Uranium and rare earths producer Energy Fuels is continuing to ramp up its uranium production in the US, with a targeted output of up to 500 000 lb of uranium oxide (U3O8) this year.
The company operates the White Mesa mill, in Utah, where it has also demonstrated its ability to process monazite, providing mixed rare earth element (REE) carbonate to the market.
It has recently completed a $16-million REE separation circuit that will allow for commercial-scale REE separation in the US.
However, Energy Fuels stresses that its REE initiatives will not diminish its US uranium production capabilities and that it plans to ramp up production significantly in the coming years.
Once the REE separation circuit commission is complete at month-end, Energy Fuels will begin to process stockpiled uranium ore at three operating US mines for the remainder of the year. The run rate will ramp up to about 1.1-million to 1.4-million pounds a year of U3O8 from those three mines.
Energy Fuels expects to increase its uranium production to a mining run rate of about two-million pounds a year by bringing two additional mines into operation as early as 2025.
Its longer-term target is a run rate of five-million pounds a year of U3O8 if uranium market conditions continue to remain strong.