Significantly expanding its clout in magnetic materials supply, Energy Fuels, an American producer of uranium, rare earth elements and other critical materials, has struck a deal to acquire Australian Strategic Materials for about $300 million and also has unveiled new details about what it describes as a potentially enormous new source of rare earths at its property in Madagascar.
Announced January 20, the transaction will combine ASM’s operating Korean Metals Plant and its planned American Metals Plant with Energy Fuels’ existing rare earths oxide production at its White Mesa Mill in Utah. The mill is the only U.S. facility capable of separating monazite concentrates into both light and heavy REE oxides that are planned to be utilized in ASM’s metallization and alloying facilities in South Korea and the U.S., says the company. Closing is expected in the first half of this year.
ASM’s plant in South Korea is one of the few facilities outside of China currently producing REE metals and alloys, including neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), dysprosium (Dy), and terbium (Tb) metals and neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) and dysprosium-iron (DyFe) alloys. By integrating low-cost and scalable REE separation with downstream REE metal and alloy conversion, Energy Fuels aims to enhance vertical integration, margin capture, and market share across the REE value chain, providing the company with the flexibility to sell REE products to end-users at multiple stages. The transaction addresses a lack of downstream REE refining and conversion capability, which is one the most persistent vulnerabilities in ex-China REE supply chains, it says.
ASM’s Dubbo REE Project in NSW, Australia will strengthen Energy Fuels’ pipeline of REE development projects, which currently includes the Donald project in Victoria, Australia, the Vara Mada project in Madagascar, and Bahia project in Brazil, which are all intended to supply feed materials for the planned expansion of the company’s White Mesa Mill to produce 6,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), 240 tpa dysprosium (Dy), and 66 tpa terbium (Tb) oxides.
Additionally, the planned AMP provides Energy Fuels with a de-risked plan to construct an REE metals and alloys facility in the United States capable of producing 2,000 tons per year of alloy by leveraging the technology and intellectual property of the South Korean facility.
“Energy Fuels is executing our plan to create the largest fully integrated producer of REE materials outside of China, including REE oxides, metals and alloys, while supporting U.S. and allied critical mineral supply chains,” said Mark Chalmers, CEO of Energy Fuels, shown above with Rowena Smith, Managing Director & CEO of ASM.
“We see an opportunity to deliver an expanded suite of REE products by combining U.S. rare earth oxide production at our White Mesa processing facility in the U.S. with downstream metal and alloy manufacturing capacity at ASM’s Korean Metals Plant, one of the only producing REE metals and alloys facilities outside of China” said Chalmers. “ASM’s proven skills and intellectual property will also allow us to expand REE metal and alloy capacity in the U.S. Furthermore, we would gain access to ASM’s significant Dubbo Project, providing additional long-term REE development and growth opportunities to our existing mineral resource portfolio.”
Vara Mada project in Madagascar
On January 8, Energy Fuels released the results of an updated feasibility study (FS) for its Vara Mada project in Madagascar, formerly known as the Toliara Project. The study confirms the project’s exceptional economics from extensive quantities of high-quality rare earth, titanium and zircon in its monazite ore reserves in heavy mineral sands (HMS).
At full capacity, monazite produced from Vara Mada and Energy Fuels’ other HMS projects has the potential to supply up to 30% of U.S. demand for light REE oxides and 85% of U.S. demand for heavy REE oxides like dysprosium and terbium, reports the company. “The FS confirms what we’ve known since we acquired the project in 2024. Vara Mada is a generational, one-of-a-kind project that has the potential to positively alter the dynamics of global rare earth and critical mineral supply chains,” said Chalmers.
“Over the past six years, Energy Fuels has pursued a unique and aggressive strategy that is now seeing success where other ‘western’ rare earth companies have struggled,” he noted. “A significant proportion of China’s dominant rare earth industry begins with the importation of monazite concentrates produced as a low-cost byproduct of HMS mining. Energy Fuels is pursuing a similar strategy, because we believe it enjoys numerous competitive advantages over traditional ‘pure-play’ rare earth approaches. This includes larger-scales, lower-costs, and availability of superior concentrations of both light and heavy rare earth oxides.”
For more info, see www.energyfuels.com, www.asm-au.com.
