The Sage Plain Project uranium-vanadium deposits in the Jurassic Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation are sandstone-type deposits that fit into the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) classification as defined by Austin and D’Andrea (Mickle and Mathews, 1978) Class 240-sandstone; Subclass 244-nonchannel controlled peneconcordant. Any future deep drilling to explore for deposits in the Permian Cutler Formation would also target this class of deposit. Such deep drilling would penetrate the slightly shallower Triassic basal Chinle Formation (Moss Back Member). Deposit targets in the Chinle would fit the DOE classification as Class 240-sandstone; Subclass 243- channel controlled peneconcordant. These classes are very similar to those of Dahlkamp (1993) Type 4-sandstone; Subtype 4.1- tabular/peneconcordant; Class 4.1.2 (a) VanadiumUranium (Salt Wash type) and Class 4.1.3-basal-channel (Chinle type).

The Sage Plain and nearby Slick Rock and Dry Valley/East Canyon districts uraniumvanadium deposits are a similar type to those elsewhere in the Uravan Mineral Belt. The Uravan Mineral Belt was defined by Fischer and Hilpert (1952) as a curved, elongated area in southwestern Colorado where the uranium-vanadium deposits in the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation generally have closer spacing, larger size, and higher grade than those in adjacent areas and the region as a whole. The location and shape of mineralized deposits are largely controlled by the permeability ........

The mining of all resources in the Sage Plain Project will be by conventional underground methods. These methods have been used very successfully in the region for over 100 years. The nature of the Salt Wash uranium-vanadium deposits require a random room and pillar mining configuration. The deposits have irregular shapes and occur within several close-spaced, flat or slightly dipping horizons. The mineralization often rolls between horizons. The use of rubber-tired equipment allows the miners to follow the ore easily in the slight dips and to ramp up or down to the other horizons. The deposits are accessed from the surface through long declines at gradients of 8-15%, depending on depth and locations suitable for portal sites. The Salt Wash sandstones are usually quite competent rock and require only moderate ground support. The overlying Brushy Basin mudstones are less competent, so the declines are often supported by square set timber or steel arches and timber lagging. The Salt Wash deposits are usually thinner than the mining height needed for personnel and equipment access. Therefore, the ore is mined by a split-shooting method.

The split-shooting mining method involves assessing each face as the stopes advance by the mine geologist, engineer, mine foreman, or experienced lead-miner. Because the grades and thickness of the typical Salt Wash uranium vanadium deposits are highly variable, they are usually unpredictable from one round to the next. (A round is a c ........

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