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Western Uranium Advances Colorado Mill as Supply Tightens
Western Uranium advances the Mustang mill license for the first new conventional uranium mill in the US in 40 years, targeting the supply bottleneck in domestic nuclear fuel.
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Western Uranium & Vanadium said it is making progress on the radioactive materials license application for its Mustang Mineral Processing Plant in Colorado. The facility, located at the former Pinon Ridge Mill site in Montrose County, is designed to become the first new conventional uranium mill built in the United States in more than 40 years.
The company is working with eight specialized consultants and sub-consultants to prepare the application for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. It is also pursuing a Special Use Permit from Montrose County. To cut costs and speed the process, Western is using digital versions of the previously licensed Pinon Ridge Mill application, the company said.
The push reflects a structural gap in the U.S. uranium supply chain. Billions of dollars have gone into downstream enrichment and conversion capacity. Front-end mining and milling capacity has not kept pace. The U.S. has not permitted a new conventional uranium mill since the 1980s. The domestic supply gap is a focus of commodities analysis at AlphaScala.
Western's Sunday Mine Complex, in the Uravan Mineral Belt of Colorado and Utah, already produces high-grade uranium and vanadium ore. The Mustang mill would give the company a local processing hub for that ore and for material from other regional deposits. The company said the region holds tens of millions of pounds of historic uranium resources that could be unlocked with modern milling capacity.