Ur-Energy has restarted its Shirley Basin uranium mine in Wyoming and is now deciding how to fill the spare capacity that restart leaves it with. Initial uranium recovery at Shirley Basin began in April 2026, the first mining at the site since 1992, and the operation sent its first shipment of uranium loaded resin to the company’s Lost Creek processing plant in August. Chief executive Matthew Gili told The Northern Miner the company is making regular shipments under a hub and spoke model, processing material from both mines at Lost Creek to avoid duplicating equipment.
The capacity gap defines the strategy. The two operations hold combined licensed capacity of 4.2 million pounds of uranium oxide a year, including capacity to process material from other producers, against about 2.2 million pounds already built. Gili said the extra 2 million pounds could come from the company’s own material, from toll processing other producers’ material, through organic growth or through acquisitions. The constraint is that none of the neighbouring uranium projects in the Shirley Basin district are producing, which limits immediate toll processing prospects.
Production so far is modest against that licence. Ur-Energy packaged 236,472 pounds of uranium oxide at Lost Creek in the first half of 2026, including 140,873 pounds in the second quarter. A March 2024 preliminary economic assessment projected about 1 million pounds of annual output over nine years at Shirley Basin, which hosts 9.1 million pounds of measured and indicated resources at an average grade of 0.23 percent. Lost Creek is expected to produce about 1 million pounds annually over a 13 year mine life, hosting 11.9 million pounds of measured and indicated resources and 10.4 million pounds inferred.
The growth pipeline is drilling led. Ur-Energy announced a 120 drill hole program at Lost Creek South on October 29, part of a roughly 142 square kilometre land package that is only about 10 percent explored, and delineation drilling last year added about 3.5 million pounds of inferred resources, an increase of 34 percent. Its next potential development is Lost Soldier, north of Lost Creek, where a technical report expected by year end will help determine whether to proceed with construction. Gili put the long term uranium price at $96.50 a pound, up about 16 percent over the previous year, and argued in situ operations in the western United States have reached their incentivisation price, while conventional mines need another $30 to $40 a pound. Ur-Energy shares closed Thursday at C$0.98 in Toronto, down 7.5 percent, valuing the company at about C$389 million. It reports third quarter results after markets close on Monday.