Uranium Energy Corp., which had mothballed its uranium mining operations in Wyoming in a “care and maintenance status” nearly a decade ago, is the second major uranium producer in the state to restart mining and processing of the critical ore.
The mined ore, which is turned into yellowcake, is a vital component needed to make fuel for the nation’s nuclear power industry. Uranium Energy’s first shipment of yellowcake is expected to happen in November or December.
The Corpus Christi, Texas-based company announced Tuesday that it restarted its past-producing Christensen Ranch in-situ recovery operations in Wyoming where it is currently permitted to mine 2.5 million pounds of uranium annually.
Regulators are currently considering whether to permit the company to boost annual production to 4 million pounds.
Restart of the project, which includes the Irigaray central processing plant and Christensen Ranch as a licensed and permitted satellite to the Irigaray operation, now employs 40 people with another 20 to be hired in coming months.
“I think it’s a clear signal that uranium production in Wyoming is back,” said Brent Berg, senior vice president in charge of U.S. operations for Uranium Energy, and who works with longtime uranium expert Donna Wichers, vice president of Wyoming operations in Casper.
“For us, it’s just the start. We’ll move from this startup to the next project in our portfolio, which is Burke Hollow, in south Texas,” Berg told Cowboy State Daily.
There is some allure with Wyoming’s uranium companies since all are involved in in-situ mining, which is a mining technique that greatly reduces exposure to environmental wastes related to uranium mill tailings.
In-situ involves drilling with water derricks that can go down a few hundred feet into a bed of porous sandstone where there’s a very thick layer of uranium deposits to tap.
Berg, formerly the president and CEO of Rare Element Resources Ltd., where he was the top executive behind development of a novel $53 million rare earth minerals project backed by the federal Department of Energy in northeastern Wyoming, left that position in March to join Uranium Energy.
Berg told Cowboy State Daily at the time that he had a 21-year career in the uranium industry and was excited to get back to his roots.
Trucking Uranium
Christiansen Ranch is where Uranium Energy performs its mining operation.
The water solution that collects the uranium from the wells at Christiansen Ranch is attached to ion exchange resin, or tiny plastic-like beads, at the satellite plant.
The beads are then transported by tank trucks to the Irigaray central processing plant, located about 15 miles away.
The Irigaray plant is where the uranium is stripped from the beads, dried and ultimately processed into yellowcake, the necessary ingredient needed to make enriched fuel for a nuclear plant’s reactor.
That nuclear fuel magic happens at a factory in Illinois, the only one in the United States.
“Wyoming has probably the largest volume of uranium resources in the U.S, and we are capable of producing a lot more uranium,” Wichers told Cowboy State Daily. “In the past, Wyoming produced 12 million pounds per year. I doubt we’ll be up to that level again, but it’s going to grow substantially, and Wyoming is certainly the place to be.”
Uranium Energy is also looking at other permitted properties in Wyoming to develop in the Powder River Basin area.
These include the Moore Ranch project, located about 60 miles southwest of Gillette, the Ludeman project near Glenrock, and the Reno Creek mine, which is 60 miles south of Gillette.
Ur-Energy’s Ambitions
The other uranium-producing mining operation in Wyoming is Ur-Energy Inc., which recently raised $60 million in a public offering of stock to help pay for possible acquisitions of mining claims in the fragmented uranium industry and to ramp up development of mining projects.
Ur-Energy anticipates using some of the proceeds from the public offering of 57.2 million shares to supplement working capital for the continued ramp-up at its Lost Creek mining and production site in Wyoming’s Red Desert and development at its Shirley Basin mine in central Wyoming.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, uranium companies have rushed to Wyoming to explore for the ore, while others took their dormant operations out of caretaker status as part of a broader effort in the industry to develop an alternative enriched domestic uranium fuel supply.
The invasion of Ukraine led to growing nervousness in the U.S that the nation was relying too heavily on foreign sources, especially since Russia already was a major fuel supplier.
The U.S. took steps to alleviate over-dependence on Russia should the fuel supply line get cut.
Wyoming’s senior Sen. John Barrasso spearheaded an effort to ban Russian uranium imports that was signed into law by President Joe Biden in May.
Building Scale
Strata Energy Inc., the U.S. unit of Australian-based Peninsula Energy Ltd., is on schedule to begin uranium production at its central processing plant in northeastern Wyoming by December.
Strata would become the third major uranium producer in Wyoming.
Peninsula is moving forward with uranium recovery operations in the northeastern part of the state roughly 25 miles north of Moorcroft in the Powder River Basin region.
Peninsula, which has already invested about $50 million in the processing plant, has lined up supply deals with U.S. and European-based utilities, said Peninsula Energy’s Managing Director and CEO Wayne Heili.
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
