Wyoming Uranium Mine Could Open In 2013

A Colorado company planning to open a uranium mine in southwestern Wyoming hopes to start construction in the summer and then begin mining in 2013.

Littleton-based Ur-Energy is behind the proposed Lost Creek project in the Great Divide Basin, about 40 miles northwest of Rawlins.

The project has gotten approval from state regulators and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Bureau of Land Management is working on an environmental review and could make a decision by June.

If things go as planned, Ur-Energy spokesman Rich Boberg told the Rawlins Daily Times that construction could start on July 16, after the end of sage grouse mating season restrictions.

He said the company already has a contract with one utility to provide yellowcake, or uranium oxide.