U.S. domestic production of uranium concentrate plunged 89% to 174,000 lb. U3O8 last year, according to the latest annual report published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
This also represents a steep decline compared to the 4.89 million lb. the U.S. produced five years earlier.
The production of uranium concentrate is the first step in the nation’s nuclear fuel production process. The U3O8 is converted into UF6 (uranium hexafluoride) to first enable uranium enrichment, then fuel pellet fabrication and finally fuel assembly fabrication.
The EIA records uranium production from six existing facilities: five in-situ leach (ISL) plants in Nebraska and Wyoming (Crow Butte operation, Lost Creek project, Ross CPP, North Butte and Smith Ranch-Highland operation) and one underground mine.
The report comes about a month after the Trump administration released plans to rescue the struggling U.S. uranium mining industry.
At the end of 2019, two conventional uranium mills — the Shootaring Canyon mill in Utah and the Sweetwater uranium project in Wyoming — were on standby with a total capacity of 3,750 tonnes per day. The 2,000-tonne per day White Mesa mill in Utah was no longer producing uranium.
At the year’s end, three ISL plants — Lost Creek, Nichols Ranch ISR project, and Smith Ranch-Highland, all in Wyoming — were operating with a combined capacity of 9.5 million lb. U3O8 per year, the EIA said. Six ISL plants were on standby, and seven ISL plants were planned for four states, including New Mexico, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.
Total estimated uranium reserves at year-end were 31 million lb. U3O8 at a maximum forward cost of up to US$30 per pound. At up to US$50 per lb. and US$100 per lb., reported estimated reserves were 206 million lb. and 389 million lb. U3O8 , respectively.
The EIA added that these reserves are a fraction of the likely total domestic uranium reserves, as it did not include inferred resources that were not reported.
— This article first appeared in our sister publication, MINING.com.
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