GTI Energy (ASX:GTR) is planning the next phase of exploration and development to grow the Lo Herma In-Situ Recovery Uranium Project’s resource, in Wyoming, US.
The company says its recently completed Scoping Study has provided it with “significant encouragement to continue investing” in its 100% owned Lo Herma project in Wyoming’s Southern Powder River Basin.
An expanded work program for 2025 has been prepared, requiring amendment of the current drilling notification permit. Drilling at Lo Herma during 2024 and 2025, and the recently completed Scoping Study, has significantly refined the GTI’s future exploration strategy.
The amended drilling permit will be lodged imminently with the State of Wyoming’s Department of Environment Quality, Land Quality Division and is expected to progress quickly due to GTI’s record of compliance and engagement with regulatory authorities.
GTI, which has a market capitalisation of $12 million, says the next phase of work will focus on increasing the total mineral resource and upgrading the confidence level classification of the current inferred resource.
The program will also collect additional data including further hydrogeologic parameters of the mineralised aquifers and collection of additional drill core samples for metallurgical testing.
Meanwhile, the next phase of fieldwork will include aquifer pump testing of water monitor wells which were drilled earlier this year.
GTI notes these tests will provide valuable data on groundwater dynamics, further informing the hydrogeologic model and supporting environmental and operational planning.
CEO Bruce Lane says the recently completed interim Scoping Study established “positive” baseline economics for Lo Herma.
“Underpinning the investment case for further work to improve resource confidence levels and grow the project; especially in the context of a rapidly strengthening US nuclear power sector and tightening uranium supply,” Lane says.
“Whilst the study did not meet the resource confidence level to allow us to publish the production targets and financial outcomes we are nevertheless very encouraged by the results, and we are confident that further drilling will deliver the necessary resource upgrades.”
Earlier this month, GTI revealed that the Lo Herma Project is positioned to be a competitive low-cost uranium operation using the in-situ recovery process, as Mining.com.au previously reported.
GTI engaged Wyoming engineering group BRS Engineering to conduct the Scoping Study, prepared in accordance with the JORC code (2012) for ASX-listed companies. BRS has experience with Wyoming ISR project development from exploration through to construction and rehabilitation.
The Scoping Study focused on evaluating an alkaline ISR mine (Wellfield) and central processing plant (CPP) at Lo Herma while also evaluating an alternative satellite mining operation (Satellite).
The study identified suitable wellfield layouts, a processing flowsheet and a CPP site with estimated capital and operating costs to support a financially attractive and sustainable ISR operation with expansion potential.
GTI says the Wellfield and CPP designs, mining schedules and financial models were completed based on various uranium prices from US$60 through to $90 per pound of saleable U3O8.
“The study positively demonstrates the potential viability of the project, with the results clearly justifying the company’s commitment to further exploration and development,” the company reports.
“GTI believes the project has potential to deliver low capex and opex, a short payback period, low breakeven uranium price and attractive NPV and IRR returns, however given a significant proportion of the project resource is in the ‘inferred resource’ category under the JORC code, GTI is not currently able to release forecast production and financial information under ASX listing rules.”
Global uranium demand is projected to increase for nuclear power, driven by net zero ambitions and the need for base load power for data centres. The Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) Resources and Energy Quarterly for March 2025 reveals the uranium consumption is expected to increase from 95 kilotonnes in 2024 to 105 kilotonnes in 2030.
This rise in consumption is driven by several countries expanding their nuclear generation capacity. Of the 63 reactors currently under construction globally, 28 are in China and seven are in India.
The Lo Herma Project, located in the Southern Powder River Basin, includes a producing ISR plant and satellite plant that is currently in construction.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: GTI Energy
