers and project developers.”
He said the development comes at an “opportune time” with the US government looking to take meaningful action to reinvigorate its domestic uranium production and nuclear fuel cycle capacity.
Peninsula is planning a confirmation drilling program at Dagger over the coming year to assist the preparation of an updated resource estimate.