Casper's Ur-Energy Sees Boost In Uranium Production

Casper-based Ur-Energy Inc. is among one of the first major uranium mining players in Wyoming to see evidence of stronger demand by electric utilities for its ore, which is needed to power nuclear power plants, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

The strength in fuel purchases follows a boost in the market from Congress.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, uranium companies rushed to Wyoming 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.  

Companies like Ur-Energy are being closely watched to see what kind of impact the resurgence in the industry might have on their bottom lines.

In the three-month period that ended on June 30, Ur-Energy CEO John Cash, said that his uranium company sold 75,000 pounds of yellowcake in addition to receiving “binding notices” from its customers for the delivery of 495,000 pounds in the second half of 2024, according to a filing with federal securities regulators on Wednesday.

Yellowcake is a derivative of mined uranium that is sent to an Illinois conversion facility that turns the uranium concentrate powder into nuclear fuel. 

The company expects to realize revenues of $33.1 million from yellowcake sales in 2024.

The outlook for 2025 also looks upbeat, according to the company.

Growth Continues

Ur-Energy said that it expects to deliver 700,000 pounds of yellowcake to three utility customers in 2025.

Under these agreements, two of the three buyers can elect to buy as much as 10% more of their annual allocation.

The company anticipates that it could deliver up to 730,000 pounds of yellowcake to its customers. 

The company also said that its expansion into the Shirley Basin mine project is on schedule. 

The Shirley Basin uranium mining district is located in central Wyoming, roughly 40 miles south of Casper.

Ur-Energy’s expansion into the Shirley Basin will nearly double the company’s annual mine production capacity to 2.2 million pounds.

The Shirley Basin mine, which Ur-Energy acquired more than a dozen years ago, has a place in uranium history. 

The Shirley Basin mine was the birthplace of in-situ mining technology in the early 1960s, though it was suspended in the early 1990s due to low uranium pricing. 

In-situ mining involves drilling with water derricks, not oil, 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.

Ur-Energy also runs a production plant at Lost Creek where hydrochloric acid is used to dissolve the mined uranium in the baking of the uranium, along with salt water that flushes the uranium off resin beads used to collect the ore.

In Lost Creek, there are more than 300 drill holes, many with well caps, throughout the mining area. The company is guiding to “the lower side” of its earlier 2024 production guidance in Lost Creek of 550,000 to 650,000 pounds.

Ur-Energy's main in-situ mining operation is run out of the Lost Creek uranium mine in the Red Desert, a 9,300-square-mile high desert and sagebrush steppe located in southcentral Wyoming.In March, Ur-Energy began work to open a second in-situ mining operation in the Shirley Basin about 130 miles to the east of Lost Creek.

Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.