Uranium and critical minerals producer Energy Fuels has wrapped up the acquisition of the Bahia rare earths and heavy minerals project that will supply its US facility for the production of advanced rare earth materials.
The Bahia project, near the towns of Prado and Caravelas, in Brazil, is a well-known heavy mineral sands (HMS) deposit that has the potential to supply 3 000 to 10 000 metric tons of natural monazite concentrate a year to Energy Fuels’ White Mesa mill, in Utah, for processing into rare earth element (REE) oxides and other materials.
While Energy Fuels’ primary interest in acquiring the Bahia project is the REE-bearing monazite, the project will also produce large quantities of high-quality titanium (ilmenite and rutile) and zirconium minerals that are also in high demand.
The company points out that 3 000 t to 10 000 t of monazite concentrate contains roughly 1 500 t to 5 000 t of total REE oxides, including 300 t to 1 000 t of neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) and significant other quantities of dysprosium and terbium.
A typical EV uses about 1 kg to 2 kg of NdPr oxide in its drivetrain. Based on this assumption, monazite concentrate from the Bahia project alone is expected to supply enough NdPr oxide to power 150 000 to one-million EVs a year.
The uranium contained in the monazite, which is expected to be comparable to typical Colorado Plateau uranium deposits, will also be recovered at the mill.
Energy Fuels will further define the heavy mineral sands resource at Bahia through a sonic drilling programme and is moving forward toward mining in the most prospective areas of the project.
“Using conservative development and market assumptions, we expect to receive monazite concentrates from the Bahia project at a very low cost within the next few years. By receiving monazite feeds from a variety of sources, including mineral projects that we own, like the Bahia project, and open market purchases, like from Chemours and others, we expect to be a low-cost US producer of advanced REE materials,” said Energy Fuels president and CEO Mark Chalmers.
“As we continue to build our book of monazite supply through acquisitions of projects like Bahia and other transactions, we are also moving faster down the rare earths supply chain than any other US company to produce more advanced rare earth materials at our White Mesa Mill in Utah. We are currently expanding our SX separation circuit at the mill that is expected to enable us to commercially produce NdPr oxide or oxalate by later in 2023 or early 2024.”
Chalmers pointed out that uranium production remained Energy Fuels’ core business. The company recently sold 300 000 lb of uranium into the newly established US uranium reserve, earning $18.5-million.