ARMZ increased its stake in Uranium One to 51%.[16][17] In 2010, Uranium One acquired Irigaray uranium processing plant, the Christensen Ranch satellite uranium processing facility and associated uranium exploration properties in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming from the joint venture of AREVA and Électricité de France.[18] In December 2010, ARMZ increased its stake in Uranium One to 51.4%. At the time of the 2010 sale, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimated that Uranium One held the extraction rights to about 20% of U.S. uranium in the ground;[19] they amounted to 0.2% of the world’s uranium production.[20]
The Washington Post reports that it is also outdated. It was based on uranium production capacity in 2010, which has since greatly expanded. Uranium One’s share of mining rights is now far less than 20 percent of the U.S. total.
What is more, the U.S. is a tiny player in the world uranium market. The U.S. produced 1,126 tons of uranium last year out of global production of more than 62,000 tons, according to the World Nuclear Association. So U.S. production is less than 2 percent of the global total.
Uranium One produces a small and dwindling amount of that U.S. figure. Last year, it mined just 23 tons in the U.S. — about 2 percent of the small U.S. production.
Think of Uranium One’s share as 2 percent of 2 percent. Or 0.04 percent of world production.