nces in geological environments similar to those of Australia and the Athabasca Basin, and appears to have the potential for a uranium deposit similar in magnitude to those deposits.”

Harris acknowledged in his paper, “Reported reserves for these two regions are 436,360,000 tons of U3O8, or one quarter to one third of the noncommunist world’s proven reserves.” At the same time, the total 1982 U.S. uranium reserves at $30/pound stood at 203,000 tons. Wyoming’s piece of that mineable pie stood at 32,700 tons. His was a

“Geology is 90 percent terminology and 10 percent science,” laughed Ray E. Harris, one of Wyoming’s leading geological theoreticians, having been with the Wyoming Geological Survey since 1982. He died on March 7th. Two weeks earlier, we met with and interviewed Mr. Harris. Everyone we met in Wyoming, and who was interested in uranium mining, had, at one time or another, passed through his office, which was adjacent to the University of Wyoming in Laramie.

Terrence Osier of Strathmore Minerals was a frequent visitor to his corner office on the third floor. Norman Burmeister of Kilgore Minerals had met with Ray Harris the day before our meeting. When we announced an upcoming interview with William (Bill) Boberg of UR-Energy to discuss his premise that Central Wyoming was, on its own merits, a uranium province, Ray politely told us to say hello to Bill. Anyone exploring for, or developing, uranium assets in Wyoming were on a first-name basis with Ray Harris.

Once the chief metals geologist for Burlington Northern, which acquired Santa Fe Pacific and then spun off Santa Fe Gold (later acquired by Newmont Mining), Ray Harris wrote voluminously and spoke passionately about uranium mining. Wyoming legislator and president of Strathmore Minerals, David Miller, introduced us to Ray Harris. Miller recently wrote in an email about Ray Harris, upon notifying us of his death, “He was an advocate for diversifying Wyoming’s economy with the production of industrial minerals and uranium. He will be sorely missed.”

Ray Harris traveled the world, investigating and studying uranium deposits. He was well versed on the geology of every significant uranium deposit on earth and was also involved in the exploration, development and mining of uranium. In a Geological Survey of Wyoming Public Information Circular, published in 1986, Ray Harris presented a unique, and possibly controversial, thesis, “The genesis of uranium deposits in Athabasca, Canada and Northern Australia – Wyoming exploration significance.” In his introduction, Harris wrote:

“Wyoming has some uranium occurrences in geological environments similar to those of Australia and the Athabasca Basin, and appears to have the potential for a uranium deposit similar in magnitude to those deposits.”

Harris acknowledged in his paper, “Reported reserves for these two regions are 436,360,000 tons of U3O8, or one quarter to one third of the noncommunist world’s proven reserves.” At the same time, the total 1982 U.S. uranium reserves at $30/pound stood at 203,000 tons. Wyoming’s piece of that mineable pie stood at 32,700 tons. His was a

o his corner office on the third floor. Norman Burmeister of Kilgore Minerals had met with Ray Harris the day before our meeting. When we announced an upcoming interview with William (Bill) Boberg of UR-Energy to discuss his premise that Central Wyoming was, on its own merits, a uranium province, Ray politely told us to say hello to Bill. Anyone exploring for, or developing, uranium assets in Wyoming were on a first-name basis with Ray Harris.

Once the chief metals geologist for Burlington Northern, which acquired Santa Fe Pacific and then spun off Santa Fe Gold (later acquired by Newmont Mining), Ray Harris wrote voluminously and spoke passionately about uranium mining. Wyoming legislator and president of Strathmore Minerals, David Miller, introduced us to Ray Harris. Miller recently wrote in an email about Ray Harris, upon notifying us of his death, “He was an advocate for diversifying Wyoming’s economy with the production of industrial minerals and uranium. He will be sorely missed.”

Ray Harris traveled the world, investigating and studying uranium deposits. He was well versed on the geology of every significant uranium deposit on earth and was also involved in the exploration, development and mining of uranium. In a Geological Survey of Wyoming Public Information Circular, published in 1986, Ray Harris presented a unique, and possibly controversial, thesis, “The genesis of uranium deposits in Athabasca, Canada and Northern Australia – Wyoming exploration significance.” In his introduction, Harris wrote:

“Wyoming has some uranium occurrences in geological environments similar to those of Australia and the Athabasca Basin, and appears to have the potential for a uranium deposit similar in magnitude to those deposits.”

