Uranium junior Ur-Energy on Tuesday announced that it had implemented further cost-saving measures, including more job cuts, following a decision by President Donald Trump last month to steer clear from imposing import tariffs on uranium.
Wyoming-based Ur-Energy and Colorado-based Energy Fuels have approached the Trump administration with a petition for Section 232 trade action to implement domestic quotas, but the President rejected a recommendation by the Commerce Department to require US power producers to source up to 25% of their uranium from domestic mines, and instead created a working group to review the country’s nuclear fuel supply chain.
Ur-Energy said that as a result of the White House’s decision not to take action at this time, it had to initiate “significant cost-saving measures”, which would affect ten of its employees in Wyoming. Several remaining employees had been asked to change job responsibilities or to carry out additional duties.
The cost-saving measures should save Ur-Energy about $4-million a year, starting in 2020.
Ur-Energy also lowered its production estimates for the Lost Creek mine to between 50 000 lb and 75 000 lb of U3O8 during 2019.
“We can no longer justify the added cost of maintaining full operational readiness as it relates to labour and have accordingly reduced staffing to the minimum levels necessary to maintain operations,” the company said in a statement.
Ur-Energy and Energy Fuels are arguing that imports, particularly from State-owned companies in Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, are a threat to national security. The juniors regard Canadian and Australian miners as ally producers.
“We are determined to succeed in our work alongside the Trump administration and with our customers to find solutions to correct this dysfunctional uranium market and we remain optimistic that a positive outcome will be reached through these efforts,” commented chairperson and CEO Jeff Klenda.
The working group will consider a wider range of options available to the US uranium industry, than merely looking at trade-related actions. The group was established in mid-July and has 90 days to report back to Trump.
The US relies on imported uranium, with deliveries from State-owned companies in Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan having increased by 16% from 2017 to 2018, Ur-Energy previously said, citing the US Energy Information Administration. These countries provided 44% of the uranium imported in the US last year.
US mines produced 37% less uranium from 2017 to 2018, reaching a record low. Deliveries from Canada and Australia, allied nations whose production is also in steep decline owing to the flood of uranium from State-owned companies, declined by 25%.