Glenn Catchpole told StockInterview that Uranerz Energy (Amex: URZ) should start mining uranium in Wyoming by 2010, “We are out somewhere between three and four years before can start putting uranium in the can.?As the only pure uranium exploration company trading on the American Stock Exchange, Uranerz executives are confident they will actually have uranium to mine.

“We can make comparisons our mineralization is in the same sand system as Cogema’s, which is four miles from us,?Catchpole said. “It is also the same formation as the North Butte project that Cameco has north of our Hank property.?Those uranium projects are located in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, where more than one-half of all U.S. uranium mining presently takes place, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.

Catchpole and his chief operating officer previously worked with an earlier incarnation of German-owned Uranerz and then Cameco mining uranium through the in situ recovery (ISR) method. The environmentally friendly method of mining uranium offers a fraction of the uranium grades found in Canada’s Athabasca Basin, where more than one-quarter of the world’s uranium is mined. “We worked and mined in this same area,?Catchpole explained. “So we are very comfortable that we have mineable property.?/p>

Uranerz is in the process of permitting two Wyoming properties. Permitting a property through the environmental regulations takes about one year. Regulatory agencies take between one and two years to process a permitting application. Wyoming’s Department of Environmental Quality also requires a company to post a $20 million bond. That’s on top of construction costs which run up to $30 million.

But costs and time to start an ISR uranium project are a modest compared to Cameco’s Cigar Lake. The $12 billion uranium deposit was discovered twenty years ago. The world’s largest uranium company has invested more than $600 million in developing the uranium-rich orebody. Severe flooding in Cameco’s underground mine could delay the uranium mine construction by at least one year. U.S. utilities have reportedly begun contacting several of the more advanced uranium development companies about participation in their projects, or contracting for future uranium production.

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