What started as a treasure hunt for uranium in the Pine Ridge area of the Powder River Basin is now giving Wyoming a larger footprint in the nuclear industry.
It’s also revealing the long and winding road connecting mines with the nuclear power plants that depend on uranium for fuel.
About a dozen years ago, a couple of geologists discovered that the Pumpkin Buttes area was holding promising amounts of uranium, but there wasn’t much demand for it at the time.
Times have changed.
At Pine Ridge, Snow Lake Resources, a uranium exploration and development company that focuses on uranium mining and fuel development, just entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares and options of Global Uranium and Enrichment Limited (GUE) that it doesn't already own, creating what the company says will be one of the largest U.S.-focused uranium exploration and development companies.
"Really, the purpose of consolidation, the merger of the two companies, is to consolidate the Pine Ridge project under one ownership," Snow Lake CEO Frank Wheatley told Cowboy State Daily Tuesday.
The transaction will consolidate Snow Lake's joint venture with Global Uranium on the Pine Ridge uranium project, which is currently a 50-50 partnership, according to a company release. The project is located in the Powder River Basin north of Casper near Pumpkin Buttes.
"We're in the process of drilling right now. We put out a couple of initial results, and we hope to have a mineral resource estimate by the end of this year, beginning of next year," Wheatley said.
The acquisition creates a combined entity with an enhanced market capitalization of approximately $76.7 million and will be well-funded with approximately $18.5 million in cash. Global Uranium shareholders will receive a 40.3% premium to the closing price on Oct. 3, and completion is targeted for the first quarter of 2026.
Potential Buyers
Once Pine Ridge becomes operational, Snow Lake will sell to electric utilities, Wheatley explained.
"Ultimately it is the utilities," he said. "So the large utilities in the U.S., they generally enter into offtake (purchase) agreements with the uranium miners, and then it's up to the utilities to send that or cause that yellowcake, which is produced by the mine they manage, sending it to conversion, enrichment, de-conversion, fuel fabrication, and then ultimately to the reactor."
The utilities become responsible for coordinating all the subsequent processing steps, Wheatley said.
“They arrange for the services for all the subsequent steps down the supply chain,” he said. “That's typically the way it happens."
Multi-State Journey
The path from a Wyoming mine to a nuclear reactor can involve multiple stops across North America.
"The only conversion facility, I believe one of the few conversion facilities in North America is Cameco up in Ontario," Wheatley said.
From there, the uranium heads to enrichment, likely at Urenco's facility in New Mexico.
"So the material actually does move around quite a bit," Wheatley said.
If BWXT's proposed TRISO plant opens in Gillette, the uranium could boomerang back to the state where it was mined.
"If there's a fuel fabrication facility in Wyoming, it could go back to Wyoming," Wheatley said.
Logical Hub
The transportation costs and complexity suggest Wyoming could eventually host more of the nuclear fuel supply chain, Wheatley said.
"Wyoming is kind of a logical spot in the center of the U.S. to put more of these facilities to reduce the logistics," he said. "Because obviously there's a cost in transporting stuff from Wyoming to New Mexico or Ontario and back and forth."
While Wheatley hasn't heard of specific plans for conversion or enrichment facilities in Wyoming, he noted the state is obviously attracting other nuclear-related investments.
At a presentation in Gillette on Sept. 30, BWXT Senior Director of Advanced Nuclear Fuels Josh Parker told a crowd of more than 300 people about the company's plans for a TRISO fuel fabrication facility in the city.
"Wyoming mines uranium. Y'all have the second leading stake in uranium mining today. Y'all's production is increasing and it is growing," Parker said, his southern accent ringing through. "So you'll probably see Wyoming is on track to probably overtake Utah on that."
Parker outlined how the proposed facility would fit into the supply chain: "Uranium mining in Wyoming goes to Utah, goes for enrichment, probably New Mexico, comes back to Wyoming. And we fabricate it into high value products."
The BWXT facility would be a $500 million investment, employing about 200 people when operational around 2030, according to Parker's presentation.
Growing Portfolio
Beyond consolidating Pine Ridge, the recent acquisition gives Snow Lake what Wheatley describes as "one of the largest portfolios of uranium in the western U.S."
The combined company will hold uranium exploration and development projects in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah, plus projects in Canada and Namibia. The deal also enhances Snow Lake's exposure to the broader nuclear fuel cycle through a 21.9% interest in Ubaryon, a developer of next-generation uranium enrichment technology, and a strategic partnership with Exodys Energy on small modular reactors.
"Hopefully we can build out one of the larger portfolios of uranium in the western U.S., and then ultimately, if Pine Ridge proves to be of significant size and grade, look to put it into production as an ISR (In-Situ Recovery) mine in the Powder River Basin," Wheatley said.
He added that current, maximum domestic production wouldn't meet U.S. needs: "Even if every project in Wyoming, in Colorado or in Utah became a mine tomorrow, the U.S. would still need to go outside of its borders to acquire uranium. There's just not enough uranium in the U.S. to supply the needs of the U.S."
Industry Observers Weigh In
Wayne Heili, a Casper-based uranium industry veteran, characterized Snow Lake’s recent move as straightforward consolidation.
"This is a pretty rote, standard acquisition. You probably could see it coming a mile away," Heili told Cowboy State Daily. "Global (GUE) sold shares in their project earlier, and now they're just picking up the balance of Global."
He noted that the acquisition gives Snow Lake more than just Wyoming assets: "Snow Lake is taking up the other half of the Wyoming project. But along with that, they're getting Global's enrichment interests."
Mark Doelger, one of the geologists with Stakeholder Energy who was part of the original discovery at Pine Ridge, said the consolidation makes sense for Wyoming's evolving role in the nuclear industry.
"Uranium is important for us, and it's been good,” he said. “I mean, I'm very optimistic about the future of uranium in Wyoming.”
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
