UUUU - Energy Fuels and Astron Corporation Limited Execute Definitive Agreements to Jointly Develop the Donald Rare Earth and Mineral Sands Project in Australia; Uranium Production from the Company's U.S. mines and Alternate Feed Materials Continues to Ramp up a
- The Donald Project is an advanced-stage project with the potential to supply approximately 7,000 – 14,000 tonnes of monazite sand in a rare earth element ("REE") concentrate ("REEC") per year to Energy Fuels' White Mesa Mill (the "Mill"), located in Utah, U.S.A., for processing into separated REE oxides, as early as 2026.
- Under the joint venture, Energy Fuels has the right to invest AUD$183 million (approximately $122 million) and issue $17.5 million in Energy Fuels shares to earn up to a 49% interest in the project.
- Of these amounts, Energy Fuels expects to issue $3.5 million in Energy Fuels shares in 2024 and to invest approximately $10.6 million in 2024 from its existing working capital (approximately $225 million at March 31, 2024), prior to making a final investment decision to proceed with the development of the first phase of the project. A positive final investment decision would require the approval of both Energy Fuels and Astron and would generally require commitments for satisfactory offtake and/or sales agreements for the REE oxides expected to be produced from REEC at the Mill, as well as commitments for non-recourse and/or government-backed debt financing for the project.
- The REEC production of approximately 7,000 to 8,000 tonnes per year from the first phase of the Donald Project would be processed at the Mill's recently constructed REE oxide separation circuit, which is expected to be fully commissioned by the end of Q2 2024 and has the capacity to process up to 10,000 tonnes of monazite sand per year into up to 1,000 tonnes of NdPr oxide per year, along with a heavy mixed REE carbonate, without the need for any further capital expenditures at the Mill.
- During 2024 and 2025, the Company also plans to continue to design, permit, and construct an expansion of REE oxide production capacity at the Mill to 40,000 – 60,000 tonnes of monazite per year, which is expected to be completed in 2027, and would have the capacity to process the second phase of monazite production from the Donald Project of 13,000 to 14,000 tonnes of REEC per year, which could be available as early as 2029/2030, as well as planned monazite production from the Company's Bahia Project in Brazil and the Company's planned acquisition of the Toliara Project in Madagascar.
- The Company's REE production initiatives will not diminish in any way the Company's U.S. leading uranium production capabilities, which are proceeding as planned. The Company expects to produce approximately 150,000 to 500,000 pounds of uranium oxide ("U3O8") in 2024 from its U.S. mines and alternate feed materials ramping up to mining at a run-rate of approximately 1.1 million to 1.4 million pounds of U3O8 per year later this year from three of its existing mines, with plans to increase mining to the rate of approximately 2 million pounds of U3O8 per year by 2025 and up to 5 million pounds per year in coming years if market conditions continue to be positive, as expected.
LAKEWOOD, Colo., June 3, 2024 /CNW/ - Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX:EFR) ("Energy Fuels" or the "Company"), a leading U.S. producer of uranium, REEs, and vanadium, is pleased to announce that it has executed binding agreements with Astron Corporation Limited ("Astron") creating a joint venture (the "Venture") to develop and operate the Donald Rare Earth and Mineral Sands Project, located in the Wimmera Region of the State of Victoria, Australia (the "Donald Project"). All references to dollars or $ in this news release are references to US$ unless otherwise indicated.
The Donald Project is a world-class, world scale, REE and heavy mineral sand ("HMS") deposit that has the potential to provide Energy Fuels with a near-term, low-cost, and large-scale source of monazite sand in an REE concentrate ("REEC") that would be transported to the Company's Mill in Utah, USA for processing into REE oxides and other advanced REE materials to fuel the clean energy transition and meet critical U.S. national security needs.
With most licenses and permits in place (or at an advanced stage of completion), the Donald Project is expected to provide Energy Fuels with approximately 7,000 to 8,000 metric tons ("tonnes") of REEC per year ("Donald – Phase 1"), commencing as early as 2026. 8,000 tonnes of REEC from the Donald Project would contain approximately 4,700 tonnes of total REE oxides ("TREO"), including roughly 990 tonnes of neodymium-praseodymium ("NdPr") oxide, 84 tonnes of dysprosium ("Dy") oxide, and 14 tonnes of terbium oxide("Tb").
