In-house Production to Make Energy Fuels Low-Cost Rare Earth Producer

Rare earth producer Energy Fuels Inc. (EFR) recently announced that it will purchase huge heavy mineral sands in Brazil, which it will mine to produce a concentrated mineral blend containing zircon, ilmenite (titanium), and monazite, a major step forward in the company's complete internal vertical integration.

The concentrate is expected to be sold to partner companies that will extract zircon and ilmenite, while the residual monazite, a waste product from the zircon/ilmenite process, will be delivered to EFR' White Mesa, Utah, where the monazite will be cracked and leached to extract clean rare earth content as a mixed carbonate and extracted and sold or legally processed for its uranium and thorium.

Energy Fuels is already purchasing monazite produced from Chemours' zircon/tilmenite operations in Georgia, and the purchase in Brazil will allow the company to diversify and reduce the cost of its monazite concentrate.

EFR produces monazite-rich heavy mineral sands in-house, which will be the basis for its plan to vertically integrate (in-house) the production of rare earth metals and alloys from separated and purified individual rare earth salts and mixed rare earth salts.

EFR operates the only operating uranium processing "mill" in the United States and the only facility in the United States capable of processing monazite to recover uranium for sale to nuclear power plants, as well as recovering or legally processing thorium and other radionuclides associated with monazite.

The rare earth producer has begun processing purchased monazite into hybrid rare earth carbonates and now has the capacity to produce thousands of tons of these hybrid rare earth carbonates annually. EFR's mixed carbonates are currently the most advanced rare earth products produced on a commercial scale in the United States. The company has also made significant progress in the production of separated and refined individual and mixed rare earth products.

Monazite has a relatively 50% higher content of recoverable core magnetic metals, neodymium, and praseodymium, than the cerium fluorocarbon ore mined at Mountain Pass, California.

EFR is completing a scoping study for a dedicated rare earth solvent extraction separation system and is completing a commercial demonstration of a new rare earth metal and alloy production process.

Energy Fuels is the leading U.S. producer of uranium and vanadium, and an emerging producer of rare earth element products. Within 24-36 months, Energy Fuels has the potential to become the world's lowest-cost producer of separated individual rare earths and will therefore be the lowest cost producer of rare earth metals and alloys.

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