Strathmore Plus Uranium (SUU) - Very Early Stage Wyoming Uranium Play...

Strathmore Plus Uranium Corp. is a Canadian junior exploration company with assets in Wyoming, USA. The company changed its name to Strathmore Plus Uranium Corp. in September 2022, after being previously known as Strathmore Plus Energy Corp. The company believes that the world is experiencing a uranium renaissance, with the majority of the global community starting to acknowledge that nuclear power is vital in a greener energy future.

John Dejoia serves as a Technical Advisor to Strathmore Plus Uranium Corp. and is one of the most experienced uranium geologists in the US. Dejoia has more than 50 years of experience in the mineral sector and assisted the company in acquiring its assets, after a discussion with Dev Randhawa, the company CEO.

The Agate project of the company is an in-situ recovery project in the Shirley Basin Uranium district of Wyoming. The property has a land position of 1,075 acres and consists of 52 mining claims. The project’s uranium mineralisation is located close to the surface, with it starting at a depth of between 15 and 150 feet, and the mineralisation grades average between 0.02% eU₃O₈ to 0.18% eU₃O₈.

The Beaver Rim project of the company is a 2,706-acre land package which consists of 131 lode mining claims and is located adjacent to and south of the Gas Hills Uranium project, owned by Cameco Corp., which is fully permitted for in-situ recovery.

The Night Owl project of the company is a former producing mine, also located in the Shirley Basin Uranium district of Wyoming. The project produced 93 tons of mineralisation at a grade of 0.24% U₃O₈ between 1950 and 1960.

John Dejoia and the Nuclear Industry in the West

John Dejoia serves as an advisor to Strathmore Plus Uranium Corp and is one of the most experienced uranium geologists in the US. Dejoia has more than 50 years of experience He assisted the company in acquiring its assets and has overseen the mining of more than 20 million pounds of uranium in the state of Wyoming. Dejoia has been involved in open-pit, underground and In-Situ uranium production, exploration and mine development. Dejoia explains his path with the company and his decision to retire (however briefly) as follows:

“I started with Strathmore in, I think, 2005. I can't remember the exact year. It's been quite a while now. I was hired as vice president, and our goal was to evaluate properties and submit mine permits. I did that for a couple of years and then Dev wanted to form a partnership with our really good property, Roca Honda, and I became the manager of Roca Honda Resources and Senior Vice President. I had to fill two hats there. I've known Dev since about 2005. We divested about 8 years ago and I opted to retire rather than continue on with the purchasers.”

Dejoia notes that a nuclear renaissance is occurring, with the nuclear industry, similar to the renaissance of Europe in the 14^th century experiencing a “rebirth”. Dejoia notes that the academic world is also opening up to the nuclear sector once more, with a generation of students looking to enter the industry once again.

“Mr Osier (Terrence Osier, the company’s VP of Exploration) and I just spent about an hour and a half on the phone with a professor down at the University of Wyoming who is working on a grant to study a couple of our properties. He's hoping to get a grant. Things are opening up. The academic world is starting to embrace nuclear. We already embraced it from a technical standpoint, but when students are actively seeking employment and opportunities in the industry, to me, that tells me that it's going to open up. You have to have the young people accept it. I forget how many people they have in the geophysics field, I think he said he had seven that would like to work on this grant. That is really encouraging.”

Projects

Dejoia has been involved with the Uranium industry since 1971 with his career focused in Wyoming. Dejoia played a cardinal role in the creation of the company’s asset portfolio, with all three of the company’s projects having been suggested by him to Dev Randhawa, the company’s Chairman and CEO.

“I brought in all three. Dev and I talked them over. I told him what I thought we had, and he was receptive to acquiring them. We only staked them; we didn't purchase these properties. Mr Osier had some claims on Beaver Rim. Beaver Rim was originally part of when I worked at Federal American Partners in the Gas Hills, we had 40 million pounds out there, and we were partnered with Tennessee Valley Authority.”

The Asset portfolio of the company consists of the Night Owl uranium project as well as the Agate uranium project, both located in the Shirley Basin Uranium District of Wyoming as well as the Beaver Rim uranium project, located in Central Wyoming.

