Physical shipment of commercial quantities of
rare earths from Energy Fuels' White Mesa Mill in Utah to Neo Performance Materials' plant in
Estonia represents an important
milestone in creation of new rare earth supply chain
TORONTO, ON and
LAKEWOOD, Colo., July 7, 2021 /CNW/ - Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE
American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) ("Energy Fuels") and Neo
Performance Materials Inc. (TSX: NEO) ("Neo") are
pleased to announce that the first container (approximately 20
tonnes of product) of an expected 15 containers of mixed rare
earth carbonate ("RE Carbonate") has been successfully
produced by Energy Fuels at its White Mesa Mill in Utah (the "Mill") and is en route to
Neo's rare earth separations facility in Estonia, creating a new United States-to-Europe rare earth supply chain.
Additional shipments of RE Carbonate are expected as Energy
Fuels continues to process natural monazite sand ore
("Monazite") mined in Georgia (U.S.) by Chemours (NYSE: CC) for both
the rare earth elements and naturally occurring uranium that it
contains.
This new supply chain will initially produce rare earth products
from monazite that is processed into RE Carbonate at Energy Fuels'
Mill in Utah. The RE
Carbonate is then processed by Neo at its Silmet rare earth
processing facility in Sillamäe, Estonia ("Silmet") into separated rare
earth oxides and other value-added rare earth compounds. Neo
is the only commercial producer of separated rare earth oxides in
Europe.
Monazite, which is produced as a byproduct of existing heavy
mineral sands mining, also contains naturally occurring uranium
that Energy Fuels recovers for use in the generation of carbon-free
nuclear energy.
This commercial-scale production of RE Carbonate by Energy Fuels
from a U.S. mined rare earth resource positions Energy Fuels as the
only company in North America that
currently produces a Monazite-derived, enhanced rare earth
material. The physical delivery of this product also
represents the launch of a new, environmentally responsible rare
earth supply chain that allows for source validation and tracking
from mining through to final end-use applications for manufacturers
in North America, Europe, Japan, and other nations.
Energy Fuels and Neo are further pleased to announce the signing
of a definitive supply agreement (the "Agreement") by the
companies' respective affiliates. Under the Agreement, Colorado-based Energy Fuels will ship all or a
portion of its RE Carbonate to Neo's Silmet rare earth separations
facility. Neo will then process Energy Fuels' RE Carbonate into
separated rare earth materials for use in rare earth permanent
magnets and other rare earth-based advanced materials. Because of
increasing demand for value-added rare earth materials in European
manufacturing, Toronto-based Neo
seeks to expand and diversify its current supplies of rare earth
feedstock at Silmet, which is the only operational rare earth
separations facility in Europe.
Silmet has been separating rare earths into commercial value-added
products for more than 50 years.
Representatives from both Energy Fuels and Neo were on hand at
the White Mesa Mill to celebrate the launch of this new critical
supply chain.
In addition to supplying RE Carbonate to Neo, Energy Fuels is
also evaluating the potential to develop its own separation
capabilities at its White Mesa Mill in Utah (U.S.), or nearby, and possibly adding
metals, alloys, and rare earth permanent magnets manufacturing
capabilities. As a first step, the Company has hired the French
firm, Carester SAS, a leading global expert in rare earth
separation and supply chains, to produce a scoping study including
capital and operating costs for a full rare earth separations
capability at the White Mesa Mill, which would be the next
important step towards fully integrating a U.S. rare earth supply
chain in the coming years, in addition to continuing to supply RE
Carbonate to European markets over the long-term.
"The launch of this new supply chain is a real gamechanger for
Neo and our growing customer base in Europe," said Constantine Karayannopoulos, Neo's Chief
Executive Officer. "This innovative U.S.-to-Europe supply chain will supplement Neo's
existing rare earth supply from our long-time Russian
supplier. It will enable Neo to expand value-added rare earth
production in Estonia to meet
growing demand in Europe for these
materials. It begins to unlock the extraordinary economic and
environmental potential presented by utilizing low-cost rare earth
feedstock from monazite ore that is a byproduct of existing
mining. And, it helps Neo ramp up rare earth production in
Estonia just as Europe accelerates vehicle electrification and
other initiatives aimed at mitigating climate impacts."
