U.S. uranium miners say ready to ramp up if Trump approves quotas
11/07/2019 22:00
By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON, July 11 (Reuters) - Two leading U.S. uranium
mining companies say they are prepared to quickly ramp up
production if President Donald Trump approves their request for
curbs on imports this week.
Trump is expected to decide as soon as Friday on the
petitions from Colorado-based Energy Fuels Inc UUUU.A and
Wyoming-based Ur-Energy Inc URG.A - which seek quotas
requiring 25% of the U.S. uranium market be sourced domestically
- after reviewing recommendations from the Commerce Department
in April.
Two sources familiar with the matter said the White House
was weighing three options, including taking no action, delaying
a decision for six months, and requiring utilities to purchase
5% of their uranium from domestic mines each year - rising 5
points per year until it reaches 25%.
The United States sourced just 7% of its uranium
domestically in 2017, with most of the rest coming from Canada,
Australia and Russia, according to the Energy Information
Administration.
"If we get a positive determination out of the president,
our company is going to start doing things immediately," said
Mark Chalmers, president of Energy Fuels, in an interview this
week.
The company could lift production to “between 2.5 to 3
million pounds per year” under the right conditions, said Chief
Operating Officer Paul Goranson, who was also in the interview,
from just under 1 million pounds in 2018.
UR-Energy, meanwhile, could ramp up production at its
existing Lost Creek mine in Wyoming to 1 million pounds per year
of yellowcake (U3O8) and start up its Shirley Basin project
"relatively quickly" said John Cash, the company's vice
president of regulatory affairs.
Ur-Energy recovered 375,000 pounds in 2018.
The companies have both won key federal permits over the
last two years that could help them lift output.
Last year, the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest
Service approved the expansion of Energy Fuels’ La Sal and
Daneros mines, the latter of which is located just outside the
Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.
The BLM in March also approved Ur-Energy's application to
double the surface area of its Lost Creek mine in Wyoming and is
reviewing final permitting for the Shirley Basin surface uranium
mine that operated until the 1990s.
The Ad Hoc Utilities group, representing utilities with
nuclear power plants, opposes the proposed 25% quota, saying it
would add $500 million to $800 million in annual costs for the
industry.
Environmental groups and some Native American tribes also
oppose support for the uranium industry out of concern mining
would harm water supplies.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici
Editing by Marguerita Choy)
((valerie.volcovici@thomsonreuters.com; +1-202-898-8300))