The uranium mill handled 750 tons of ore per day. The resulting uranium concentrate was called "yellow cake." As part of Utah Construction's initial agreement with Lucky Mc, Littlefield arranged financing and a contract with the Atomic Energy Commission, which, until 1967, purchased all the concentrated uranium produced in the country. The AEC contract included funding to build a mill to process the uranium-bearing ores. This gave the company a strategic position in the nuclear industry. Ultimately the company relied on its characteristic ingenuity to design, engineer, and construct mining facilities while performing open pit and strip mining. In July 1964 the 10-millionth pound of uranium concentrate was issued from the mill. Although the radioactive element in the ore was not collected for the mills, employees wore radiosensitve badges and air masks as precautions. Uranium concentrate, or yellow cake, was prized during the Cold War as crucial to the defense of the United States in a limited nuclear war. Then, with the help of satellite surveillance, the balance of terror gradually became a balance of power. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union and the rise in international terrorism, reports on the location or marketability of yellow cake caused grave concern, for fear that nuclear weapons would become available to terrorists or unstable governments. The Lucky Mc mines played a crucial role in the development of central Wyoming. The area produced an estimated $500 million in minerals, equaling or exceeding the value of earlier gold rushes at Sutter's Creek in California and the Klondike in Alaska. Not surprisingly, Lucky Mc became a major employer and taxpayer in Wyoming for several decades. In 1976 Utah International spun off Lucky Mc as an independent corporation in order to meet regulations of the Department of Justice. As the mines and mills of Lucky Mc finally ceased operation, the company Pathfinder was organized to clean up the area and restore the land. Pathfinder is currently owned by the French company, Comega.