"Today, Energy Fuels and Neo took significant steps toward
restoring critical U.S. and European rare earth supply chains,"
stated Mark S. Chalmers, President
and CEO of Energy Fuels. "Energy Fuels has methodically ramped up
our mixed rare earth carbonate production since we first started
feeding Georgia monazite ore into
our Utah mill in March.
Successfully producing this rare earth product, and physically
delivering the first containers of Rare Earth Carbonate to Neo, is
an important achievement, not only for Energy Fuels and Neo, but
also for U.S. government efforts to restore critical rare earth
supply chains. This is also very good news for end-users of rare
earth products in the U.S., Europe, Japan
and elsewhere who seek alternative sources of rare earths produced
in the U.S. and Europe to the
highest global standards of environmental protection and
sustainability."
Significant quantities of Monazite are produced around the world
as a byproduct of zircon and titanium production from heavy mineral
sand operations, including large resources in the U.S.,
Australia, Brazil, South
Africa, and other nations. Energy Fuels is in discussions
with several parties to secure additional quantities of Monazite
that it can use to expand this quickly emerging rare earth
initiative. Energy Fuels has a goal of processing 15,000 tons of
Monazite or more per year in the future. For perspective, 15,000
tons of Monazite per annum would contain rare earths equal to
roughly 50% of total current U.S. demand, while only utilizing
approximately 2% of the White Mesa Mill's existing throughput
capacity and less than 1% of its existing tailings
capacity.
Monazite from the southeast U.S. typically contains roughly 55%
total rare earth oxides ("TREO") of which the magnetic
elements neodymium and praseodymium ("NdPr") comprise
approximately 22% of the TREO. NdPr are among the most valuable of
the rare earth elements, as they are the key ingredient in the
manufacture of high-strength permanent magnets that are essential
to the lightweight and powerful motors required in electric
vehicles, permanent magnet wind turbines used for renewable energy
generation, and a variety of other modern technologies, including,
mobile devices and defense applications. U.S. Monazite also
contains approximately 14.4% "heavy" rare earths on a TREO basis,
including roughly 1.5% dysprosium and terbium which have additional
important magnet and national defense applications.
ABOUT NEO PERFORMANCE MATERIALS
Neo manufactures the building blocks of many modern technologies
that enhance efficiency and sustainability. Neo's advanced
industrial materials -- magnetic powders and magnets, specialty
chemicals, metals, and alloys -- are critical to the performance of
many everyday products and emerging technologies. Neo's products
help to deliver the technologies of tomorrow to consumers today.
The business of Neo is organized along three segments: Magnequench,
Chemicals & Oxides and Rare Metals. Neo is headquartered in
Toronto, Ontario, Canada; with
corporate offices in Greenwood Village,
Colorado, US; Singapore;
and Beijing, China. Neo operates
globally with sales and production across 10 countries, being
Japan, China, Thailand, Estonia, Singapore, Germany, United
Kingdom, Canada,
United States, and South Korea. For more information, please
visit www.neomaterials.com.
ABOUT ENERGY FUELS
Energy Fuels is a leading U.S.-based uranium mining company,
supplying U3O8 to major nuclear
utilities. Energy Fuels also produces vanadium from certain of its
projects, as market conditions warrant, and is ramping up to
commercial production of REE carbonate in 2021. Its corporate
offices are in Lakewood, Colorado, near Denver, and all of its
assets and employees are in the United States. Energy Fuels holds three of
America's key uranium production centers: the White Mesa Mill
in Utah, the Nichols Ranch in-situ recovery ("ISR") Project
in Wyoming, and the Alta Mesa ISR Project in Texas. The
White Mesa Mill is the only conventional uranium mill operating in
the U.S. today, has a licensed capacity of over 8 million pounds of
U3O8 per year, has the ability to produce
vanadium when market conditions warrant, as well as REE carbonate
from various uranium-bearing ores. The Nichols Ranch ISR Project is
on standby and has a licensed capacity of 2 million pounds of
U3O8 per year. The Alta Mesa ISR Project
is also on standby and has a licensed capacity of 1.5 million
pounds of U3O8per year. In addition to the
above production facilities, Energy Fuels also has one of the
largest NI 43-101 compliant uranium resource portfolios in the U.S.
