The company anticipates that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) will approve the license before the end of this month. When the RML is approved, the Palangana project will have obtained all the permits needed to start operations.
Harry Anthony, chief operating officer of Uranium Energy, said: “This will mark a major milestone for the company. We are now in the position to plan the critical actions for proceeding to commercial development of Palangana.”
In late December 2009, the company has acquired the South Texas Mining Venture including the fully licensed Hobson ISR processing facility, located 45 miles from its Goliad project. As the company will no longer need to construct a full processing facility at Goliad, it has amended and simplified its permitting details to the TCEQ for Goliad now that only a lower-cost satellite in-situ recovery facility is anticipated.
The remaining hearing regarding the company’s mine permits at Goliad, which had earlier been scheduled for March 4, 2010, has now been rescheduled for May 3, 2010, to give TCEQ the time to review the simplified production plans at Goliad.
Mr Anthony added: “The additional time needed by TCEQ to review the amended applications before the hearing is routine given the planned changes in production and facilities. The hearing will now also be more limited, only needing to address the development of in-situ recovery facilities at Goliad and not a processing facility. We’re very pleased with the permitting progress to date with both Palangana and Goliad.”
