INVISIBLE URANIUM | FUEL & FUEL CYCLE


partnership with Southern California Edison, pursued a different model. Instead of targeting isolated high-grade pockets, the company sought large-scale, disseminated mineralisation hosted in fractured basement rock across a broad area. “They were looking for something that could supply a lot of reactors over many years,” Lamb says. “That meant lower grade on average, but over a much bigger volume.” This shift drove an intensive drilling programme of


approximately 2,000 bores and the development of multiple conceptual mine plans. Metallurgical testing focused on heap leaching, then a relatively new approach for uranium, adapted from copper and gold operations. Test work reportedly achieved recoveries of 90–94%, supporting the technical viability of large-scale surface processing. Limited early testing also suggested that parts of the district might be amenable to in-situ recovery (ISR), although this avenue was never fully explored. The collapse of the US uranium sector after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 abruptly halted progress on nuclear development. Planned nuclear builds were cancelled, uranium prices fell sharply, and projects such as Copper Mountain were shelved. A comprehensive Department of Energy-funded study, published in 1982 by Bendix Corporation, concluded that the district contained an estimated 245 million pounds (111,000 tonnes) of uranium to a depth of 600 feet (180m) within a central area, rising to 655 million pounds (297,000 tonnes) over a larger footprint. However, these findings had little immediate impact. “Once that report was finished, everything just stopped,” Lamb recalls. “Files were scattered, people moved on, and the project went quiet.”


Commercialising Copper Mountain Subsequent decades saw brief revivals during price spikes in the late 1990s and mid-2000s, followed by renewed dormancy after Fukushima. The cyclical nature of uranium economics left Copper Mountain in a liminal state: well studied, yet technically “historical” under modern reporting standards. This distinction is critical. Under Canada’s National Instrument 43-101, which Myriad follows for disclosure, historical estimates cannot be treated as current resources without verification. “Even if the old work was extremely thorough, we’re not allowed to call a pound in the ground a current pound unless it’s been validated,” Lamb explains. “That means drilling enough new holes for an independent qualification to sign off on the historical numbers.” Since becoming operator at Copper Mountain, Myriad


has invested approximately US$5.5m, roughly 90% of which has gone into drilling, with the remainder used to expand claim coverage. The objective is not to replicate the 1970s drilling campaign, but to anchor historical interpretations to modern data density and quality requirements. “We don’t need 2000 holes again,” Lamb says, adding: “We need enough to demonstrate that the old data still holds.” At present, the historically defined mineable resource sits in the range of 16–30 million pounds (7000 – 13,000 tonnes) across several zones. Beyond these locations lie numerous prospects where limited drilling also found uranium, but follow-up work was never completed.


“Union Pacific might have drilled four or five holes, hit uranium, and then moved on,” Lamb explains. “We want to go back and do the extra 20 or 30 holes needed to see whether those prospects become deposits.” If successful, Myriad believes the mineable resource


could expand to 60–70 million pounds (27,000 – 32,000 tonnes). Beyond that lies the broader endowment identified by Bendix – not all of this which would be economic even at today’s uranium prices, but which further frames the long-term options for the district. “If we can move from tens of millions of pounds to hundreds, that changes the strategic picture entirely,” Lamb says. Mining method selection remains contingent on


both geology and uranium price. Heap leaching, ISR, and conventional open-pit or underground mining are all under consideration. “At $80 or 90 per pound [$175 – 200/Kg], you would focus on our higher grade conventional zones and any ISR-amenable areas,” Lamb


Above: View from the canning deposit at Copper Mountain, Wyoming. Source: Myriad Uranium


Below: Map of uranium deposits in the Copper Mountain region. Source: Myriad Uranium


Lance-Ross Powder Irigaray &


Copper Mountain Uranium Project


Christensen Ranch Nichols Ranch


2,500,000 lb/yr Reno Creek Moore Ranch Smith Ranch-Highland Ludeman


Shirley Basin ISR


Lost Creek


Licensed uranium operation Maximum licensed production capacity, pounds (lb)


Exploration or development stage project


www.neimagazine.com | February 2026 | 37


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