Jeffrey A. Newman
Energy Fuels, a U.S. producer of uranium, rare earth elements and other critical minerals, says that it has developed the technology required to produce six (6) of the seven (7) rare earth oxides, at scale, that are now subject to the latest Chinese export controls. Energy Fuels’ White Mesa Mill in Utah currently has the commercial capacity to process monazite ore concentrates into separated neodymium-praseodymium (“NdPr“) oxide. Through its ongoing testwork at the White Mesa Mill, the Company believes it now has the technical knowhow to design, construct, and commission the expansion of its existing infrastructure to produce these six (6) rare earth oxides from monazite relatively quickly with appropriate U.S. government support and/or market conditions. If all goes as planned, production is expected by 2028.
On April 15, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order, entitled Ensuring National Security and Economic Resilience Through Section 232 Actions on Processed Critical Minerals and Derivative Products, directing Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to initiate an investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion act of 1962 to evaluate the effects on national security of imports of processed critical minerals and their derivative products, including the import of the same rare earth, uranium and vanadium oxides that are produced by Energy Fuels in the U.S. The Company believes this action by the President has the strong potential to strengthen domestic supply chains for critical minerals and enable increased domestic production with well-designed trade remedies and price support.
Mark S. Chalmers, President and CEO of Energy Fuels stated: “Energy Fuels is uniquely positioned to quickly help fill many of the gaps President Trump identifies in his Critical Mineral Executive Order. We have a long history of producing uranium and vanadium oxides at our White Mesa Mill in Utah, and last year we successfully launched commercial rare earth processing capacity at the Mill, showing the world that our technology and infrastructure works at scale. We now have the data, knowledge and much of the infrastructure in place to produce ‘light’, ‘mid’ and ‘heavy’ rare earth oxides at scale at the White Mesa Mill. We encourage the U.S. government to showcase its commitment to American rare earth manufacturing with focused support to proven companies like Energy Fuels that have made significant investments in the critical mineral space and demonstrated their ability to commercially produce the critical minerals our country needs.”
Since 2020, Energy Fuels has developed “light”, “mid”, and “heavy” REE production capabilities at its White Mesa Mill in Utah, in addition to maintaining its uranium and vanadium production capacity. Therefore, Energy Fuels believes it is one of the only U.S. companies capable of delivering on President Trump’s executive order in the relative short-term on these critical elements.
Since Energy Fuels began performing lab- and pilot-scale REE separations in 2021 and commissioned commercial-scale NdPr separation in 2024 (up to 1,000 tonnes per year NdPr capacity), the Company has developed significant real-time data, experience, and knowhow applicable to separating REE oxides, including the “mid” and “heavy” oxides subject to the Chinese export controls. Based on this work, Energy Fuels believes it is now technically capable of designing, constructing, and operating the solvent extraction (“SX“) circuits, and performing all of the hydrometallurgical steps, necessary to perform the REE separations to applicable specifications, at scale, at the White Mesa Mill in Utah, including the production of samarium (“Sm“), gadolinium (“Gd“), dysprosium (“Dy“), terbium (“Tb“), lutetium (“Lu“) and yttrium (“Y“) oxides, within as early as a twelve-month period, given appropriate government support.
Energy Fuels focuses on “monazite,” which is a mineral the Company believes has a superior REE content and other benefits. First, monazite has excellent distributions of “light”, “mid” and “heavy” REE oxides versus other REE minerals. Monazite also has advantages over other REE minerals, as it is currently produced as a low-cost byproduct of heavy mineral sands (“HMS”) mines located in the U.S. and allied nations. In addition, typical monazite concentrates from HMS mines can be very high-grade with ~55% total REE oxides (“TREO“), including 14% concentrations of the “heavy” (Sm+) REE oxides (on a %TREO basis). Since 2021, Energy Fuels has purchased monazite concentrates from HMS mines owned by The Chemours Company in Florida and Georgia. During 2023 and 2024, Energy Fuels secured its own low-cost, future supply of monazite by acquiring three (3) large-scale HMS mines in the Southern Hemisphere that the Company believes are capable of supplying large quantities of monazite concentrates to the White Mesa Mill for processing into REE oxides for decades. Additional monazite concentrates are potentially available from mines in allied nations.
Energy Fuels has the current commercial capacity to process up to 10,000 tonnes of monazite concentrate and produce up to 1,000 tonnes of NdPr oxide per year, along with a “heavy”, Sm+ concentrate, at the White Mesa Mill in Utah. Energy Fuels expects to increase its capacity to be able to process 60,000 tonnes of monazite per year in the coming years. The Company is in the process of updating its 2024 prefeasibility study (“PFS“) to a feasibility study (“FS“) on the planned expansion of REE processing at the White Mesa Mill. The table below shows the estimated quantities of REE oxides Energy Fuels could produce under the 10,000 tonne and 60,000 tonne per year monazite scenarios:
| Estimated REE Oxide Production Capability(Tonnes per annum upon receipt of typical monazite concentrates at below quantities) | ||
| Rare Earth Oxide | Current Monazite Processing Capacity (10,000 tpa) | Future Monazite Processing Capacity (60,000 tpa) |
| Lanthanum (La2O3) | 905 | 5,427 |
| Cerium (CeO2) | 1,933 | 11,599 |
| Praseodymium (Pr6O11) | 222 | 1,334 |
| Neodymium (Nd2O3) | 826 | 4,957 |
| Samarium (Sm2O3) | 138 | 829 |
| Europium (Eu2O3) | 8 | 46 |
| Gadolinium (Gd2O3) | 134 | 801 |
| Terbium (Tb4O7) | 14 | 81 |
| Dysprosium (Dy2O3) | 48 | 286 |
| Holmium (Ho2O3) | 5 | 32 |
| Erbium (Er2O3) | 14 | 83 |
| Thulium (Tm2O3) | 1 | 7 |
| Ytterbium (Yb2O3) | 8 | 50 |
| Lutetium (Lu2O3) | 1 | 6 |
| Yttrium (Y2O3) | 126 | 753 |
While the Company has secured what it believes to be world-class HMS projects that will be able to supply monazite to the White Mesa Mill for decades, those properties are in various stages of exploration, permitting and development, with production expected in the 2028 time frame, subject to the receipt of all permits, government approvals, financing and development.
Jeff Newman JD MBA, represents whistleblowers in tariff fraud cases concerning imported Chinese goods as well as Medicare and Medicaid fraud cases under the False Claims Act (Qui Tam), and SEC, IRS and FINCEN whistleblower programs. He can be reached at Jeff@JeffNewmanLaw.com or at 617-823-3217
