Canadian company eyes New Mexico uranium amid US supply concerns

New Mexico’s history in uranium mining may be key in building a domestic supply of the element — one that is now considered a critical mineral.

Myriad Uranium Corp., a Canadian-based uranium exploration company, is looking to resurrect its New Mexico and Wyoming projects with the help of $8.6 million from investors. The funds will be split between both projects, including spending on geophysics research in New Mexico, which completed Wednesday, and drilling new holes at the site in Wyoming.

“If you want to have security of supply in the U.S., you’re going to have to incentivize U.S. producers — and developers and explorers like us,” Myriad CEO Thomas Lamb said. “That is what the government is doing with designating a critical mineral. There’s going to be private money, venture capital money (and) government money to support (it).”

In early November, the U.S. Geological Survey released its “2025 List of Critical Minerals,” deemed essential for national security, economic stability and supply chain resilience. Uranium was one of 60 raw materials listed, where the survey highlighted its vitality in nuclear fuel and medical applications.

According to a Federal Register notice, these minerals underpin key industries, drive technological innovation and support critical infrastructure “vital for a modern American economy.”

“The United States is heavily reliant on imports of certain mineral commodities from foreign sources, some of which are at risk of serious, sustained, and long-term supply chain disruptions,” the notice read. “The Nation possesses vast mineral resources that can create jobs, fuel prosperity, and significantly reduce our reliance on foreign nations.”

Lamb said Myriad’s Red Basin Project, located near Pie Town in Catron County, builds on a large uranium basin that was active several decades ago. The company estimates that the area could contain up to 45 million pounds of uranium.

New Mexico was once one of the largest U.S. producers of uranium, Lamb said, and it’s only a matter of time before companies look to extract the mineral. Adding that the material’s price is steadily on the rise, he said the state is soon to be a “hot destination” for these types of projects.

“What if Kazakhstan, Russia and China cut off the United States?” Lamb said. “Then everything changes. The U.S. should be producing uranium, producing fuel so that it can’t get cut off by its adversaries.”

The state currently has no active uranium mines, a spokesperson with the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department said.

EMNRD’s Mining and Minerals Division did, however, approve a permit for the North Cebolleta Exploration Project to explore for uranium this year. The division is also evaluating two more applications for the proposed La Jara Mesa and Roca Honda uranium mining projects.

Lamb described three types of companies in the mineral industry: Explorers, which only look for sources; developers, responsible for measuring identified deposits; and producers, who actually dig the material from the ground. Myriad, he said, is both an explorer and a developer.

Miles Pomper, a senior fellow with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, said mining is the “least problematic” part of the process from a security perspective.

America’s challenge? Catching up in the production, conversion and enrichment of uranium, which countries like Russia have “dominated,” Pomper said.

“The supply chain in the U.S., including for fuel, sort of withered,” Pomper said. “I haven’t seen what they’ve talked about in terms of the critical mineral list, but if they’re talking about just stockpiling raw uranium, that won’t really do that much good. It’s really about the conversion and enrichment capability of getting it in the right form.”

According to a 2023 U.S. Energy Information Administration report, nearly 19% of the nation’s electricity was generated from nuclear power plants. While the facilities rely on uranium to operate, most cannot use the raw material.

Rather, Pomper said uranium needs to go through a fuel cycle. This process extracts the mineral from the ground, mills it down, converts it into uranium tetrafluoride — also known as “green salt” — which is then turned into gas by being spun in centrifuges.

That enriched gas material is then brought back into a solid form of pellets, which go into fuel rods, and only then can it be used to power a nuclear plant reactor, Pomper said.

However, building the facilities capable of completing this process takes time, he added, where the U.S. Congress has put a 2028 deadline on stopping imports of uranium from Russia. However, the U.S. Department of Energy may waive the ban if there’s no viable source to sustain nuclear reactors, or if importation of the mineral is in the “national interest.”

“So, you kind of have this crunch because there may be increased demand when one of your big suppliers is being cut off, and the other stuff may not come online soon enough,” Pomper said.