Uranium Energy receives approval to raise production capacity at Irigaray plant

Uranium Energy (UEC) announce that it has received approval from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Uranium Recovery Program, to increase the licensed production capacity at its Irigaray Central Processing Plant to 4.0 million pounds of U3O8 annually. The Irigaray Plant serves as the cornerstone of UEC’s hub-and-spoke production strategy in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. The facility supports four of UEC’s fully permitted uranium in-situ recovery, or ISR, satellite projects in the area, including the producing Christensen Ranch project. Engineering work is already underway and certain key equipment, including a filter press, has been acquired to increase the plant’s output. Additionally, the company announces that it has engaged Stantec (STN), of Chandler, Arizona, to provide engineering services, process design optimization, capital cost estimates, and a project execution schedule for its planned Powder River Basin production expansion. As previously announced on September 23, UEC reached a landmark deal with Rio Tinto (RIO) which will give the company a third hub-and-spoke production platform in Wyoming’s Great Divide Basin. The acquisition includes the Sweetwater Plant, with a licensed capacity of 4.1M pounds of U3O8 per year, along with a portfolio of uranium projects that will add 175M pounds of historic resources to UEC’s existing resource base. In addition to the two hub-and-spoke platforms in Wyoming, UEC also operates an ISR hub-and-spoke production platform in South Texas centered around the Hobson Central Processing Plant, with a licensed capacity of 4M pounds of U3O8 annually.