Uranium Energy starts Burke Hollow output in Texas

Uranium Energy Corp. (NYSE-A: UEC) says it has officially turned on the taps at its Burke Hollow project in Texas, marking the start of the first U.S. in-situ recovery (ISR) operation in over a decade.

The production start follows approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for the ISR project, which the company has been developing since its initial discovery in 2012.

With this milestone, the Vancouver-based company becomes the only U.S. uranium producer with two active ISR operations. Its first was the Christensen Ranch project in Wyoming, which began production in 2024 and was recently approved for an expanded capacity. The company expects a third ISR operation, in Ludeman, Wyo., to come online next year.

“This is in line with our expectations and signals the first production from its second hub, which is a key part of its hub-and-spoke production growth strategy,” BMO Capital Markets mining analyst Alexander Pearce said in a note on Wednesday.

“We expect Burke Hollow to ramp up to about 2 million lb. of U308 per year, with production processed at the Hobson Central Processing Plant, which is licensed for up to 4 million lb. of U3O8 per year.”

Largest greenfield ISR

The start of Burke Hollow, said UEC chief executive, Amir Adnani, is part of the company’s strategy of building a “scalable, multi-faceted platform supported by the largest uranium resource base in the United States.”

Burke Hollow has the largest ISR wellfield in the U.S., tapping into a uranium resource (measured and indicated) that exceeds 6.15 million lb., the company says. Only about half of the 20,000-acre (81-sq.-km) property has been explored to date, indicating additional resource potential.

As with its other projects across the Texas Uranium Belt, material extracted from Burke Hollow would be transported to the Hobson Central Processing Plant (CPP) for final processing into “yellowcake” products. UEC plans to use the plant as a processing hub for five satellite deposits in the region.

“UEC’s recent production achievements in Texas and Wyoming highlight the importance of uranium production as the foundation of a secure, domestic nuclear fuel cycle,” U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright commented in a statement on Wednesday.

Shares of UEC surged as much as 9% on the production milestone, taking its market capitalization to $7 billion in New York.