The state and local economy could get a boost from the development of a potential new nickel mine in the nearby Granite Mountains.
A Canadian company called Visionary Metals recently discovered the mineral there after about two years of exploration, CEO Wes Adams said in corporate video presentation earlier this year.
“A few well-to-do investors and I … teamed up to finance the company through the higher-risk, early exploration stages of the project,” Adams explained in the presentation. “This effort led to the discovery of Wyoming’s first nickel-sulfide deposit at King Solomon, where we intersected mineralization in just the third hole of the first drill program ever targeting nickel in Wyoming.”
Now, he said, Visionary Metals is focused on “de-risking” the discovery so they can further develop the area, which shares “all of the basic characteristics of other world-class Archean nickel deposits.”
“We’re excited about the possibility for near-term success,” Adams said. “Our initial discovery at King Solomon represents a large, mineralized body with potential to host high-grade nickel.”
‘Big opportunity’
In addition to drilling at King Solomon, Adams said Visionary Metals also plans to conduct airborne and ground electromagnetic surveys this summer to locate targets at “several other prospects that we’ve identified” in the area.
“In 2024 we have a big opportunity to create near-term value for our shareholders,” he said. “I believe we can develop a mineral resource at King Solomon and make new discoveries in what could be a new, world-class nickel district – and one that’s located in one of the best mining jurisdictions globally.”
Central Wyoming is “an excellent place to be … in terms of mining friendliness,” Adams explained, with “great infrastructure” and strong “public and political support for mining – and our project specifically.”
“We believe the future is bright for nickel prices as more hybrid and electric vehicles are produced, which increases global demand,” he said, noting that, over the past 50 years, there has only been one new nickel discovery in the continental United States.
That Michigan-based mine only has six years of production left, Adams said, so “with the emergence of hybrid vehicles … we’re going to need more nickel.”
“We’ll need to find new deposits in places where we can build mines and have infrastructure in place,” he said. “I think Wyoming could be very suitable for a new nickel mining opportunity, and we’re happy to be working there.”
Local ties
One highlight of Adams’ video presentation was the introduction of local geologist and former state lawmaker David Miller to the Visionary Metals board.
“You may know him from his days as CEO of Strathmore Resources prior to its sale to Energy Fuels,” Adams said. “David has been a tremendous help and is politically very well-connected in Wyoming, as he served (in) the Wyoming State Legislature for nearly 20 years.”
Miller said he got involved with Visionary Metals “several years ago” when Adams called him for help getting established in the area.
“The reason he got a hold of me is just my experience in Fremont County,” Miller said. “I’m a geologist, I’m connected with lots of people, (and) I know the Wyoming laws and legislative processes.”
Miller also knows about the Adams family’s history in Wyoming, where Wes Adams’ grandfather Bob Adams “was really important in the early days of Fremont County, helping found Jeffrey City and the uranium mines that occurred just south there in Crooks Gap.”
A Wyoming Historical Society article says Bob Adams formed the Lost Creek Oil and Uranium Company – later named Western Nuclear – after discovering uranium in the Crooks Gap area, in the Green Mountains south of the Sweetwater River, and north of the Red Desert in 1954.
Bob Adams also built the first uranium mill in Wyoming – the Split Rock Mill near Jeffrey City, which expanded through the 1970s to produce 1,700 tons of ore on a daily basis, the WHS says.
“Jeffrey City, built by Adams’ company, quickly grew,” the WHS article states. “Western Nuclear provided the town manager and a road maintenance crew. By mid-summer 1957, with new mining hires, the town was planning for nearly 200 families to join the community, which would have increased the population to more than 750 residents.”
Now, Visionary Metals’ Lander-based Wyoming corporation – which Wes Adams named Lost Creek Mining after his grandfather’s original company – is focusing its nickel exploration near the old uranium haul road between the Gas Hills and Jeffrey City, Miller said – and if the operation is successful, it will have a noticeable impact on the local economy, too.
“If it ended up being a large mine, it could (employ) probably 400-500 people during construction,” Miller said. “And then for steady operations it could (require) 200 employees, and they would all average probably over $100,000 a year, the way mining wages are these days.”
The company’s nickel discovery is located on a state section of land, Miller added, so once the mine is in operation it could bring in “many millions of dollars a year to Wyoming education, in addition to ad valorem and property taxes (amounting to) many millions of dollars per year.”
“That’s the way the laws are set up in Wyoming,” Miller said. “We tax minerals, (and) we all benefit from it. … It’s a good thing for Wyoming.”
This spring, Visionary Metals was awarded up to $1 million in Energy Matching Funds from the Wyoming Energy Authority for its Fremont County project, according to a WEA press release.
Wyoming also contributed to the project in a “very important” way by conducting an airborne geophysical survey over “a large part of the Granite Mountains,” generating data that Visionary Metals and other companies can analyze to identify mining targets in the area, Miller pointed out.
“It is great to be working in a place like Wyoming, where leaders in government and innovative companies are working together to find new sources of critical and strategic minerals like nickel, cobalt and platinum group elements,” Wes Adams said in the WEA press release. “These elements are used to make stainless steel, batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles, semi-conductors, catalytic converters, consumer electronics and other products which we consume but do not produce in any abundance domestically.
“The first step toward creating domestic circular supply chains for the strategic minerals used in these products is to locate and evaluate new resources. We’re delighted that Wyoming is taking the initiative to help.”