Production resumes at local uranium mine

BUFFALO — Johnson County's Willow Creek uranium mine is productive again for the first time in roughly six years.

Uranium Energy Corp., a Texas-based company, purchased the mine in December 2021 from Uranium One Americas with the intent of ramping up uranium production and processing at the Christensen Ranch and Irigaray projects, respectively, in Johnson and Campbell counties once the price of uranium showed a consistent increase.

On Tuesday, UEC issued a press release confirming that uranium production kicked off on Aug. 6. The spot price of uranium on Tuesday was approximately $81.40 a pound, according to Markets Insider.

With the backdrop of a stable market, legislation favorable to domestic uranium production and nuclear projects on the horizon, the company announced in January that it planned to resume operations in Johnson County in August.

"It's the perfect storm, with price and demand going up,” said Donna Wichers, the company's vice president for Wyoming operations. “Wyoming has the largest volume of uranium reserves in the U.S., so Wyoming is the place to be.”

Wichers said that UEC currently has 40 employees and it will hire an additional 20 people this fiscal year to staff various positions, including in construction, permitting, maintenance, geology and communications. The fiscal year ends July 2025. Those positions will be posted on the company's website.

Uranium recovered from the Christensen Ranch will be processed at the Irigaray processing plant, according to the company's press release. Officials expect the first shipment of yellowcake to occur this November or December.

For six years, the Willow Creek mine had been in care and maintenance, meaning operations at the mine were temporarily suspended but the site was managed to ensure it remains safe and stable.

Buffalo resident Larry Arbogast has worked for various uranium companies in different positions at the Willow Creek mine for 48 years. Currently, he is the mine's senior radiation safety technician.

He said that his job doesn't change while the mine's operations are suspended, but it's exciting to be back up and running with a full workforce producing uranium.

“It brings a lot of jobs and a better tax revenue for the county,” Arbogast said. “It all flows back into county businesses with all the people working again.”

At the height of uranium production in the past decade, in 2014, the company that was eventually purchased by Uranium Energy Corp. paid $1 million to Johnson County in ad valorem taxes, according to previous Bulletin reporting.

Bill Novotny, Johnson County Commission chairman, said that more important than the tax boost is the potential payroll and jobs that come with uranium production.

“I am hopeful it will bring new workers and families to Kaycee and have a positive impact on the county's economy,” he wrote in an email.

Favorable regulations

Bipartisan legislation passed earlier this year banned Russian uranium imports into the U.S., which legislators and industry advocates anticipate will benefit domestic uranium producers.

At the end of 2023, UEC penned an agreement with TerraPower – the company manufacturing a much-anticipated natrium reactor in Kemmerer – that could lead to the local mine eventually supplying its yellowcake once the facility is up and running. TerraPower kicked off construction

this summer and is projecting that its reactor will open by 2030.

Wichers previously told the Bulletin that yellowcake uranium extracted from its site would undergo some processing at its local Irigaray plant and then it is transported to a conversion plant in Illinois, where it would be converted to uranium hexafluoride. From there, that substance would go to an enrichment facility. Then it would go to a fuel fabrication facility, and, from there, to the customer.

UEC's goal, at this point, is to increase production over the next few years, Wichers said.

“People are very, very excited, very ready for the startup,” Wichers said. "We're ready to get back into production and to be doing something productive.”

This story was published on August 15, 2024.