Uranium mineralization in the Browns Park Formation within the Project and surrounding area is described as Wyoming sandstone roll type mineralization (Austin and D’Andrea, 1978).

While local mineralization displays some of the characteristics of known uranium deposits in the Gas Hills and Southern Powder River Basin of Wyoming, the mineralization is not necessarily typical of Wyoming roll-front deposits. The uranium mineralization within the Project is sandstone hosted and was deposited along a geochemical solution front, as is typical of roll-front mineralization and similar to other Wyoming sandstone hosted uranium deposits. The features which distinguish mineralization within the Browns Park Formation harken to its eolian origin and include the absence of carbonaceous trash and lack of stratigraphic controls, i.e., the lack of distinct vertical variations in grain size and the lack of intervening finer grained units (Rackley, 1972).

The source of uranium is described as syngenetic, alteration of the tuffaceous volcanic materials within the Browns Park Formation and/or the immediately overlying North Park Formation liberated uranium which was transported by ground water and concentrated along oxidation/reduction interfaces within the formation (Dribus and Nanna, 1982).

The localization of uranium appears to relate to local variations in permeability and the presence of pyrite and/or hydrogen sulphide. Uranium mineralization, in general, appears to be of the rollfront type mineralization common to the uranium basins in Wyoming, cutting across sedimentary structures (Pincock, Allen, & Holt, 1986).

Uranium mineralization occurs within an eolian stratigraphic unit of the Miocene Browns Park Formation. The host unit consists of tuffaceous, feldspathic sandstone which exhibits small to large scale festoon and planar cross-bed sets ranging up to several feet in thickness. Generally, uranium mineralization is the roll-front type mineralization, common to the uranium basins in Wyoming. Localization of uranium appears to relate to permeability and the presence of pyrite or hydrogen sulphide (Pincock, Allen, & Holt, 1986). The depth of mineralization averages slightly over 100 feet, but ranges from near surface to a maximum of 292.5 feet depending on location within the basin and local topography. Two general areas of mineralization occur within the Project, separated by less than two miles, which are herein referred to as Juniper Ridge East and Juniper Ridge West.

The deposit is relatively flat lying with formation dip less than 5o . The dip of the formation is highest at the margins of the basin and flatter near the center of the basin. The average thickness of mineralization above a 0.02% eU3O8 cutoff grade is slightly in excess of 10 feet.

More than 80% on the known mineralization occurs within the Juniper Ridge East portion of the Project.

The PEA is based on open pit mining utilizing methodologies, equipment, and a generalized design criterion which has been employed at the site and similar sites in the past. Open pit mining has two major facets: primary stripping or the removal of overburden and the mining of the mineralized material as it is exposed by the stripping.

The conceptual mine designs utilized a 0.6:1 (horizontal to vertical) slope. This allows for a highwall cut at a 0.5:1 slope with 10 foot wide safety benches incorporated at 50 foot vertical intervals. Highwall heights range from less than 40 to slightly more than 200 feet. The open pit design employs similar design parameters and mining equipment configurations to those used successfully in past Wyoming conventional mine operations. Ramps were not specifically incorporated in the designs at this level of study because the pits are quite shallow on the northern or up dip side and will not add significantly to the estimated excavation volumes. Minimum turn radii and travel widths were held to 100 feet.

The planned uranium recovery method at the Juniper Ridge Project is conventional heap leaching which includes: mobilization of uranium into solution from the mined material stacked on the heap pad via acid leaching, delivery of uranium-rich solutions to a recovery plant, and concentration of the uranium via Ion Exchange (IX).

Uranium recovery at Juniper Ridge will include the following unit operations:
- stacking of mined material on the heap leach pad;
- application of leach solution;
- collection of pregnant leach solution (PLS);
- filtering of sand and fine particles from the PLS;
- IX to transfer uranium from solution onto resin; and
- shipment of the loaded resin to a third party’s CPP for stripping, precipitation, washing, drying, packaging, storage, and loading as yellowcake.

The uranium recovery process equipment will be housed in a single building within the proposed plant boundary. Loaded resin will be produced on-site. Yellowcake processing, including precipitation, washing, drying, packaging, storage, and loading, will be completed off site. Reagent storage and distribution systems will be located within or next to the process buildings.

Processing begins as run-of-mine product that is crushed and then stacked on the double-lined heap leach pad using covered belt conveyors and a covered radial arm stacking (RAS) belt. The stacked mined material is leveled with low ground pressure equipment forming a “lift”. A protective layer of gravel is place on top of the lift to mitigate fugitive dust and transport of radioactive particulates from the heap. A drip irrigation system using conventional plastic piping is then installed on top of the completed lift, and the heap is ready for the application of leach solutions.

The general flow of solutions and uranium within the heap and recovery plant is as follows:
- The process begins with the pumping of the refortified leach solution from the Barren Pond to the top of the heap where it is applied using drip emitters.
- The leach solution consists of water; an oxidizing agent (sodium chlorate to convert tetravalent uranium to the soluble hexavalent state), and a complexing agent (sulfuric acid) to complex and solubilize the uranium.
- The product of the heap leach process is a pregnant leach solution (PLS) containing a mixture of uranyltrisulfate (UTS) and uranyldisulfate (UDS). PLS percolates through the stacked mined material via gravity drainage and is intercepted by the heap leach pad liner system and then gathered into collection pipes, which drain by gravity into the collection pond.
- The PLS is then pumped from the collection pond into the IX plant where the PLS is filtered to remove suspended solids, and the uranium is loaded onto IX resin beads.
- The resulting uranium-depleted solution, called barren leach solution, flows by gravity from the IX plant to the barren pond. This barren solution is refortified with additional acid, oxidant, and make-up water. It is then pumped back to the heap in a continuous cycle.
- Resin is shipped from the plant to a third party’s central processing plant (CPP) for final processing to yellowcake.