Energy Fuels signs deal with Neo Performance Materials to launch rare earths production program in US and Europe

Energy Fuels Inc (NYSEAMERICAN:UUUU) (TSE:EFR) has said it is teaming up with Neo Performance Materials (TSE:NEO) on a new US and European rare earth production initiative. The program will produce value-added rare earth products from natural monazite sands, which is a byproduct of heavy mineral sands mined in the southeastern US. Energy Fuels, a Colorado-based mineral company, will process the monazite sands into a mixed rare earth carbonate in Utah to use as feedstock for Neo’s rare earths separation facility in Estonia. The firm is also evaluating the potential to develop separation facilities in the US. READ: Energy Fuels CEO Mark Chalmers applauds $75M uranium reserve funding in omnibus spending bill The deal, which was signed on Monday and still subject to a definitive agreement, is the fruit of a technical collaboration between Neo and Energy Fuels since April 2020 to establish a monazite processing and rare earths carbonate production capacity at Energy Fuels' White Mesa Mill plant, where it successfully produced rare earths carbonate from monazite sands in October 2020. Neo's Silmet facility in Estonia has successfully processed trial quantities of Energy Fuels' rare earths carbonate. Energy Fuels said that the new rare earth supply chain is expected to constitute the first time in over twenty years that monazite ore from the US will be used as a feedstock to manufacture separated rare earth materials outside of China. Energy Fuels will produce the rare earth carbonate from natural monazite sands supplied by US-based Chemours Company under a sales agreement signed between the two companies in December 2020. Chemours will supply Energy Fuels with at least 2,500 tons per year of natural monazite ore produced in the US. Upon completion of the current commercial-scale pilot program at the White Mesa Mill, Neo's Silmet facility expects to purchase and process a minimum of 840 metric tonnes of total rare earth oxides per year from Energy Fuels, in addition to Silmet's current production – nearly 80% of Energy Fuels production from current Chemours supplies. Integrated supply chain "Together, Energy Fuels, Neo and Chemours have successfully created an integrated rare earth supply chain based in the US and Europe," Mark Chalmers, CEO of Energy Fuels said in a statement. Monazite is coveted globally as one of the highest-value rare earth minerals in the world, thanks to its distribution of neodymium and praseodymium, as well as 'heavy' rare earths, according to Chalmers, adding that there was no integrated ability to process monazite in the US or Europe into the rare earth materials. Rare earths are necessary to supply the burgeoning demand for electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, and other clean energy and advanced technologies. Major step forward for industry Constantine Karayannopoulos, Neo's CEO told investors that producing value-added rare earth materials from monazite resources is a “massive step forward” for the rare earths industry. "Monazite is an excellent and rich source of rare earths, particularly the magnetic rare earths that are highly sought for new electrification applications,” Karayannopoulos said. “Yet, monazites derived from heavy mineral sands have historically not been favored due to the naturally occurring radioactive elements they normally contain. Energy Fuels provides the missing link in solving this challenge. They extract valuable uranium from monazite and put it to good use while also recovering monazite's rare earth content.” “Energy Fuels is proud to help solve this challenge for both US and European markets,” Chalmers added. “We appreciate the ability to be able to work with Mr Karayannopoulos and the Neo team in reaching this important milestone, and we look forward to continuing our collaborations with Neo for many years to come." The agreement is set to last for several years, subject to successful pilot-scale operations, execution of definitive agreements, and optimization of the companies' production processes. Contact Angela at angela@proactiveinvestors.com Follow her on Twitter @AHarmantas