Energy Fuels Starts Heavy Rare Earth Plant, Completes Mill Run

The Tip Desk · August 5, 2026 · 4 min read

Finished U3O8 output reached 865,000 pounds in the three months ended June 30, 2026, as the company began a $104 million heavy rare earth expansion.

Energy Fuels Inc. (UUUU), a producer of uranium, rare earth elements, vanadium and heavy mineral sands, completed its conventional ore processing campaign at the White Mesa Mill at the end of the second quarter and, on July 29, 2026, announced that construction had begun on a commercial-scale heavy rare earth plant at the same facility.

Finished U3O8 production at the Mill rose to 865,000 pounds in the three months ended June 30, 2026, from 790,000 pounds in the three months ended March 31, 2026, as the campaign that began in the fourth quarter of 2025 was completed. The company currently expects to process additional stockpiled and mined ore from its Pinyon Plain, La Sal and Pandora mines during the fourth quarter of 2026 and/or 2027, subject to market conditions, contract requirements and the Mill’s schedule. Starting in the third quarter of 2026, the Mill is expected to process stockpiled Alternate Feed Materials, rebuild ore stockpiles and begin construction on planned REE infrastructure.

Mining slowed. Total mined contained U3O8 fell to 315,000 pounds in the three months ended June 30, 2026, from about 425,000 pounds in the prior quarter. Pinyon Plain contributed 250,000 pounds, down from about 375,000 pounds, with a weighted average grade of 0.71%, versus 1.12% in the first quarter. La Sal and Pandora contributed 65,000 pounds. Ore grades at Pinyon Plain in the first half of 2026 were lower than in 2025 due to a move from one high-grade zone to a lower-grade zone and are expected to increase as mining moves into higher-grade zones.

The heavy rare earth expansion is the quarter’s defining capital step. The planned plant is expected to add capacity of up to approximately 20 tonnes per year of terbium, 120 tonnes per year of dysprosium, 140 tonnes per year of samarium, 20 tonnes per year of europium and 140 tonnes per year of gadolinium oxides, along with other rare earth elements. Tb and Dy circuits are expected by the end of 2027; Sm, Eu and Gd circuits by the end of 2028, depending on market needs. The expansion is estimated at approximately $104 million of capital expenditure, with the debt component planned to be covered by a previously announced conditional U.S. government loan and the equity component out of working capital, which totaled approximately $996 million as of June 30, 2026. The company has also applied for grant funding from other U.S. government agencies.

The plant is sized to process anticipated near-term monazite output from the Donald Project joint venture in Australia. Subject to a positive final investment decision, which the company now expects as early as the third quarter of 2026, following completion of negotiations on project debt financing targeting AUD$220 million, Donald is expected to produce approximately 8,500 to 9,500 tonnes of monazite concentrate annually beginning in 2028. That timing slipped from an earlier expectation of as early as the second quarter of 2026.

On June 23, 2026, the company announced a definitive agreement to acquire Vacuumschmelze GmbH & Co. KG and related entities (VAC) from Ara Partners for approximately $1.9 billion, based on Energy Fuels’ closing share price of $16.12 as of June 22, 2026. VAC operates rare earth permanent magnet facilities in the U.S., Germany and Finland, as well as other magnet facilities in Slovakia, Malaysia and China. The acquisitions of ASM and VAC are expected to complement the company’s existing rare earth mining, processing and separation operations and create an integrated platform from REE mines to magnets.

The proposed acquisition of Australian Strategic Materials Limited remains subject to remaining closing conditions. The company now expects that transaction to close at the end of August 2026, later than the as-early-as-July 2026 expectation given in the prior quarter. ASM’s Korean metals plant is currently operating; a planned American metals plant is subject to successful acquisition.

The existing Phase 1 Circuit at the Mill has design capacity to produce approximately 850 to 1,000 tonnes per year of recoverable separated NdPr. The company is piloting gadolinium separation after March 2026 pilot production of about one kilogram of high-purity terbium oxide and about 30 kilograms of high-purity dysprosium oxide.

Whirlwind and Nichols Ranch remain in readiness. With strong market conditions, those mines could potentially increase uranium production by up to approximately 600,000 pounds per year starting as early as 2027. Permitting and development continue on Roca Honda, Bullfrog, EZ and Sheep Mountain, which together could expand production to a run-rate of up to five million pounds of U3O8 per year in the coming years.