Lakewood-based Energy Fuels Inc. and Australia’s Astron Corporation Ltd. have solidified their partnership to develop the Donald Rare Earth and Mineral Sands Project in Australia. The definitive agreements came into effect June 3, as uranium production from Energy Fuels’ U.S. mines and alternate feed materials carries on increasing as planned.
The advanced-stage Donald Project aims to provide approximately 7,000–14,000 metric tons of monazite sand in a rare earth element concentrate per year to Energy Fuels’ White Mesa Mill in Utah. Starting as early as 2026, the monazite sand will be processed into separated rare earth oxides. As part of this joint venture, Energy Fuels holds the prerogative to invest $122 million and acquire up to a 49% interest in the project.
The Donald Project’s first phase will produce about 7,000 to 8,000 metric tons per year, which will be processed at the Mill’s recently constructed rare earth oxide separation circuit. This circuit is projected to be fully commissioned by the end of Q2 2024, and has the capacity to process up to 10,000 metric tons of monazite sand per year into up to 1,000 metric tons of neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide annually. NdPr is an alloy used to create high-power magnets, with applications in technology.
Over the course of 2024 and 2025, the company plans to continue designing, permitting, and constructing an expansion of rare earth oxide production capacity at the Mill. They anticipate this expansion to be completed in 2027 and have the capacity to process the second phase of monazite production from the Donald Project. This second phase could yield 13,000 to 14,000 metric tons of rare earth element concentrate per year and may be available as early as 2029 or 2030.
The company’s rare earth production initiatives are not expected to interfere with the company’s U.S. uranium production capabilities, which are predicted to produce roughly 150,000 to 500,000 pounds of uranium oxide in 2024 from its U.S. mines and alternate feed materials. With plans to increase mining, they anticipate reaching a run-rate of approximately 1.1 million to 1.4 million pounds of uranium oxide per year later in 2024.
Energy Fuels Inc. and Astron Corporation Limited are enthusiastic about their joint venture on the development and operation of the Donald Rare Earth and Mineral Sands Project in Australia. They believe that this project will contribute significantly to the energy transition by providing the raw materials needed for electric vehicles, clean energy, and national security technologies.