EnCore Energy announced Thursday the start of operations at its Alta Mesa uranium processing and production facility in Texas. This transaction makes enCore the only uranium producer in the United States with multiple active production facilities.
enCore Energy’s uranium processing plants
The Alta Mesa plant is one of the uranium processing plants managed by enCore. It also has another headquarters in Rosita, located about 60 miles from Corpus Christi, Texas. The Rosita plant has an annual capacity of 800,000 pounds of uranium oxide(U3O8) and has the potential to expand this capacity under the current license.
[post_relacionado]enCore CEO Paul Goranson explained that the strategy at Alta Mesa involves a gradual ramp-up of production from the well field in Production Authorization Area 7. This increase will be progressive and steady as new injection and recovery wells are systematically integrated into the production lines.
While production is ramping up at PAA-7, enCore has begun work on the second new well field in Production Authorization Area 8. The goal is to reach full operational capacity by 2026, which will allow for a substantial increase in uranium uranium production .
Historic increase in production and share value
To date, only 5% of the Alta Mesa project area has been explored. Within this area, 52 linear miles of stacked uranium roll faces have been identified, of which only 5 miles have been explored to date. This indicates enormous potential for future expansion and discovery.
The Alta Mesa project operates under a 70/30 joint venture with Australia’s Boss Energy managed by enCore. The total operating capacity of the Alta Mesa central processing plant (CPP) is 1.5 million pounds of U3O8 per year, with an additional 500,000 pounds of drying capacity.
Following the announcement, enCore Energy’s share price rose 3.2% in New York Thursday morning. The uranium company currently has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion.
Uranium production in Texas
The Alta Mesa CPP project achieved production of nearly 5 million pounds of uranium between 2005 through 2015. However, production was reduced due to low uranium prices. Now, with the restart of operations, the company expects to recover and surpass these record figures.
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Source and photo: enCore Energy