US uranium and vanadium producer Energy Fuels has applauded President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring an emergency in the mining industry, describing it as a “major step towards providing tangible support" for producers and processors of critical minerals.

The order directs the Interior Department to explore using the Defense Production Act (DPA) to hasten the development of mines.

Energy Fuels president and CEO Mark Chalmers said that invoking the DPA would free up funding required to bring uranium production back to the US and reduce dependency on imports from foreign adversaries, while also helping to fund US vanadium and rare earth element production.

“We have led uranium industry efforts in Washington DC over the past three years to bring the issue of mineral supply chain security to the forefront, beginning with our Uranium Section 232 Petition, in which we asked the President to impose quotas on uranium imports. Unfortunately, despite expressing strong support for domestic uranium producers, the Administration has not yet turned their strong support into definitive actions. Energy Fuels strongly supports the President's declaration of a national emergency and invoking the Defense Production Act to free up the immediate government funding . . .,” he commented in a statement.

In 2018, the Secretary of Interior issued a final list of 35 minerals deemed critical to US national security and the economy. For 31 of these 35 minerals, the US imports more than half of our requirements. For 14 of these 35 minerals, the US is effectively 100% dependent on imports.

Energy Fuels has been the leading US producer of uranium since 2017, and the company's assets have produced more than 16-million pounds of uranium since 2006, placing the company second only to Cameco in the US. In 2019, Energy Fuels produced 1.8-million pounds of high-purity vanadium, making the company the largest producer of vanadium in the US last year.

Earlier this year, the company announced its plan to enter into the rare earths processing business, where the company believes its White Mesa Mill can play a critical role in bringing the rare earth element supply chain back to the US. At the end of 2020, the company expects to hold significant inventories of both uranium and vanadium that have been produced in the US.

Energy Fuels holds over 11.5-million pounds of licensed uranium processing capacity in three facilities, including two in situ recovery uranium facilities and the White Mesa Mill, which is the only conventional uranium and vanadium processing facility in the US. This is more uranium processing capacity than any other US uranium company, and Energy Fuels holds more in-ground uranium resources than any other US uranium miner.