Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. (ERA.AU) Chief Executive Rob Atkinson said Monday the company is hoping to convert an exploration target adjacent to its Ranger mine into a resource by the end of the year.

"We are certainly hopeful to do that by the end of the year," he told Dow Jones Newswires.

ERA said Monday it has defined mineralization of between 15 million and 20 million metric tons of ore at Ranger 3 Deeps, next to its Ranger open pit mine in Australia's Northern Territory, and that the ore has the potential to contain between 30,000 and 40,000 tons of uranium.

Atkinson said the size of that exploration target could grow as the company carries out more drilling and that, while there is a lot of work to be done on potential development of the find, it could support an underground mine.

"Given its depth an underground option certainly is a possibility," he said.

Separate to the potential development of Ranger 3 Deeps, ERA is also looking at boosting production with a heap leach operation and a pushback of the existing Ranger open pit, both of which Atkinson said were in pre-feasibility with feasibility studies targeted for the second half of 2009.

Atkinson said the miner has a number of options for future production and it is too early to give future output levels.

"We have just got to work through that optionality, but certainly I'd be confident that it will continue at the current pace," he said.

ERA produced 5,412 metric tons of uranium in 2007 and Atkinson reaffirmed the miner's guidance for 2008 output approaching the 2007 level.

The uranium price has fallen from a record high of US$138 per pound in June last year to US$53 per pound, but Atkinson said ERA is positive about the mid-to-long-term outlook for yellowcake despite the impact of the current global financial crisis.

"In the short term we don't see significant positive news but certainly in the mid term we think the fundamentals are still there and we think the supply and demand balance is going to be about right," he said.