This article is a sponsored feature from Mining.com.au partner American Uranium. It is not financial advice. Talk to a registered financial expert before making investment decisions.
The US is gearing up for a nuclear expansion, but there is just one rather large hole in the plan: uranium. The country produces nowhere near enough to support the reactor fleet it already has — let alone the one it wants to build.
For American Uranium (ASX:AMU) CEO Bruce Lane, that shortfall is becoming impossible to ignore. It is also creating an opening for domestic projects that can prove they have a credible path forward.
This backdrop raises the stakes at the company’s Lo Herma Project in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. With drilling wrapped up, American Uranium is now working towards a resource update by the end of July and a Scoping Study during October.
Aiming to strengthen Lo Herma’s development case, American Uranium is positioning the project within the much bigger push to secure domestic uranium supply.
“We want to make sure Lo Herma’s relevance is clearly anchored to the much bigger nuclear story unfolding in the US,” Lane says.
The uranium maths is getting uncomfortable
Australian investors understand the US’s appetite for critical minerals. Uranium, however, can still be overshadowed by lithium, rare earths, tungsten, and whatever exotic corner of the periodic table is having its moment.
Lane believes investors risk missing the bigger shift now unfolding in US energy policy.
“The part that is not fully understood in Australia is just how serious the US is about expanding nuclear power,” he notes.
“This is not only about building reactors. The focus runs through the entire fuel chain, right back to the mines supplying the uranium.”
It’s a crucial point because the demand is already there. According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), nuclear power provides close to one-fifth of US electricity, supported by a large operating reactor fleet that will need fuel for decades.
The catch is that the US’s uranium industry remains tiny compared with the nuclear system it is expected to support.
EIA figures show domestic mines produced just 677,000 pounds of uranium concentrate in 2024. Production has since accelerated, but it remains small against the scale of the country’s nuclear fuel requirements.
At the same time, US nuclear generators continue to source the overwhelming majority of their uranium from overseas.
“The gap between what the US needs and its domestic industry is massive,” Lane mentions.
“The demand already exists. It doesn’t require the same sort of speculation you see in some emerging commodity markets. The reactors are there, and they need uranium.”
With more nuclear plants on the drawing board, Washington is now putting serious money behind that ambition. In June, the Department of Energy announced a conditional US$17.5 billion ($24.9 billion) loan commitment to support key components for 10 large-scale reactors.
That sits alongside a broader strategic partnership involving Cameco (TSX:CCO), Brookfield, and the US Government to support at least US$80 billion in new Westinghouse reactor construction across the country.
The nuclear expansion story is no longer just talk.
“The story for a while was all about small modular reactors, microreactors, and data centres,” Lane says.
“That part of the market is gathering pace much faster than I expected. At the same time, you’re now seeing these significant initiatives and investments in large-scale nuclear.”
New reactors also bring a much bigger uranium bill than many investors realise. Before a plant settles into its normal operating cycle, its first core has to be fully loaded.
That creates a large upfront requirement for uranium before the reactor has generated a single unit of power.
“When you start a new reactor, the initial fuel requirement can be three to four times its normal annual uranium consumption,” Lane explains.
“That is the bit people often miss. There is a significant upfront fuel requirement just to get these reactors going.”
Put simply, every new reactor tightens the supply equation further. With the US pushing to expand nuclear capacity, the country is going to need a lot more uranium oxide (U₃O₈) — and it may need it sooner than many investors expect.
To put this in perspective, just as a starting point and without factoring in SMR demand, the US is planning 10 new Westinghouse AP1000 reactors with annual U₃O₈ consumption likely around 550,000–650,000 pounds per year, while the first core load is much higher, likely 1.8–2.5 million pounds of U₃O₈, or roughly three to four times the annual burn rate.
This equates to up to 75 million pounds for the planned 10 new AP1000s over their combined first 10 years of operation, in addition to the current US reactor fleet’s annual consumption of around 50 million pounds.
So, where does Lo Herma fit?
American Uranium is not claiming Lo Herma’s 9.45-million-pound U₃O₈ resource will solve the US’s uranium shortage on its own. The opportunity is more practical than that.
As mentioned, Lo Herma sits in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin — arguably the country’s best-known uranium district — around 24km north of Glenrock and near four operating and several permitted or idled in situ recovery (ISR) facilities.
The basin already has the uranium history, infrastructure, current production, and technical know-how to support ISR development.
With Wyoming’s uranium credentials well established, American Uranium’s job is to show Lo Herma has what it takes to become a viable ISR project. Its latest drilling campaign was designed to help do exactly that.
