US uranium producer Energy Fuels has signed a supply contract with US mining and chemical company Chemours as it progresses towards its goal of being the first company outside China in recent years to commercially produce rare earth carbonate from monazite.
The potential of monazite, a by-product of mining heavy mineral sands for titanium and zirconium, as a source of light and heavy rare earths has long been understood. But the stumbling block has been the requirement to remove and separate uranium and thorium from the monazite to extract the rare earths.
Energy Fuels plans to use its existing uranium production capacity at its White Mesa mill in Utah to remove and refine the uranium and produce a mixed rare earth carbonate containing the light and heavy rare earths elements needed for high-performance rare earth magnets. Rare earth magnets are critical to the transition to electric vehicles, offshore wind power and electronics.
Earlier this year Energy Fuels produced a mixed rare earth concentrate on a pilot scale at the White Mesa mill. And today it announced the signing of a three-year supply contract with Chemours' Offerman Mineral Sand Plant in Georgia for a minimum of 2,500 t/yr of monazite sands and expects to launch rare earth concentrate production in the first quarter of next year.
"Southeast Utah is fast becoming America's clean energy and critical minerals hub," Energy Fuel's chief executive Mark Chalmers said today. "Our goal is to domestically produce the raw materials needed for clean energy and advanced technologies, while creating green jobs in an economically challenged part of the country. Currently, the US imports nearly all of our rare earth, uranium and vanadium requirements," he added.
