Energy Fuels Breaks Ground on Rare Earths in Utah

Energy Fuels just started building the next piece of its rare earth business at the same Utah mill that has run since the Cold War. Construction is underway on an expansion of the White Mesa Mill, the only conventional uranium mill left in the United States, to separate heavy rare earth oxides used in the magnets that spin electric vehicle motors and defense systems.

At a glance

• Construction has begun on a White Mesa Mill expansion to produce heavy rare earth oxides, including terbium and dysprosium.
• The added circuits are expected online by the end of 2027, with samarium, europium, and gadolinium circuits following by the end of 2028.
• Energy Fuels expects roughly 60 percent of future earnings from rare earths, with uranium falling to 10 to 15 percent within five years.
• The mill will draw feedstock from the company’s Donald Project monazite joint venture in Australia, pending a positive investment decision.

What is Energy Fuels building at White Mesa Mill?

Energy Fuels announced on July 29, 2026 that construction has begun on an expansion of its White Mesa Mill, which currently produces up to 1,000 tonnes a year of separated neodymium-praseodymium oxide, the light rare earth pair used in most permanent magnets. The new circuits target the heavy rare earths that magnet makers struggle to source outside China: about 20 tonnes a year of terbium and 120 tonnes a year of dysprosium, with the added samarium, europium, and gadolinium circuits arriving a year later. President and CEO Ross Bhappu called heavy rare earth supply “a severe pinch point in North American and European permanent magnet supply chains.”

Why is Energy Fuels stepping away from uranium?

Uranium built this mill, but rare earths are set to run it. Speaking with The Northern Miner, Bhappu said he expects roughly 60 percent of the company’s future earnings to come from rare earths and most of the rest from heavy mineral sands like titanium products, with uranium sliding to just 10 to 15 percent within five years. White Mesa still produces around 2 million pounds of uranium annually against a permitted capacity of 8 million pounds, and Energy Fuels continues to operate the Pinyon Plain mine in Arizona and the La Sal complex in Utah. But Bhappu described the shift as an ongoing education process for investors: “I thought you were a uranium miner, and now you’re telling me you’re producing magnets. It’s a real transition.”

How does the rest of the mine-to-magnet plan fit together?

The mill expansion is one piece of a larger build-out. Energy Fuels is completing a $299 million acquisition of Australian Strategic Materials, which brings the Dubbo rare earth deposit and a metals plant in South Korea into the fold, and has a pending $1.9 billion deal to acquire Vacuumschmelze, a German magnet manufacturer. Feedstock for the heavy rare earth circuits is expected to come from the Donald Project, a monazite joint venture in Australia awaiting a final investment decision, projected to ship 8,500 to 9,500 tonnes of concentrate a year starting in 2028. The company has also received a conditional commitment of up to $725 million in government-backed debt from the U.S. Office of Strategic Capital to help fund the broader expansion.

Why does a Utah uranium mill matter to the rare earth supply chain?

Because there is nowhere else in the country doing this yet. White Mesa is the only conventional uranium mill operating in the United States, and turning part of its circuit toward terbium and dysprosium gives American magnet makers a domestic option for two elements almost entirely refined in China today. Mining Our Future’s Season 1 tour already stops nearby at the Utah copper and lithium leg of the Bingham Canyon district, and this expansion adds a second Utah story: a uranium mill retooling itself into a rare earth separator, one circuit at a time.