(Energy Fuels: Denver) -- Energy Fuels Inc., a leading U.S. producer of uranium, rare earth elements, and other critical minerals, announced that it has successfully developed the technology required to produce at scale six of the seven rare earth oxides subject to newly enacted Chinese export controls amid increasing trade tensions between the U.S. and China.

Energy Fuels’ White Mesa Mill in Utah has the commercial capacity to process monazite ore concentrates into separated neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide. Through its ongoing test work at White Mesa, the company believes it now has the technical know-how to design, construct, and commission the expansion of its existing infrastructure to produce these six rare earth oxides from monazite relatively quickly with appropriate U.S. government support or market conditions.

On April 15, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order, “Ensuring National Security and Economic Resilience Through Section 232 Actions on Processed Critical Minerals and Derivative Products.” This directed U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to initiate an investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, evaluating 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.

Energy Fuels 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, says, “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, and last year we successfully launched commercial rare earth processing capacity at White Mesa, 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. 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 White Mesa 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 the president’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), it has developed significant real-time data, experience, and know-how 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, including the production of samarium (Sm), gadolinium (Gd), dysprosium (Dy), terbium (Tb), lutetium (Lu), and yttrium (Y) oxides within as little as 12 months, given appropriate government support.

Energy Fuels focuses on monazite, which is a mineral it believes has a superior REE content and other benefits. First, monazite has excellent distributions of “light,” “mid,” and “heavy” REE oxides vs. other REE minerals. Monazite also has advantages over other REE minerals because it is currently produced as a low-cost byproduct of heavy mineral sand (HMS) mines in the U.S. and allied nations. In addition, typical monazite concentrates from HMS mines can be high-grade. Since 2021, Energy Fuels has purchased monazite concentrates from HMS mines owned by Chemours Co. in Florida and Georgia.

During 2023 and 2024, Energy Fuels secured its own low-cost, future supply of monazite by acquiring three large-scale HMS mines in the Southern Hemisphere that it 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 a 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 White Mesa. The company expects to increase its capacity to be able to process 60,000 tonnes of monazite per year in the coming years.

Energy Fuels is in the process of updating its 2024 prefeasibility study (PFS) to a feasibility study (FS) on the planned expansion of REE processing at White Mesa. 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.

While Energy Fuels has secured what it believes to be world-class HMS projects that will be able to supply monazite to White Mesa for decades, those properties are in various stages of exploration, permitting, and development, with production expected around 2028, subject to the receipt of all permits, government approvals, financing, and development.

However, there can be no assurance that these properties will ultimately be put into production. Processing at White Mesa prior to 2028 will require purchases of monazite from third parties, which cannot be guaranteed.