Neo Performance Materials and Energy Fuels Announce Joint Launch of U.S.-European Rare Earth Production Initiative Separated Rare Earth Products Produced in Europe from U.S.-Sourced Feedstock is Expected to Strengthen and Diversify U.S. and European Rare Earth Supply Chains
Neo Performance Materials and Energy Fuels
Announce Joint Launch of U.S.-European Rare Earth Production Initiative
Separated Rare Earth Products Produced in Europe from U.S.-Sourced Feedstock is Expected
to Strengthen and Diversify U.S. and European Rare Earth Supply Chains
Toronto, ON & Lakewood, CO – (March 1, 2021) – Neo Performance Materials (TSX: NEO) ("Neo")
and Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) ("Energy Fuels") are pleased to
announce a new rare earth production initiative spanning European and North American critical
material supply chains. The initiative will produce value-added rare earth products from natural
monazite sands, a byproduct of heavy mineral sands mined in the southeastern United States.
Energy Fuels will process the monazite sands into a mixed rare earth carbonate (“RE Carbonate”)
in Utah for use as feed material for Neo’s value-added separated rare earth production plant in
Europe. Energy Fuels is also continuing to evaluate developing additional value-added U.S rare
earth production capabilities in Utah in the future.
Under an agreement in principle signed today by the companies’ respective affiliates, subject to
completion of definitive agreements, Colorado-based Energy Fuels will process natural monazite
sands into an RE Carbonate beginning in March or April 2021 and ship a portion of that production
to Neo’s rare earth separations facility in Sillamäe, Estonia (“Silmet”). Neo will then process the RE
Carbonate into separated rare earth materials for use in rare earth permanent magnets and other
rare earth-based advanced materials. Because of increasing demand for value-added rare earth
materials in European manufacturing, Toronto-based Neo seeks to expand and diversify its current
supplies of rare earth feedstock at Silmet, which is the only operational rare earth separations
facility in Europe. Silmet has been separating rare earths into commercial value-added products for
more than 50 years.
In addition to supplying RE Carbonate to Neo, Energy Fuels is also evaluating the potential to
develop U.S. separation capabilities at its White Mesa Mill, or nearby, as it works to increase its
monazite sand ore supplies, thereby fully integrating a U.S. rare earth supply chain in the coming
years, in addition to supplying RE Carbonate to European markets.
Typical monazite ore has a higher value than other rare earth bearing ores, as it contains 50% -
60%+ total rare earth content, plus 0.20% - 0.30% recoverable natural uranium, which is the
typical grade of uranium found in uranium mines that have historically fed the White Mesa Mill.
This means that, in addition to extracting the high concentrations of rare earths from the monazite
ore, the White Mesa Mill will also extract the naturally occurring uranium in this ore, which Energy
Fuels will sell to power clean, carbon-free nuclear energy.
Energy Fuels will produce its RE Carbonate from natural monazite sands supplied by U.S.-based
Chemours Company (“Chemours”) under a sales agreement between Energy Fuels and Chemours
that was announced on December 14, 2020. Chemours will supply Energy Fuels with a minimum
quantity of 2,500 tons per annum of natural monazite ore produced in the state of Georgia, and
elsewhere in the southeast U.S. Upon completion of the current commercial-scale pilot program at
the White Mesa Mill, Neo’s Silmet facility expects to purchase and process a minimum of 840 metric
tonnes of total rare earth oxides (“TREO”) per year from Energy Fuels, which is in addition to
Silmet’s current production. This would represent approximately 80% of Energy Fuels production
from current Chemours supplies.
Significant quantities of natural monazite ore are produced around the world as a byproduct of
zircon and titanium production from heavy mineral sand operations, including large resources in
the U.S., Australia, India, South Africa, and other nations. Energy Fuels is seeking to secure
additional quantities of monazite ores that it can use to further this program and has a goal of
processing 15,000 tons or more per year in the future. For perspective, 15,000 tons of monazite per
annum would represent approximately 2% of the White Mesa Mill’s existing throughput capacity
and less than 1% of its existing tailings capacity but contain rare earths equal to roughly 50% of
total current U.S. demand.
Neo and Energy Fuels have been working in a technical collaboration since April 2020 to establish a
monazite processing and RE Carbonate production capacity at Energy Fuels’ White Mesa Mill plant.