Following the construction and commissioning of Donald – Phase 1, Energy Fuels and Astron will evaluate increasing production from the Donald Project to 13,000 to 14,000 tonnes of REEC per year ("Donald – Phase 2"), all of which would be delivered to the Mill for processing into REE oxides by Energy Fuels. 14,000 tonnes of REEC from the Donald Project would contain up to 8,200 tonnes of TREO per year, including 1,700 tonnes of NdPr oxide, 140 tonnes of Dy oxide and 25 tonnes of Tb oxide, providing a rich source of critical rare earth elements necessary to meet the demand for electric vehicles, clean energy and national security technologies.
NdPr, Dy, and Tb are known as the "magnet rare earths," as they are key ingredients in powerful permanent REE magnets used in the most efficient electric vehicles ("EVs"), hybrids, wind generators, and other defense-related and advanced technologies. Monazite concentrates typically have superior grades and distributions of the "magnet" REEs compared to other REE-bearing minerals.
For context, REEs provide significantly greater power and range for EVs and hybrid vehicles, with the typical REE-powered vehicle using about one kilogram ("kg") of NdPr oxide, along with roughly 50 grams of Dy and/or Tb oxide. Therefore, the Donald Project alone could supply enough of each of these critical elements for up to 1.7 million EVs per year during Donald – Phase 2.
Construction and development of the Donald Project could begin as soon as 2025, subject to a unanimous final investment decision ("FID") of both Energy Fuels and Astron. A positive FID would generally require Energy Fuels to have secured commitments for satisfactory offtake and/or sales agreements for the REE oxides expected to be produced from REEC at the Mill, Astron having secured commitments for satisfactory offtake and/or sales agreements for ilmenite and zircon expected to be produced from heavy mineral sand concentrates ("HMC") from the project, and the Venture having secured commitments for non-recourse and/or government-backed debt financing for the project. Energy Fuels expects to spend approximately $10.6 million to advance the Donald Project in 2024, which is expected to be funded from the Company's working capital (approximately $225 million as of March 31, 2024).
THE DONALD PROJECT
The Donald Project is a world-class, advanced-stage, large-scale critical mineral deposit underpinned by the Ilmenite, zircon and monazite-rich Donald deposit in the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia.
On June 27, 2023, Astron released the outcomes of its Phase 2 Pre-Feasibility study (the "2023 PFS"), which expands upon its April 26, 2023 Definitive Feasibility Study (the "2023 DFS") (see Note 1) for the Donald Project. This combined, updated study estimates Donald – Phase 1 and 2 production of 200,000 – 500,000 tonnes per year HMC and 7,000 – 14,000 tonnes per year of REEC, and forecasts total funding expenditures of AUD$392 million to achieve first production. An additional AUD$431 million in capital would be required in 2029 or 2030 for the construction of Donald – Phase 2. According to the 2023 PFS, the Donald deposit's estimated ore reserves of 825 million tonnes at 4.5% heavy mineral, are sufficient to support an initial 58-year mine life at Donald – Phase 2 production rates of approximately 13,000 to 14,000 tonnes of REEC per year (See Note 2). Astron and the Company intend to update the 2023 DFS prior to the Donald – Phase 1 FID, to take into account the most current information and to conform the report to the standards of NI 43-101 and S-K 1300, as well as update the 2023 PFS to a DFS standard post-Donald – Phase 1 production.
The Donald Project is expected to provide a long-term and large-scale supply of REEC to the Mill for processing into REE oxides and other advanced REE materials. As the REEC will be a byproduct of the Donald Project's ilmenite and zircon production, the total cost of production of REE oxides at the Mill is expected to be low-cost and globally competitive.
THE DONALD PROJECT JOINT VENTURE
Under the Venture, Energy Fuels has the right to invest AUD$183 million (approximately $122 million at current exchange rates) to earn up to a 49% interest in the Venture. Of this amount, Energy Fuels expects to invest approximately $10.6 million in 2024 from its existing working capital (approximately $225 million as of March 31, 2024), to be used by the Venture to update and expand the 2023 DFS and to otherwise prepare the Venture to make a FID to proceed with the development of Donald – Phase 1. In addition, Energy Fuels will issue to Astron Energy Fuels common shares having a total value of $17.5 million, of which $3.5 million in shares will be issued to ...