and several uranium and uranium/vanadium mining projects on standby
and in various stages of permitting and development. The primary
trading market for Energy Fuels' common shares is the NYSE American
under the trading symbol "UUUU," and the Company's common shares
are also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading
symbol "EFR." Energy Fuels' website
is www.energyfuels.com.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING
STATEMENTS
This news release contains "forward-looking information"
within the meaning of applicable securities laws in Canada and the
United States. Forward-looking information may relate to
future events or future performance of Neo or Energy Fuels. All
statements in this release, other than statements of historical
facts, with respect to Neo's or Energy Fuels' objectives and goals,
as well as statements with respect to their beliefs, plans,
objectives, expectations, anticipations, estimates, and intentions,
are forward-looking information. Specific forward-looking
statements in this discussion include, but are not limited to, the
following: any expectation that the White Mesa Mill will continue
to be successful in producing RE Carbonate on a commercial basis;
any expectation that Silmet will be successful in separating the
White Mesa Mill's RE Carbonate on a commercial basis; any
expectations with regard to the cost of producing and separating RE
Carbonate; any expectation that Energy Fuels will be successful in
increasing its supplies of monazite sand ore supplies, developing
U.S. separation, metals or metal/alloy capabilities at the White
Mesa Mill or nearby, or otherwise fully integrating the U.S RE
supply chain in the future; any expectation with regard to the
future demand for rare earth materials, including any expectation
that Europe will continue to
accelerate vehicle electrification and other initiatives aimed at
mitigating climate impacts; any expectation with regard to the
economic and environmental potential presented by utilizing rare
earth feedstock from monazite ore; any expectation with respect to
the quantities of monazite ore to be acquired by Energy Fuels, the
quantities of RE Carbonate to be produced by the White Mesa Mill or
the quantities of contained TREO to be acquired by Silmet for
separation; and any expectation that the rare earths produced by
Energy Fuels and Neo will continue to be produced to the highest
global standards of environmental protection and sustainability.
Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be
identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is
expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "continues",
"forecasts", "projects", "predicts", "intends", "anticipates" or
"believes", or variations of, or the negatives of, such words and
phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may",
"could", "would", "should", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be
achieved. This information involves known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or
events to differ materially from those anticipated in such
forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those anticipated in these
forward-looking statements include risks associated with:
processing difficulties and upsets; available supplies of monazite
sands; the ability of the White Mesa Mill to produce RE Carbonate
to meet commercial specifications on a commercial scale at
acceptable costs; the ability of Silmet to separate the RE
Carbonate to meet commercial specifications on a commercial scale
at acceptable costs; the capital and operating costs associated
with separation, metal, alloy and/or magnet production facilities;
permitting and regulatory delays; litigation risks; competition
from others; market factors, including future demand for and prices
realized from the sale of rare earth elements; and the policies and
actions of foreign governments, which could impact the competitive
supply of and global markets for rare earth elements.
Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date
of this news release, and Neo and Energy Fuels disclaim, other than
as required by law, any obligation to update any forward-looking
statements whether as a result of new information, results, future
events, circumstances, or if management's estimates or opinions
should change, or otherwise. There can be no assurance that
forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual
results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader is
cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements. Neo and Energy Fuels assume no obligation to update the
information in this communication, except as otherwise required by
law.
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SOURCE Energy Fuels Inc.