As previously announced, Energy Fuels successfully produced RE Carbonate at the White Mesa Mill
in October 2020 from monazite sands. Neo’s Silmet facility in Estonia has successfully processed
trial quantities of Energy Fuels’ RE Carbonate. When ramped up to commercial scale, this new rare
earth supply chain is expected to constitute the first time in over twenty years that monazite ore
from the U.S. will be used as a feedstock to manufacture separated rare earth materials outside of
China.
“Producing value-added rare earth materials from monazite resources is a massive step forward for
our industry and for consumers of rare earths,” said Constantine Karayannopoulos, Neo’s Chief
Executive Officer. “Monazite is an excellent and rich source of rare earths, particularly the magnetic
rare earths that are highly sought for new electrification applications. Yet, monazites derived from
heavy mineral sands have historically not been favored due to the naturally occurring radioactive
elements they normally contain. Energy Fuels provides the missing link in solving this challenge.
They extract valuable uranium from monazite and put it to good use while also recovering
monazite’s rare earth content. And, given the relatively significant monazite resources around the
world, we expect this collaboration will help Neo expand our production of separated rare earth
products in Europe and improve resiliency of European manufacturing. That is particularly timely
given increasing demand for rare earth materials across the continent and given the EU’s vehicle
electrification initiatives, which will require greater supplies of rare earths.”
“Together, Energy Fuels, Neo and Chemours have successfully created an integrated rare earth
supply chain based in the U.S. and Europe,” stated Mark S. Chalmers, President and CEO of Energy
Fuels. “Monazite is coveted globally as one of the highest-value rare earth minerals in the world,
due to its excellent distribution of neodymium and praseodymium (“NdPr”), as well as ‘heavy’ rare
earths. It is already mined here in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world. However, until now,
there has been no integrated ability to process monazite in the U.S. or Europe into the rare earth
materials needed to supply the rapidly increasing demand for electric vehicles, renewable energy
systems, and other clean energy and advanced technologies. Energy Fuels is proud to help solve this
challenge for both U.S. and European markets. Under the agreement announced today, we plan to
supply all or a portion of our mixed rare earth carbonate to Neo for several years, while also
developing our own separation, metals, alloys, and other downstream rare earth capabilities at the
White Mesa Mill for supply into the U.S. as domestic markets grow. We appreciate the ability to be
able to work with Mr. Karayannopoulos and the Neo team in reaching this important milestone, and
we look forward to continuing our collaborations with Neo for many years to come.”
Of the 55% TREO typically found in U.S. monazite sands, NdPr comprises approximately 22% of the
TREO. NdPr are among the most valuable of the rare earth elements, as they are the key ingredient
in the manufacture of high-strength permanent magnets that are essential to the lightweight and
powerful motors required in electric vehicles, permanent magnet wind turbines used for renewable
energy generation, and a variety of other modern technologies, including, mobile devices and
defense applications.
Additionally, because monazite is typically a byproduct from other mining operations, processing
monazite ore for the recovery of rare earths, along with the contained uranium, is expected to be at
a relatively low cost, since no new mining needs to be licensed, financed, and developed.
Furthermore, Energy Fuels will utilize its existing White Mesa Mill to produce the RE Carbonate,
and Silmet will utilize its existing separations facility, thereby avoiding the need to license, finance
and develop new facilities with these capabilities. As a result, producing rare earths and uranium
from existing mining, processing, and separation facilities is not only expected to be at a relatively
low cost, it will result in a much smaller environmental footprint when compared to other projects.
Under the terms of the current agreement, Energy Fuels will supply to Silmet increasing amounts of
RE Carbonate for pilot-scale production and full commercial qualification.
Implementation of this initiative is subject to successful pilot-scale operations, execution of
definitive agreements, and optimization of the companies’ production processes.
# # #
CONTACTS:
ENERGY FUELS
Curtis Moore – VP of Marketing & Corporate Development
(303) 974-2154; [email protected]
NEO PERFORMANCE MATERIALS
Ali Mahdavi Jim Sims
Investor Relations Media Relations
416-962-3300 303-503-6203
Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]
Website: www.neomaterials.com
ABOUT NEO PERFORMANCE MATERIALS
Neo manufactures the building blocks of many modern technologies that enhance efficiency and
sustainability. Neo’s advanced industrial materials -- magnetic powders and magnets, specialty chemicals,
metals, and alloys -- are critical to the performance of many everyday products and emerging technologies.
