2 Wyoming firms seek OK to reopen uranium ore mill

[Judi Lynn]

2 Wyoming firms seek OK to reopen uranium ore mill
Associated Press


Two Wyoming mining companies have filed a request with the state of Utah to reopen a uranium ore processing mill shuttered since the early 1980s.

The request from U.S. Energy Corp. and its partner, Crested Corp., comes as uranium prices register higher than they've been in decades. The mill in question is Shootering Canyon, about 15 miles north of Lake Powell near Ticaboo, Garfield County.

The Shootering mill is the last and most modern uranium mill built in the United States, U.S. Energy spokesman Don Warfield said. It is one of only four uranium mills left in the country, and only two of those are now operating.

U.S. Energy, which owns nearby uranium mining acreage, expects to eventually mine that property to provide feedstock for the mill. The company, however, estimates it could take up to two years to secure the necessary permits to reopen the mill, which operated only a few months after construction was completed in 1982.
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