'Exciting times'

BUFFALO - Local leaders are hoping that an active uranium mine in southern Johnson County will yield much-needed mineral tax revenue in the coming year.

Uranium Energy Corp. purchased Uranium One Americas and its Christensen Ranch and Irigaray Processing Plant in December 2021. For two years, the uranium production company monitored rising uranium prices and solidified plans to ramp up production once the process proved profitable.

The company resumed production this August after a roughly six-year pause in production. At the time, the company had 40 employees in the region and uranium was priced at about $81 a pound.

Now, in December, there are 50 employees between its operations in Johnson County and its Casper office. The spot price of uranium sits at $74.25, as of press time Friday.

Brent Berg, the corporation's senior vice president of U.S. operations, said that "it's exciting times" for nuclear energy and, in turn, uranium.

"Nuclear has broad acceptance, and you see a lot of activity with big companies looking for nuclear power and developing small modular reactors," he said in an interview. "Those endeavors require uranium, which is our primary business, and that's what gets us excited."

Wyoming produces more uranium than any other state, and the Powder River Basin is at the center of that, according to the World Nuclear Association, a nuclear industry trade group.

Officials are optimistic about the future of domestic uranium mining and processing, given an interest in nuclear energy and a favorable regulatory picture.

Congress passed a ban on Russian uranium imports earlier this year, and TerraPower is expected to open its highly anticipated nuclear power plant across the state in Kemmerer by 2030.

"Nuclear has broad acceptance, and you see a lot of activity with big companies looking for nuclear power and developing small modular reactors. Those endeavors require uranium, which is our primary business, and that's what gets us excited." ~ Brent Berg, Uranium Energy Co.

UEC has a memorandum of understanding with the company to potentially supply uranium once the venture is up and running. UEC also announced in October that the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality approved an increased licensed production capacity at the Irigaray Central Processing Plant, which is now licensed to process up to 4 million pounds of yellowcake.

At this point, Berg said, the company is completing engineering and design work to get the plant to capacity.

"We've got a number of permitted satellite projects that could feed the Irigaray plant," he said.

The company said in a news release that it anticipates dried and drummed concentrate production at the Irigaray Plant in early 2025.

Johnson County's valuation and subsequent budgeting is largely dependent on mineral tax revenue.

In 2024, the valuation dropped by roughly 17% from the year prior, which County Assessor Steve Esponda attributed to a decline in oil and gas production and tax collections.

During a recent county commission meeting, Esponda expressed some optimism for uranium's potential tax revenue.

In 2014, the former owners of the Christensen and Irigaray projects paid $1 million in ad valorem taxes.

County Commissioner Jeff Shelley, in an interview with the Bulletin, said he hopes uranium production will continue to pick up and have an impact on the county's bottom line.

"Nobody really talks about the uranium, but it could be a huge help for our budget," he said.

Another uranium producer, Nuclear Fuels Inc., has found success so far in its Kaycee project, just east of Interstate 25 and Kaycee. The project has been in the exploration stage for a little more than a year, though results have so far been promising.

Tests show the uranium could be amenable to in-situ recovery, which is an extraction process that leaves the ore where it is in the ground and recovers the minerals from it by dissolving them and pumping the solution to the surface where the minerals can be recovered. The setup resembles an oil well, and it's an alternative to open pit uranium mining. UEC uses the same process.

Scott Melbye, executive vice president at UEC, told Kitco News, a commodities-focused media organization, that he anticipates uranium market prices to hit three digits in the new year.

Berg had a similarly positive outlook.

"Things are moving along nicely," Berg said. "We're excited. We like how the uranium markets are shaping up, and we think (there will) be great things ahead for all of us."