Energy Fuels has begun an expansion of its White Mesa uranium mill near Blanding that will give it the capability of producing critical heavy rare earth oxides, currently available almost entirely from China. (Courtesy Energy Fuels Inc.)
Energy Fuels Inc., operator of the White Mesa Mill south of Blanding in San Juan County, has announced that it has begun construction on an expansion of the mill to enable the large-scale production of heavy rare earth oxides.
The new products are used to produce rare earth metals, alloys and magnets essential to the automotive, robotics, data center, energy and defense industries.
The White Mesa Mill is currently the only operating conventional ore-processing uranium mill in the United States.
Energy Fuels said the expansion of the company's existing light rare earth oxide production capacity to also produce heavy rare earth oxides is a critical step the company ramps up its integrated "mine-to-magnet" program.
"Heavy rare earth production is a severe pinch point in North American and European permanent magnet supply chains," said Ross Bhappu, president and CEO of Energy Fuels. "Given our ongoing success in piloting heavy rare earth oxides, we are now ready to advance to commercial-scale production. This is an exciting moment for Energy Fuels as we continue to build a fully integrated Western mine-to-magnet rare earth platform with proven commercial expertise at each step of the supply chain."
"The production of both light and heavy rare earth oxides is a key differentiator of Energy Fuels' strategy to build an integrated rare earth supply chain that is expected to be completed upon the anticipated closing of our pending acquisitions of Australian Strategic Materials and Vacuumschmelze," Bhappu added.
Energy Fuels announced an agreement to buy the Australian and German companies earlier this year.
The White Mesa facility currently has the capacity to produce up to 1,000 tons per year of light rare earth neodymium-praseodymium oxide. The planned expansion is designed to add the capacity to produce up to approximately 20 tons of terbium, 120 tons of dysprosium, 140 tons of samarium, 20 tons of europium and 140 tons of gadolinium oxides per year. These are all considered heavy rare earth oxides.
Terbium and dysprosium are added to most high-end rare earth permanent magnets to increase resistance to demagnetization and high-temperature performance, and to enable smaller, lighter, more powerful and more efficient electric motors.
As much as 95 percent of the world's supply of terbium and dysprosium is mined and processed in China. Even ores mined outside of China are processed there, giving China almost total control of the world supply of those essential elements. In recent months, the Trump administration has launched initiatives to ramp up domestic mining and processing of rare earth minerals.
Energy Fuels plans to complete the dysprosium and terbium circuits at the mill by the end of 2027, depending on market needs, with commissioning targeted for the fourth quarter. The samarium, europium and gadolinium circuits are expected to be completed by the end of 2028.
The company expects government grants and loans to cover a large portion of the estimated $104 million construction cost. Energy Fuels had roughly $960 million in working capital at the end of March to fund the equity portion of the project.
In June, Energy Fuels received a conditional commitment from the U.S. Office of Strategic Capital for a 20-year loan of up to $725 million. The financing would support the White Mesa expansion and a proposed American rare earth metals and alloy plant.
Energy Fuels plans to further expand the White Mesa Mill in 2029 to increase overall capacity in anticipation of further demand for its output.
Energy Fuels focuses its efforts on uranium, rare earth elements, heavy mineral sands, vanadium and medical isotopes. It also owns and operates several conventional and in-situ recovery uranium projects in the western United States.