Neo’s products help to deliver the technologies of tomorrow to consumers today. The business of Neo is
organized along three segments: Magnequench, Chemicals & Oxides and Rare Metals. Neo is headquartered in
Toronto, Ontario, Canada; with corporate offices in Greenwood Village, Colorado, US; Singapore; and Beijing,
China. Neo operates globally with sales and production across 10 countries, being Japan, China, Thailand,
Estonia, Singapore, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, United States, and South Korea. For more information,
please visit www.neomaterials.com.
ABOUT ENERGY FUELS
Energy Fuels is a leading U.S.-based uranium mining company, supplying U 3O8 to major nuclear utilities.
Energy Fuels also produces vanadium from certain of its projects, as market conditions warrant, and expects
to commence commercial production of REE carbonate in 2021. Its corporate offices are in Lakewood,
Colorado, near Denver, and all of its assets and employees are in the United States. Energy Fuels holds three
of America's key uranium production centers: the White Mesa Mill in Utah, the Nichols Ranch in-situ recovery
("ISR") Project in Wyoming, and the Alta Mesa ISR Project in Texas. The White Mesa Mill is the only
conventional uranium mill operating in the U.S. today, has a licensed capacity of over 8 million pounds of U 3O8
per year, has the ability to produce vanadium when market conditions warrant, as well as REE carbonate
from various uranium-bearing ores. The Nichols Ranch ISR Project is on standby and has a licensed capacity
of 2 million pounds of U3O8 per year. The Alta Mesa ISR Project is also on standby and has a licensed capacity
of 1.5 million pounds of U3O8per year. In addition to the above production facilities, Energy Fuels also has one
of the largest NI 43-101 compliant uranium resource portfolios in the U.S. and several uranium and
uranium/vanadium mining projects on standby and in various stages of permitting and development. The
primary trading market for Energy Fuels' common shares is the NYSE American under the trading symbol
"UUUU," and the Company's common shares are also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading
symbol "EFR." Energy Fuels' website is www.energyfuels.com.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws in
Canada and the United States. Forward-looking information may relate to future events or future performance
of Neo or Energy Fuels. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, with respect to
Neo's or Energy Fuels’ objectives and goals, as well as statements with respect to their beliefs, plans, objectives,
expectations, anticipations, estimates, and intentions, are forward-looking information. Specific forward-looking
statements in this discussion include, but are not limited to, the following: any expectation that the White Mesa
Mill will be successful in producing RE Carbonate on a commercial basis; any expectation that Silmet will be
successful in separating the White Mesa Mill’s RE Carbonate on a commercial basis; any expectation that Energy
Fuels will be successful in increasing its supplies of monazite sand ore supplies, developing U.S. separation,
metals or metal/alloy capabilities at the White Mesa Mill or nearby, or otherwise fully integrating the U.S RE
supply chain in the future; any expectations with regard to the future demand for rare earth materials; any
expectation with respect to the quantities of monazite ore to be acquired by Energy Fuels, the quantities of RE
Carbonate to be produced by the White Mesa Mill or the quantities of contained TREO to be acquired by Silmet
for separation; any expectations with regard to the cost of producing and separating RE Carbonate; any
expectation with regard to the environmental footprint of the planned activities; and any expectation that Neo
and Energy Fuels will be successful in completing definitive agreements and hence proceeding with this project.
Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans",
"expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "continues", "forecasts", "projects", "predicts",
"intends", "anticipates" or "believes", or variations of, or the negatives of, such words and phrases, or state that
certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be
achieved. This information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause
actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements
include risks associated with: processing difficulties and upsets; available supplies of monazite sands; the ability
of the White Mesa Mill to produce RE Carbonate to meet commercial specifications on a commercial scale at
acceptable costs; the ability of Silmet to separate the RE Carbonate to meet commercial specifications on a
commercial scale at acceptable costs; market factors, including future demand for rare earth elements; and the
ability of Neo and Energy Fuels to finalize definitive agreements. Forward-looking statements contained herein
are made as of the date of this news release, and Neo and Energy Fuels disclaim, other than as required by law,
any obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, results, future
events, circumstances, or if management’s estimates or opinions should change, or otherwise. There can be no
assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could
differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place
undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Neo and Energy Fuels assume no obligation to update the
information in this communication, except as otherwise required by law.