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AIPROPX ReportForbes · 3h ago
Heavy Rare Earth Metals Plant Boosts U.S. Supply Chain Independence
Energy Heavy Rare Earth Metals Plant Boosts U.S. Supply Chain Independence By David Blackmon ,
Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David Blackmon is a Texas-based public policy analyst/consultant. Follow Author Aug 04, 2026, 01:20pm EDT Aug 04, 2026, 01:28pm EDT --:-- / --:-- This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . Summary The United States is advancing its efforts to reduce reliance on China for critical rare earth metals. Energy Fuels has commenced a commercial-scale expansion at its White Mesa Mill in Utah, aiming to produce significant volumes of heavy rare earth oxides. These materials are vital for high-performance magnets in electric vehicles, robotics, and defense systems. The expansion, leveraging Australian monazite, will deliver key heavy rare earths like terbium and dysprosium by late 2027, while also producing uranium. Supported by a U.S. government loan, this project is a crucial part of a broader national strategy to secure critical mineral supply chains. Future plans envision a fully integrated mine-to-magnet chain, bolstering American independence in these essential materials for national and energy security.
The United States is finally starting to dig itself out of a rare earth metals hole it spent decades digging. The effort got a boost on July 29, when Energy Fuels announced that construction has begun on a commercial-scale expansion at its White Mesa Mill in Utah. The expansion of the only fully licensed and operating conventional uranium processing facility in the United States, will enable the plant to produce heavy rare earth oxides at meaningful volumes. This key event, along with other developments in the U.S. and allied nations like Australia, represent concrete steps toward breaking China’s chokehold on the materials that power everything from electric vehicle motors and humanoid robots to advanced weapons systems and data centers.
Heavy rare earths are the severe pinch point in current Western permanent magnet supply chains. These elements give high-performance magnets the coercivity and heat resistance needed for smaller, lighter, and more powerful motors. Energy Fuels already has commercial capacity for up to 1,000 tons per year of separated neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide, the lighter rare earths that form the bulk of most magnets. The new circuits will add roughly 20 tons of terbium, 120 tons of dysprosium, 140 tons of samarium, 20 tons of europium, and 140 tons of gadolinium annually, with terbium and dysprosium online by the end of 2027 and the rest by the end of 2028.
“Those heavy rare earth metals are sort of the holy grail that allow these magnets to work across all temperature ranges and don’t lose their magnetism over time,” Energy Fuels CEO Ross Bhappu told me in a recent interview. “These are vitally important components to these magnets. They’re used in tiny quantities but they're extremely important, and that's where China has an incredible grip on the market today.”
The $104 million expansion is deliberately sized to process monazite from the company’s Donald Project joint venture in Australia, expected to deliver 8,500 to 9,500 tons of concentrate per year starting in 2028, plus third-party feedstocks. Critically, a new mixed rare earth carbonate circuit will allow the mill to produce rare earth oxides and uranium simultaneously at commercial scale, leveraging the same licensed facility that has made Energy Fuels the leading U.S. producer of natural uranium concentrate in recent years.
Further expansions planned for 2029 would push capacities dramatically higher, supporting a fully integrated mine-to-magnet chain capable of producing 15,700 tons of rare earth permanent magnets annually once Energy Fuels’ pending acquisitions of Australian Strategic Materials and Vacuumschmelze close. That volume is enough to supply millions of EVs, robots, or wind turbines.
This is far from a one-off project that exists in a vacuum. Instead, it fits squarely into the Trump administration’s and the Pentagon’s broader campaign to onshore and friendshore critical mineral and uranium supply chains. After years of rhetorical commitment under previous administrations that delivered little, the current White House has treated rare earths and uranium as the national security priorities they truly are. The Pentagon’s direct equity stake in MP Materials – which I covered here - price guarantees, and commitments to buy magnets; the Export-Import Bank’s massive letters of interest and the $10 billion Project Vault strategic reserve; Section 232 investigations covering processed critical minerals including rare earths and uranium; and bilateral deals with allies such as Australia all signal a decisive shift.
Energy Fuels’ expansion is explicitly supported by a previously announced conditional U.S. government loan commitment, with additional grant applications pending. “Money earmarked from that $725 million loan commitment is for expansion of the White Mesa Mill and that American Metals plant,” Bhappu says, adding, “The ASM acquisition will be done with primarily stock shares and a small component of cash.”
The company’s strong balance sheet, fortified by nearly $1 billion in working capital as of early 2026, covers the equity portion. This public-private model is precisely what is required and has been deployed by the current administration in a number of other key projects. Rare earth separation and magnet manufacturing are capital-intensive, environmentally regulated, and commercially risky when China can flood the market or weaponize exports at will. Government support de-risks the early stages so that private capital can scale the rest. That helps to ensure government partners can survive should China move to leverage its market position to their detriment.
Asked how he responds to accusations that the government loans amount to corporate welfare,...
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