7+ dollars
White Mesa Mill The White Mesa Mill is the only fully-licensed and operating conventional uranium mill in the United States, and only one of three in North America. The facility has a licensed capacity of 2,000 tons per day and can produce up to 8 million lbs. of uranium per year. White Mesa also has a co-recovery circuit to produce vanadium from Colorado Plateau ores, and an alternate feed circuit to process other uranium-bearing materials, such as those derived from uranium conversion and other metal processing. White Mesa is strategically located in Blanding, Utah, central to the uranium mines of the Four Corners region of the United States. The mill was constructed in 1980 by Energy Fuels Nuclear Inc. In 2007, a $31 million refurbishment of the facility was completed. To extract uranium (U3O8) and vanadium (V2O5), the White Mesa Mill utilizes sulfuric acid leaching and a solvent extraction recovery process. The uranium is purchased by utility companies and shipped to conversion facilities as the next step in the production of fuel for nuclear power. The vanadium is shipped mostly to steel and alloy manufacturers. In full operation, the mill employs about 150 people.