Powertech uranium mine project shrinks

By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News

The scale and projected yield of an uranium mine proposed 15 miles northeast of Fort Collins has been greatly reduced as the developer focuses its efforts on permitting a mine in South Dakota.

The Powertech Uranium Corp. in July announced that it would not exercise its option to buy almost 3.600 acres neighboring its Centennial Project proposed near Nunn in Weld County.
Powertech chose not to pay the $6.16 million to renew the option and could not reach a new agreement acceptable to the company and to Howard and Donna Diehl of Carr and M.J. Diehl and Sons.

Powertech also announced that it would not renew its purchase option with Thomas and Dianne Varra of Nunn.

“These properties contain no uranium resources and were determined to not be necessary for the development of the Centennial project,” the company said in a prepared release.
By not renewing the options, Powertech estimates that the yield of uranium from the Centennial site will be reduced by about 1.1 million pounds from the estimated 12.7 million pounds.

Powertech is awaiting final government approval plan to conduct a pump test to determine the feasibility of its proposed in situ leach uranium mining technique of recovering uranium from water pumped into and then extracted from underground deposits.

Company officials say they remain committed to the Centennial Project. However, they have acknowledged their current emphasis on the Dewey-Burdock project in South Dakota, which they contend is closer to becoming permitted.

Denver-based Powertech USA Inc. is a subsidiary of the Vancouver, British Columbia-based Powertech Uranium Corp. It controls uranium deposits in Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico.