enCore Energy expects final authorization for its Upper Spring Creek uranium project in Texas by November 13, 2026. The date is ahead of the guidance issued with second-quarter results. The company announced the update on October 27.
The pending permit is the Production Area Authorization for the first production area, known as PAA-1. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has completed its technical review and public notice procedures. The comment period on the final draft closed on October 19, with an extension to October 24 for comments mailed by the deadline. The agency’s final sign-off is still pending.
The application was filed in May 2025. Over eighteen months it went through administrative review, a technical evaluation with seven rounds of revisions, and two public notice periods. On May 29, 2025, the site was added to the company’s radioactive materials license, a step that allowed construction to begin.
Everything is ready in the field. The ion exchange satellite plant and the first wellfield have been built, and the related costs have already been recorded. Mining will start shortly after the permit is issued. The uranium-loaded resin will be trucked to the fully licensed Rosita Central Processing Plant, where it is converted into yellowcake. The project uses in-situ recovery, the only method enCore employs.
The picture is not yet complete, however. Operational approval is also required for the wastewater disposal well, which is already built and in the final stages of testing and review. Permit approval therefore does not guarantee an immediate start to production. The Texas regulatory summary lists potential capacity of up to one million pounds of yellowcake per year for Upper Spring Creek, a project design figure rather than guaranteed output.
The project is part of enCore’s strategy to return Texas production to growth. In the second quarter of 2026, extraction fell to 131,274 pounds, compared with 317,613 pounds in the same period of 2025. The new production areas are meant to close that gap. At Alta Mesa, the PAA-3 extension is expected by year-end and PAA-8 in early 2027, in line with the stated schedule.
For the U.S. nuclear fuel market, the signal is a tangible one. Three permitted production areas between November and January would allow enCore to contribute meaningfully to 2027 volumes, with uranium mined and processed entirely in the United States.
