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Dr. Wenrich spent three years working as a staff member (economic geologist with diplomatic status) for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a United Nations group specializing in nuclear energy and related activities. She was based in Vienna, Austria up to the time of her resignation to return to the United States and join Liberty Star.
Prior to her position with the IAEA she was a consultant for 5 years, following 23 years working in the uranium and mineral resource branches of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While working with the USGS one of her more extensive projects was heading the mineral resource assessment and investigation of the origin and significance of uranium-bearing breccia pipes, which are known to occur in the vast expanse of northwestern Arizona. The opinion of some at the time, as to the origin of the few known breccia pipes was that they were related to a volcanic event. Dr. Wenrich’s specialty when she received her Ph.D. was the study of volcanic events (volcanology). Thus it was logical to assign a volcanologist to lead the scientific investigation into how these perplexing breccia pipes were formed a process that was ultimately determined to be nonvolcanic. She notes, Prior to commencement of my breccia pipe studies in 1978-80 only one major orebody, and a few examples of unmineralized breccia pipes exposed on canyon walls, were known. My new breccia pipe maps permitted an 8-fold increase in this uranium endowment of the breccia-pipe province over the previous 1980 NURE assessment (National Uranium Resource Evaluation program).
She has authored or co-authored over 154 papers on the polymetallic breccia pipes (and other subjects primarily related to uranium mineralization around the world) and is the world’s foremost authority on them. Her work has taken her all over the world, with numerous trips to present papers, lecture, study uranium occurrences, and train other geologists in the science of uranium exploration. | 