Surging prices for ore and concerns over Russian imports lead to mothballed mines being restarted
Over a 40-year career, Scott Melbye watched the US uranium industry fall from its position as the world’s leading producer of the radioactive ore that powers nuclear reactors to an also-ran with negligible production.
Now, the president of the Uranium Producers of America is leading an industry charge to revive mothballed mines and invest in new production to capitalise on soaring prices and policies aimed at reducing the US’s dependence on Russian imports.
At least five US-listed producers are reopening uranium mines in Texas, Wyoming, Arizona and Utah that were idled following a market crash caused by the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011. A handful of exploration companies are searching for new deposits of uranium, which has tripled in price since the start of 2021 because of a resurgence in interest in nuclear energy.
“We’ve been on sleep mode for too long and now our membership is energised again,” said Melbye, who is also a senior executive at Uranium Energy Corp, a Texas-based company reopening mines in Wyoming and Texas.
For the rest of this article: https://www.ft.com/content/d4af145b-5ab3-477b-bfed-5bf42dc1cfdb