American Uranium completed the final 50 holes of a 121-hole permitted campaign, with the final holes combining infill drilling at Mine Unit 1, step-out drilling south of Mine Unit 2, and five hydrogeological test wells.
The results confirmed continuity at Mine Unit 1 and extended mineralised trends south of Mine Unit 2, delivering fresh data for the upcoming resource update and Scoping Study.
“We now have the pieces in place to progress the resource update, complete larger-scale pump testing, and move into the Scoping Study,” Lane says.
Lo Herma already hosts a 9.45-million-pound uranium resource. The latest drilling is about increasing confidence in what is already there and giving the Scoping Study a firmer foundation.
Why water is fundamental for Lo Herma
For an ISR uranium project, uranium is only part of the challenge.
Instead of digging it out through a traditional mine, ISR uses wells to send a recovery solution through the underground rock. That solution collects the uranium and carries it back to the surface for processing.
The method relies on liquid moving through the sandstone, and American Uranium is collecting more information about how the water behaves underground. AMU has already conducted tests that show the sandstone does allow the solution to move effectively and at rates that can allow the mining method to work as envisaged with further pump testing scheduled in August over a larger area of the planned Mine Unit 1.
“Water is important in all mining projects, but it’s particularly important in ISR projects because it helps determine whether the project is viable,” Lane says.
“You’re using the aquifer as a key part of the mining process, so understanding how that system behaves is crucial.”
American Uranium has installed five additional monitoring wells at Mine Unit 1 and is planning a larger regional pump-test program.
That program will improve the company’s understanding of how the aquifer water moves through the uranium-bearing sandstone and how the underground system responds when water dosed with leach solution is pumped.
The results will feed into Lo Herma’s development studies and help shape the technical assumptions behind the Scoping Study. The path from here is clear: resource update, hydrogeological testing, Scoping Study, and a financial case for developing a mine at Lo Herma.
“What we’re trying to do is provide a clear picture of the project’s potential and relevance within both the Wyoming ISR mining district and bigger US uranium story,” Lane explains.
“That means building a financial case around Lo Herma, attracting further investment, and potentially bringing in a strategic partner to help develop it.”
Getting Lo Herma into the conversation
American Uranium is a member of the peak uranium mining industry lobby group, the Uranium Producers of America (UPA), and is also participating in an industry consortium linked to the Defense Production Act, examining initiatives across the US nuclear fuel supply chain, including uranium mining and milling.
For the junior developer, it provides a close-up view of just how seriously domestic uranium supply is now being discussed.
The US wants more nuclear power, and utilities need long-term fuel supply. Government programs are targeting weaknesses across the nuclear fuel supply chain. It is clear that industry players are looking hard at where future US uranium supply will come from.
That puts domestic uranium projects under a very different spotlight.
The government-led support and initiatives are very positive, however Lo Herma does not automatically directly benefit from any of it. A uranium resource in Wyoming is not a free ticket to development, government funding, or a strategic deal.
That is precisely why Lane wants to move quickly.
“There are examples of government support programs, but there are also industry players looking to secure future uranium supply, including the utilities,” he points out.
“Our job is to make sure Lo Herma is in a position to be relevant to those evolving conversations.”
Relevance means answering the questions that matter to investors and potential partners.
How much uranium is there? How confident is the company in the resource? Can ISR work effectively at Lo Herma? Most importantly, does the project stack up financially?
The resource update and pump testing will sharpen the geological picture, while the Scoping Study will put a broader development and financial framework around the project.
The timing is hard to ignore.
Existing reactors already need fuel. New reactors would add further demand, including larger initial fuel requirements.
Meanwhile, the US still imports nearly all the uranium used by its nuclear power sector, with Russia supplying about 20% of its enriched uranium. As the Russian uranium import ban approaches its January 2028 deadline, the need for an alternative supply solution is becoming increasingly urgent.
It’s a supply equation that one mine, company, or project will not solve. It does, however, create an increasingly compelling backdrop for credible domestic uranium projects that can demonstrate a pathway towards development within the next few years.
“There is something really interesting happening, and it is different,” Lane observes.
“It’s really important for a project like ours.”
For American Uranium, the opportunity is not simply about having uranium in the ground.
It means proving Lo Herma can become a viable project while the world’s largest nuclear power producer is asking a much bigger question: where will the uranium for its nuclear future come from?
American Uranium wants Lo Herma to be part of the answer.
Write to Kate Ryan at Mining.com.au
Images: American Uranium, Mining.com.au & Nuclear Energy Institute
