Plant personnel monitor the performance of the reverse osmosis water treatment unit in the
central processing facility at Cameco’s Smith Ranch-Highland combined operation, where
uranium is extracted from solution. The facility will process resin from Cameco’s new
North Butte mine. (Photo courtesy of Cameco)

North Butte is expected to contribute about 300,000 lb (136,000 kg) of ura-nium concentrate in 2013 and ramp up to a targeted annual production rate of more than 700,000 lb/y by 2015.

Cameco operates Smith Ranch and Highland as a combined operation. Each has its own processing facility, but the Smith Ranch central plant currently processes all the uranium, and the Highland mill is idle. Together, they form the largest uranium production facility in the United States, with licensed produc-tion capacity of 5 million lb/y of U₃O₈ . Production during 2012 totaled about 1.1 million lb (500,000 kg) of U₃O₈ .

Smith Ranch has proven and pro-bable reserves of 6.3 million lb (2.9 million kg) of U₃O₈ at an average grade of 0.09%. North Butte-Brown Ranch has proven and probable reserves of 3.3 million lb U₃O₈ at an average grade of 0.08%.

In addition to North Butte and Smith Ranch-Highland, Cameco owns the Crow Butte in situ uranium mine and central processing plant near Crawford, Nebraska. It has five other satellite sites in various stages of development and regulatory approval in Wyoming and Nebraska.