US-based Uranium Energy Corp (UEC) has received approval from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality to increase the licensed production capacity at its Irigaray central processing plant to four-million pounds of uranium octoxide (U₃O₈) a year.

The Irigaray plant is a key component of UEC’s hub-and-spoke production strategy in Wyoming's Powder River basin.

The facility supports four fully permitted uranium in-situ recovery satellite projects in the region, including the active Christensen Ranch project.

Engineering work is already under way, with key equipment such as a filter press acquired to facilitate the plant’s output increase.

President and CEO Amir Adnani commented that the expansion of Irigaray’s licensed capacity came at the “perfect time with compelling industry drivers”.

“The extraordinary growth in nuclear power in the US is creating a new demand paradigm for uranium supply from stable domestic sources. Big tech companies, like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle, are making significant financial commitments for nuclear energy to provide the electricity needed to power data centres. This approach to invest directly into nuclear generation infrastructure reflects the realisation that nuclear energy provides safe, highly reliable, economic and clean energy,” he said.

In the Powder River basin, UEC has aggregate estimated resources of 62.33-million pounds of U₃O₈ in the measured and indicated category and 10.72-million pounds in the inferred category.

To support the expansion, UEC has engaged Stantec of Chandler, Arizona, to provide engineering services, process design optimisation, capital cost estimates, and a project execution schedule for the planned Powder River basin production expansion.

Looking ahead, Adnani said the anticipated closing of the acquisition of Rio Tinto America's Wyoming assets would provide an industry-leading third production platform in the US that would enable UEC to maximise the full potential of its Great Divide Basin projects.

The acquisition includes the Sweetwater plant, with a licensed capacity of 4.1-million pounds a year of U₃O₈, along with a portfolio of uranium projects that would add 175-million pounds of historic resources to UEC’s existing resource base.