UEC $UEC (-6,05 %) completes acquisition of Rio Tinto uranium assets $RIO (-0,87 %) finalized

Acquisition of Rio Tinto's Wyoming assets, which include the Sweetwater facility and a portfolio of uranium mining properties with approximately 175 million pounds of historic resources.

UEC paid $175.4 million in cash for the assets, which President and CEO Amir Adnani calls a "rare opportunity."

The Sweetwater facility, a 3,000 ton per day mill with a licensed capacity of 4.1 million pounds of uranium oxide per year, can also be converted to recover uranium from loaded resins resulting from in-situ recovery (ISR) operations, providing UEC with the flexibility to support both ISR and conventional mining. With the addition of the Sweetwater facility, UEC has the largest licensed production capacity in the United States.

"Recent investments in nuclear energy by big tech companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Meta demonstrate the unprecedented interest in expanding U.S. nuclear baseload capacity by some of the largest and most advanced companies in the world. These companies recognize that nuclear energy is a critical source of highly reliable, clean and safe power to meet the growing energy needs of AI computing. As the largest U.S.-based uranium company, UEC will play a critical role in providing the fuel needed today and in the future - a point underscored by the uranium export restrictions recently announced by Russia," Adnani said.

UEC's next steps for the acquired asset portfolio include completing a Securities and Exchanges Commission Regulation S-K 1300 technical resource summary report to update and confirm historical estimates, building a dedicated team focused on advancing the Sweetwater hub-and-spoke production platform, as well as refurbishing portions of the Sweetwater facility and completing equipment modifications for ISR processing.