Colorado-based Energy Fuels Inc., which holds a key uranium production center in Wyoming along with interests in critical rare earth minerals, has expanded into development and production of medical isotopes used in cancer treatments.
On Monday, Energy Fuels acquired RadTran LLC as a further step toward addressing the global industry need for medical radioisotopes in emerging cancer treatments.
Energy Fuels did not disclose the financial terms.
Saleem Drera, president and CEO of RadTran, will join Energy Fuels as vice president of radioisotopes, radiological systems and intellectual property.
RadTran is headquartered in Centennial, Colorado.
Energy Fuels is one of the few uranium-producing businesses that has looked beyond supplying the critical uranium ore to just the nuclear fuel industry.
Ramping Up Nichols Ranch
In May, Energy Fuels announced plans to begin preparing for ramping up its Nichols Ranch uranium mine near Kaycee, Wyoming, for production by 2025.
Beginning next year, the Nichols Ranch and other uranium mines located in the Cowboy State and elsewhere could produce up to 2 million pounds of uranium per year, with the Wyoming mine representing “significant expansion potential,” said Energy Fuels CEO Mark Chalmers in previous reports with Cowboy State Daily.
Earlier this year, Chalmers said that his company was building a combined uranium and rare earths mineral company that was exploring possible acquisition opportunities.
“We expect to be globally competitive,” Chalmers said of the rare earths side of the business.
The rare earth minerals bonanza is the result of consumers starved for magnet metals integral to the green transition to electric vehicles, wind turbines, consumer goods, robots and military drones, missiles and chips needed for sophisticated computing power.
Energy Fuels also has benefited from an effort led by the federal government to produce uranium for a $75 million strategic reserve in case it needs to be tapped in an emergency.
Uranium Boom
Other mining interests within Wyoming also plan to kick in uranium to the reserve.
These companies include Casper-based Ur-Energy Inc., with uranium mining in Wyoming’s Red Desert; Texas-based Uranium Energy Corp.; EnCore, a Corpus Christi, Texas-based uranium producer in various stages of developing large uranium deposits throughout Wyoming; and Australian-based Peninsula Energy Ltd., which earlier this year said that it plans to sell between $88 million and $117 million worth of Wyoming uranium from a mine near Gillette to a European nuclear fuel buyer from Belgium.
Energy Fuels has several uranium projects in various stages of development scattered throughout the Powder River Basin, as well as the White Mesa Mill in Utah.
If all mines were in production, the company said it could produce up to 5 million pounds annually, including a Sheep Mountain project in south central Wyoming, about 20 miles south of Jeffrey City.
The Sheep Mountain project has more than 30 million pounds of uranium resources, the company said.
The company has benefited from record uranium spot prices hitting a multi-decade high — reaching $106 per pound in early February — that have served as a catalyst for launching its uranium business.
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
