White Mesa Mill achieves commercial production of rare earth elements

The White Mesa Mill near Blanding in Southern Utah has begun producing commercial-grade rare earth elements (RRE). Owned by Energy Fuels Inc. of Lakewood, Colorado, the White Mesa Mill is the only operational uranium-producing plant in the U.S. and has been retrofitted to produce a rare earth element called neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) in sufficient quantity to supply companies that produce the metal alloys required for the permanent magnets widely used for electric motors in both battery-powered electric vehicles and dual-power hybrids. The company expects to have commercial quantities of separated NdPr available for shipment by the end of June.

White Mesa is extracting, refining and separating the NdPr from monazite, a mineral produced by the Chemours Co. at its heavy mineral sand operations in Florida and Georgia. Energy Fuels began piloting rare earth element separations in 2021 and later performed partial REE separations in 2022 and 2023. Energy Fuels believes this is the first time in several decades that a U.S. company has produced on-spec separated REEs from monazite on a commercial scale.

“We have achieved a significant milestone for the Energy Fuels, for Utah, and for the United States: the commercial production of separated rare earths that meet applicable product specifications, while simultaneously ramping up domestic uranium production aggressively,” said Mark Chalmers, president and CEO of Energy Fuels.