Harris acknowledged in his paper, “Reported reserves for these two regions are 436,360,000 tons of U3O8, or one quarter to one third of the noncommunist world’s proven reserves.” At the same time, the total 1982 U.S. uranium reserves at $30/pound stood at 203,000 tons. Wyoming’s piece of that mineable pie stood at 32,700 tons. His was a

nta Fe Pacific and then spun off Santa Fe Gold (later acquired by Newmont Mining), Ray Harris wrote voluminously and spoke passionately about uranium mining. Wyoming legislator and president of Strathmore Minerals, David Miller, introduced us to Ray Harris. Miller recently wrote in an email about Ray Harris, upon notifying us of his death, “He was an advocate for diversifying Wyoming’s economy with the production of industrial minerals and uranium. He will be sorely missed.”

Ray Harris traveled the world, investigating and studying uranium deposits. He was well versed on the geology of every significant uranium deposit on earth and was also involved in the exploration, development and mining of uranium. In a Geological Survey of Wyoming Public Information Circular, published in 1986, Ray Harris presented a unique, and possibly controversial, thesis, “The genesis of uranium deposits in Athabasca, Canada and Northern Australia – Wyoming exploration significance.” In his introduction, Harris wrote:

“Wyoming has some uranium occurrences in geological environments similar to those of Australia and the Athabasca Basin, and appears to have the potential for a uranium deposit similar in magnitude to those deposits.”

Harris acknowledged in his paper, “Reported reserves for these two regions are 436,360,000 tons of U3O8, or one quarter to one third of the noncommunist world’s proven reserves.” At the same time, the total 1982 U.S. uranium reserves at $30/pound stood at 203,000 tons. Wyoming’s piece of that mineable pie stood at 32,700 tons. His was a

ng and studying uranium deposits. He was well versed on the geology of every significant uranium deposit on earth and was also involved in the exploration, development and mining of uranium. In a Geological Survey of Wyoming Public Information Circular, published in 1986, Ray Harris presented a unique, and possibly controversial, thesis, “The genesis of uranium deposits in Athabasca, Canada and Northern Australia – Wyoming exploration significance.” In his introduction, Harris wrote:

“Wyoming has some uranium occurrences in geological environments similar to those of Australia and the Athabasca Basin, and appears to have the potential for a uranium deposit similar in magnitude to those deposits.”

Harris acknowledged in his paper, “Reported reserves for these two regions are 436,360,000 tons of U3O8, or one quarter to one third of the noncommunist world’s proven reserves.” At the same time, the total 1982 U.S. uranium reserves at $30/pound stood at 203,000 tons. Wyoming’s piece of that mineable pie stood at 32,700 tons. His was a

nces in geological environments similar to those of Australia and the Athabasca Basin, and appears to have the potential for a uranium deposit similar in magnitude to those deposits.”

Harris acknowledged in his paper, “Reported reserves for these two regions are 436,360,000 tons of U3O8, or one quarter to one third of the noncommunist world’s proven reserves.” At the same time, the total 1982 U.S. uranium reserves at $30/pound stood at 203,000 tons. Wyoming’s piece of that mineable pie stood at 32,700 tons. His was a bold statement, open to debate it not outright dispute and dismissal.

Perhaps there may be truth in Harris’ claim. In 1981, E.S. Cheney published an article in American Scientist, entitled “The Hunt for Giant Uranium Deposits,” where he explained a giant deposit would contain more than 100 million pounds of recoverable U3O8. But can the parts amount to more than a single giant uranium deposit? William Boberg in his 1981 article, “Some Speculations on the Development of Central Wyoming as a Uranium Province,” published in the Wyoming Geological Association Guidebook, wrote, “The Wyoming Uranium Province consists of several uranium districts (Gas Hills, Shirley Basin, Crooks Gap, Red Desert, Powder River Basin and Black Hills) each of which is made up of a few to numerous individual uranium deposits. In Part 2 of this Wyoming Series, uranium savvy Senator Robert Peck speculated there were “50 to 60 million pounds of recoverable uranium in the Gas Hills proven by previous drilling.”

Warren Finch in U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin #2141 (1996, US Government Printing Office, Washington), wrote in his paper, entitled “Uranium Provinces of North America – Their Definition, Distribution and Models,” that “… provinces are identified by the distribution of major uranium clusters, generally of a size of 500 tons and more U3O8…” Since January 1970, when S.H.U. Bowie described how to go about defining uranium provinces and searching for major uranium deposits in a paper he presented tot the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, geologists have been eager to compare similar geological settings between geographically diverse uranium deposits, and more accurately define uranium provinces.

Ray Harris wrote in his previously quoted article, “There are no producing ore bodies in the United States similar to those of the Athabasca Basin and Northern Australia, but two deposits, not currently being mined, may be of similar genesis. These are the deposits near Chatham, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and at Copper Mountain, Fremont County, Wyoming.” (Editor’s Note: Accord