U.S. Mined and Processed Rare Earths Successfully Manufactured into Permanent Magnets for Use in EVs and Hybrids
Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR), a leading U.S. producer of uranium, rare earth elements and other critical minerals, announced that high-purity neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide produced at its White Mesa Mill in Utah has been manufactured into commercial scale REPMs by South Korea's largest manufacturer of drive unit motor cores, pursuant to a previously announced MOU, and has passed all quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) benchmarks for use in EV drive unit motors sold to major automotive manufacturers. This included the successful manufacture of Energy Fuels' NdPr oxide into NdPr metal, neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) alloy sintered blocks (45H grade), and high-performance, high-temperature NdFeB REPMs.
The successful production of REPMs from Energy Fuels' NdPr oxide marks a decisive breakthrough in building a "mine-to-magnet" supply chain independent of China, using rare earth oxides (REOs) produced in the United States. Energy Fuels' NdPr oxide has now been qualified for use in high temperature drive units, which are installed in EV and hybrid vehicles manufactured by major automotive companies across North America, the EU, Japan, and Korea. Drive units powered by Energy Fuels' NdPr oxide are expected to be installed in new vehicles and be available in the marketplace within the next few months. Now that Energy Fuels' NdPr has been validated, the parties now intend to engage in negotiations for a potential longer-term supply arrangement.
"We are excited to announce that rare earth oxides mined, processed and produced in America are expected to be powering EVs and hybrids for sale around the world very soon, representing a major achievement in restoring domestic critical mineral supply chains" said Mark S. Chalmers, CEO of Energy Fuels. "Commercial validation of our rare earth oxides at scale is a significant triumph for Energy Fuels, proving we have the capacity and expertise to produce rare earth materials that meet both commercial and defense requirements, at scale and to appropriate purity and performance specifications. Energy Fuels also recently announced that we are producing pilot quantities of 99.9% purity dysprosium oxide, a critical 'heavy' rare earth and another key ingredient in NdFeB magnets. We plan to construct 'heavy' rare earth oxide capacity in 2026 at our White Mesa Mill in Utah, thereby 'closing the loop' on this important non-China supply chain."
The 1.2 metric tonnes of NdPr oxide supplied by Energy Fuels earlier this year was processed into approximately 3.0 metric tonnes of REPMs, which is enough to power approximately 1,500 new electric and hybrid electric vehicles. Energy Fuels has received 25 kilograms of the 45H grade NdFeB sintered block alloys (shown below) as a testament to this landmark achievement.
The REOs produced by Energy Fuels were derived from monazite concentrates mined in Florida and Georgia U.S.A. at heavy mineral sand (HMS) operations owned and operated by The Chemours Company. Chemours' monazite concentrate was processed into high-purity NdPr oxide at Energy Fuels' White Mesa Mill in Utah. The White Mesa Mill is the only facility in North America currently licensed and capable of producing high-purity REOs from monazite.
Energy Fuels | https://www.energyfuels.com/
