Trump fast-tracks Utah uranium mine, but industry revival may wait for higher prices

San Francisco Chronicle​

2 days ago

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — In the southeastern Utah desert famous for red rock arches and canyon labyrinths, the long-dormant uranium mining industry is looking to revive under President Donald Trump.
Hundreds of abandoned uranium mines dot the West's arid landscapes, hazardous reminders of the promise and peril of nuclear power during the Cold War. Now, one mine that the Trump administration fast-tracked for regulatory approval could reopen for the first time since the 1980s.
Normally it would have taken months, if not years, for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to review plans to reopen a project like Anfield Energy's Velvet-Wood mine 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Moab. But the bureau's regulators green-lit the project in just 11 days under a 'national energy emergency' Trump has declared that allows expedited environmental reviews for energy projects.
More permits and approvals will be needed, plus site work to get the mine operating again. And the price of uranium would have to rise enough to make domestic production financially sustainable. If that happens, it would mean revival — and jobs — to an industry that locally has been moribund since the Ronald Reagan era.
'President Trump has made it clear that our energy security is national security," Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in announcing the fast-tracking policy in April. 'These emergency procedures reflect our unwavering commitment to protecting both.'
More fast approvals appear likely. Trump's order also applies to oil, gas, coal, biofuel and hydropower projects — but not renewable energy — on federal lands.
Global uranium prices are double what they were at a low point seven years ago and, for the past year, the U.S. has banned uranium imports from Russia due to that country's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
More domestic mining would address a major imbalance. The U.S. imports about 98% of the uranium it uses to generate 30% of the world's nuclear energy. More than two-thirds of U.S. imports come from the world's top three uranium-mining countries: Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan.
Less government regulation won't spur more U.S. uranium mining by itself. The market matters. And while spot-market prices are up from several years ago, they're down about a third from their recent high in early 2024.
While some new uranium mining and processing projects have been announced, their number falls far short of a surge. That suggests prices need to rise — and stay there — for a true industry revival, said John Uhrie, a former uranium executive who now works in the cement industry.
'Until the price goes up dramatically, you're not going to be able to actually put these places into operation,' Uhrie said. 'You need significant capital on the ground.'
Anfield Energy, a Canadian company, also looks to reopen the Shootaring Canyon uranium mill in southern Utah near Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. It closed in the early 1980s. A uranium mill turns raw ore into yellowcake, a powdery substance later processed elsewhere into nuclear fuel.
Anfield officials did not return messages seeking comment on plans to reopen the mill and the Velvet-Wood mine.
Energy Fuels, another Canadian company which ranks as the top U.S. uranium miner, opened the Pinyon Plain mine about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Grand Canyon in late 2023.
And just off U.S. 191 in southeastern Utah is a hub of the industry, Uranium Fuels' White Mesa mill, the country's only uranium mill still in operation.
In Moab, uranium has a long — and mixed — legacy
These days, Moab is a desert tourism hot spot bustling with outdoor enthusiasts. But the town of 5,200 has a deeper history with uranium. Nods to Moab's post-World War II mining heyday can been spotted around town — the Atomic Hair Salon isn't just named for its blowout hairstyles.
The biggest reminder is the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action project, a 480-acre (194-hectare) site just outside town. The decades-long, $1 billion U.S. Department of Energy effort to haul off toxic tailings that were leaching into the Colorado River upstream from the Grand Canyon and Lake Mead should wrap up within five more years.
That mill's polluting legacy makes some Moab residents wary of restarting uranium mining and processing, especially after the Trump administration cut short their ability to weigh in on the Velvet-Wood mine plans.
'This was a process I would have been involved in,' said Sarah Fields, director of the local group Uranium Watch. 'They provided no opportunity for the public to say, 'You need to look at this, you need to look at that.'"
Grand Canyon Trust, a group critical of the Pinyon Plain mine as a danger to groundwater, points out that the U.S. nuclear industry isn't at risk of losing access to uranium.
'This is all being done under the assumption there is some energy emergency and that is just not true,' said Amber Reimondo, the group's energy director.
Supply and demand will decide uranium mining's future
Hundreds of miles to the north, other nuclear energy projects point to the U.S. industry's future.
With Bill Gates' support, TerraPower is building a 345-megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor outside Kemmerer in western Wyoming that could, in theory, meet demand for carbon-free power at lower costs and with less construction time than conventional reactor units.
Meanwhile, about 40% of uranium mined in the U.S. in 2024 came from four Wyoming 'in-situ' mines that use wells to dissolve uranium in underground deposits and pump it to the surface without having to dig big holes or send miners underground. Similar mines in Texas and Nebraska and stockpiled ore processed at White Mesa accounted for the rest.
None — as yet — came from mines in Utah.
Powering electric cars and computing technology will require more electricity in the years ahead. Nuclear power offers a zero-carbon, round-the-clock option.
Meeting the demand for nuclear fuel domestically is another matter. With prices higher, almost 700,000 pounds of yellowcake was produced in the U.S. in 2024 — up more than a dozen-fold from the year before but still far short of the 32 million pounds imported into the U.S.
Even if mining increases, it's not clear that U.S. capacity to turn the ore into fuel would keep pace, said Uhrie, the former uranium mining executive.
"Re-establishing a viable uranium industry from soup to nuts — meaning from mining through processing to yellow cake production, to conversion, to enrichment to produce nuclear fuel — remains a huge lift," Uhrie said.