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February 5, 2025 – TheNewswire - Pete Smith, who had just optioned a relatively unknown uranium project at Wyoming’s Copper Mountain, was driving through rural cowboy country, when he met a rancher on the side of the road.
They shook hands and Pete updated the rancher that he is working on uncovering the magic of Copper Mountain by de-risking the asset. At the time, little was known about the uranium project other than that it was a past producer.
“Come in, have a cup of coffee,” said the rancher with a smile. “I have a box of data and we’ll see if we can’t dig up some of those papers, maybe it’ll be of some interest.”
They walked through the house, down some steps into the basement, and pulled out an old box. Inside were, indeed, some amazing things.
The box was treasure trove of information: not just any old papers, but historic mining data from Union Pacific Railroad’s extensive work at the Copper Mountain project in the 1970s.
This data revealed potentially much larger than estimated reserves and a rich history of uranium mining, including:
Rocky Mountain Energy Corporation (“RMEC” – a subsidiary of Union Pacific Railway) planned a large-scale uranium mine with California Edison and estimated resources of between 15.7 million pounds – 30.1 million pounds eU3O8 at Copper Mountain for that mine, with potential for much more
RMEC the resource potential of known deposits and prospects at Copper Mountain to be over 65 million pounds eU3O8
an internal memo for Neutron Energy (now part of encore) speculated that Copper Mountain has potential of “several hundred million pounds”
a government program called NURE speculated that the entire Copper Mountain district has 600 million pound potential
evidence of high-grade uranium areas and the potential for in-situ recovery (ISR) methods
significant historical production in the 1960s and 70s
substantial investment by Union Pacific, who had spent US$74 million (in today’s dollars) in the 1970s, to developed a large-scale mine plan with six open pits and a leach pad, ready for production
These historical estimates are largely within the current claim boundaries of the “Copper Mountain Project”, in which Myriad Uranium (CSE: M) (OTCQB: MYRUF) (FSE: C3Q), holds an earnable 75% interest (50% already earned) — making it potentially one of the largest uranium projects in Wyoming.
Myriad Uranium
With the new discovery, Thomas Lamb, CEO of Myriad Uranium, moved quickly to advance the project at Copper Mountain.
“We got lucky. And kudos to Rush’s CEO Pete Smith… This data find represents an enormous head-start for Myriad at Copper Mountain, and it’s just the beginning: we expect a great deal of additional historical data to be located. Not only do we now benefit from tens of millions of dollars in past work by many of the leading uranium geologists at the time, we also see that Copper Mountain was worthy of investment in a full-scale mining operation” — Thomas Lamb, CEO, Myriad Uranium
Aggressive exploration: Myriad has undertaken a maiden drill campaign at Copper Mountain, which yielded “significant high grade” results, verifying the historical data while also encountering new mineralisation in deeper zones, suggesting a larger resource potential than previously understood.
Expansion of project area: guided by the historical data, Myriad has significantly expanded the project’s footprint, from around 4,000 acres to over 9,320 acres, to encompass areas with high mineralisation potential and to “lock up” mineralised extensions, historical resources, and key targets.
Data digitisation: Myriad has digitised the historic data to build 3D models of the resource, to refine understanding of the deposit, as well as acquiring more historical drill logs to bring resource estimates up to current standards.
Technical team: Myriad has assembled a strong technical team with experience in uranium exploration and development. This includes experts with prior experience at industry leaders like Orano and Global Atomic, as well as deep in-situ recovery (ISR) expertise.
Fundraising: Myriad has a very successful year in 2024, bringing in ~$9 million of sophisticated capital. They currently have ~$3m in the bank. The funds are earmarked for a number of initiatives including project-scale geophysics as they look towards a larger drill campaign this year.
Domestic uranium supply for US national security
One of the main drivers of the project’s development is to help secure US uranium supply. According to the US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, America is in an “energy race” with China as they compete to power the expected demands of data centers to power artificial intelligence and on-shoring of manufacturing. And, with the US as the world’s largest nuclear energy producer, uranium is an essential piece of the US energy puzzle to power the plan to triple the capacity of America’s nuclear fleet.
(Our analysis on the challenges of sourcing uranium outside of North America: Where will new uranium supply come from?)
The US government is also actively supporting the revival of domestic uranium production, with initiatives aimed at repatriating uranium production and the entire fuel cycle back to the United States. Domestic US production of U3O8 declined significantly in the 1980s as production incentives and subsidies ended, trade barriers were removed, and uranium prices fell — by 2022, 95% of the uranium purchased by US nuclear power plant operators originated in other countries. The US has since announced plans to revive domestic uranium production and move the fuel cycle back to the West. The return of Donald Trump is expected to catalyze the development of America’s domestic nuclear and uranium sector.
Wyoming
The first uranium mines in Wyoming state started operating in 1951, and the state has been the leading producer of uranium in the US since 1995 — and holds the largest known economic uranium ore reserves in the US.
In 2023, the state hosts 4 out of America’s 5 operating uranium mines.
This history means the state has the experience and understanding to support uranium mining. Now Wyoming’s uranium industry is experiencing a resurgence, driven by geopolitics, technology and demand for nuclear energy.
And, Myriad Uranium’s Copper Mountain project is located in central Wyoming, with good infrastructure links.
Conclusion
The unexpected discovery of historic mining data has unearthed a potential treasure, not just for Myriad, but for the US and its strategy to achieve “energy dominance” the AI arms race with China.
Now it’s time to dig up the real treasure.
For further information:
Visit Myriad Uranium’s website
Read full story: A chance encounter in Wyoming unearths a uranium treasure
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