Beaver Rim project and mineralisation

The Beaver Rim uranium project of the company is located next to the Gas Hills Uranium project owned by Cameco Corp. and holds a land position of 2,706 acres. The project consists of, amongst others, the West Diamond, East Diamond, North Sage and South Sage properties, located strategically in areas previously identified through drilling initiatives as highly prospective for uranium mineralization.

Dejoia explains that the mineralisation of the properties in the project is C-shaped, with uranium oxide on the edges of the deposit.

“They have a c-shape. Let's go to the East Diamond, it's right in the middle. If you look at the East Diamond that is the pathway of the mineralizing solution. The roll occurs just slightly to the west, it makes a c-shape with an opening to the inside. Over on the North Sage, to the east of there, it has a c-shape to the west that opens to the inside.”

The project was previously owned by another party which conducted exploration initiatives at the project. The previous drilling data is however unavailable due to various factors according to Dejoia.  

“Somebody else used to own the property and they have the drill holes. I think they would like to sell them but right now we're not willing to buy them. We'll go drill a few of our own holes. We've got to verify the project anyway. Even if we had all their drilling, we would still go in and verify this project. We'd put core holes down, do some fill-in drilling, just to verify what we really have.”

Shirley Basin projects

Dejoia started his career in Shirley Basin in 1972 as a night shift ore control man. He recalls being responsible for the identification of ore in the open-pit operation.

“I started in Shirley Basin in 72, and my first job with Utah International was as an ore control man on the night shift. I showed up, they gave me a Geiger counter and a Mack truck. If you can believe this: I'm 23 years old, they give me a Mack truck - I've never driven a Mack truck in my life - and a Geiger counter on night shift and said, go down into the pit, whenever you find ore, put a flag in it. That was my instruction manual.”

The Night Owl uranium project of the company is a formerly producing mine and was previously mined by Night Owl Properties & Battle Axe Mining Co. The project produced 93 tons of mineralisation at a grade of 0.24% U₃O₈ between 1950 and 1960. The production at the mine was shut down due to a low uranium price of approximately USD$ 7. Dejoia was first introduced to the Night Owl property in 1976. He recalls speaking with the owner of the property in the 70s and learning of its mining history in the 50s. The property stayed in his mind, and when Dev Randhawa was looking to expand the asset portfolio of the company, he was able to recall the Night Owl project.

“Dev said, we need another property and I said, I've been wanting to go and do something with Night Owl. I believe the folks that owned it are gone now and I think it's open. We had Terrence go out, and sure, enough, it was open. It had been open since 1986, I believe. We claimed the Night Owl property. I had never seen the ore, I didn't know that they had a little bit there or an excavation. Terrence went out and said, ``you're not going to believe this: there's mineral lying on the surface.”

The Agate uranium project of the company is also located in the Shirley Basin Uranium district of Wyoming and holds a land position of 1,075 acres. The project is amenable to in-situ recovery with eU₃O₈ grades ranging from 0.02% to 0.18%. The project hosts historical drill data according to Dejoia with up to 500 logs available.

“They [drill holes] were drilled by Kerr-McGee, back in the 60s and 70s. We have the logs available at the Wyoming Geological Survey, and Terrence said there are about 300-400 logs, so there could be up to 500 logs available. That's a lot of information."

2023 work program

The company holds an exploration permit at the Night Owl project and intends to conduct exploration drilling initiatives at the project in 2023 according to Dejoia. The company will also look at acquiring more properties in the area, increasing its land position.

“We got an exploration permit last fall, the weather kind of drove us out, so we didn't have enough time to enact our exploration permit by the time we got it. What we're planning to do is drill some exploration holes to just verify what we know and where we know it. And we may be off a couple of hundred feet; you can never tell when you're drilling 800 ft-1,000 ft. Anyway, we're going to do that. We'll probably put in one or two core holes, and we intend to acquire additional properties where we are very confident there could be mineralization.”

The project will also host PhD candidates in the creation of their thesis, providing not only uranium professionals to the industry but also valuable information to Strathmore Plus Uranium Corp.

“When the weather clears, at Night Owl we're going to go in and finish our geophysical and aerial work, and then hopefully we're going to have a couple of students working up there on their PhD theses. We're going to also do some drilling and maybe some test pits up there.”

To find out more, go to the Strathmore Plus Uranium website