McLeod reported in mid-2023 that as the energy transition gains steam, uranium and rare earths are at the top of the list when it comes to securing supply.
Energy Fuels is a US producer of both of these materials, and Curtis Moore, the company's senior vice president of marketing and corporate development, said output is in the process of ramping up. Speaking first about uranium, he explained that Energy Fuels recently signed several contracts with US utilities; it also sold US$18.5 million worth of uranium to the American government's strategic uranium reserve.
"There's an evolution happening right now as companies try to move away from all this Russian supply, and I think there's a lot more to come," said Moore at the the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention.
He also spoke about Energy Fuels' acquisition of a Brazilian rare earths and heavy metals project. Essentially, the company will be able to process monazite from the property at its White Mesa mill in Utah, creating an intermediate rare earths product.
That intermediate product is currently being sent to a separation facility in Estonia, but Energy Fuels eventually plans to do this step at White Mesa as well.
"We actually think that we're going to be producing more rare earth oxides, light rare earth oxides — NdPR oxide — than that facility in (Estonia). If we're successful, we'll be the second largest producer of separated NdPr oxide in the world outside of China by late this year or early next year — we're making this investment right now," Moore said.
"We're not moving away from uranium at all, but this rare earth opportunity is amazing for us," he added.
Watch the interview above for more of Moore's thoughts on the uranium and rare earths sectors, plus the path forward for Energy Fuels. You can also click here for the Investing News Network's full PDAC playlist on YouTube.
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