America has exactly three built conventional uranium mills, and one of them just got measurably closer to running again. Anfield Energy announced October 27 that Utah's Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control (DWMRC) delivered draft copies of both the renewed radioactive materials license and the groundwater discharge permit for the Shootaring Canyon Mill in Garfield County on October 21.
- What arrived: the Draft License and Draft Permit from Utah DWMRC, following Anfield's renewal application of April 5, 2024 — the company says it has submitted all materials the Division requested.
- Key draft terms: authorisation to possess natural uranium and 11e.(2) byproduct material, with mill production capped at 1,500 tons — 3 million pounds — of yellowcake per year; financial surety and a valid groundwater permit required at all times.
- The calendar the company gives: public notice and the 45-day comment period potentially around the end of 2026 (late 2026 or early 2027), renewed license targeted for Q2 2027, and major refurbishment targeted to start the same quarter.
- The refurbishment plan: throughput capacity of 1,000 tons per day plus a new vanadium circuit, feeding Anfield's hub-and-spoke model from its uranium-vanadium projects across Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.
- Work already under way: under its existing license, crews are stripping legacy equipment — leach tanks, piping, electrical systems, pumps and motors — so the mill is ready to refurbish the moment the renewed license issues.
Why a draft license is real progress
A conventional mill is the bottleneck of the whole American uranium business: ore without a mill is just rock in the ground, and there are only three licensed, permitted, constructed conventional mills in the country. Shootaring's renewal has been in front of Utah regulators since April 2024. A draft license means the Division has moved from reviewing the application to writing the actual terms — production cap, monitoring network, pond and decontamination-pad standards — that Anfield will operate under. The remaining public steps are defined: company review and discussion with Division staff, then public notice and the 45-day comment window.
CEO Corey Dias framed it as "one significant step closer to securing the renewed license," with the end goal unchanged: restoring domestic conventional uranium and vanadium milling capacity in the United States, with Shootaring as the hub and projects like Velvet-Wood as the spokes.
The honesty box
These are drafts, not a renewed license. The terms described — including the 3-million-pound annual cap — are as currently drafted and subject to change before any final decision, and the Division, not Anfield, controls the timing of the public comment period. The Q2 2027 license and refurbishment dates are company targets in a release that carries an extensive forward-looking-statements caution, including the explicit risk that the license may not be renewed when anticipated, or at all. This release contains no production, no revenue and no new resource numbers — Shootaring is a reactivation project, and the refurbishment itself, financing included, still lies ahead.
What to watch
Anfield's comments back to DWMRC in the coming weeks, the start of the 45-day public comment period around year end, and any financing or feedstock news paired with the refurbishment plan.