Uranium oxide production alone is no longer enough. Energy Fuels has transformed its White Mesa Mill, located in Blanding, Utah, into something far broader: the only site in the United States that processes monazite for the commercial separation of heavy rare earth oxides, operating under the same license and using the same infrastructure that has supported nuclear fuel production for over four decades.
One milestone defines 2026. In March, Energy Fuels produced the first kilogram of 99.9%-pure terbium oxide at White Mesa, using monazite sourced from Florida and Georgia. The company became the first U.S. producer in decades to publicly announce the primary production of specification-grade heavy rare earth oxides. Permanent magnet manufacturers around the world have already requested product samples for validation. On the uranium side, the mill reached approximately 1.6 million pounds of U₃O₈ in the first half of 2026, already within the annual guidance range of 1.5 to 2.5 million pounds.
The industrial logic behind this operation is sound. White Mesa is the only U.S. facility holding a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license to commercially process uranium-bearing monazite for rare earth separation. Forty-five years of uranium processing have built a regulatory standing that no other American operator can match today. Fixed costs are spread across three product lines — uranium, rare earths, and vanadium — reducing the economic burden on any single commodity. This makes the facility significantly more resilient to price cycles than a single-commodity processor.
The geopolitical backdrop amplifies the significance of these moves. Tungsten prices tripled in 2026, and the United States does not mine a single gram of it. Heavy rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium remain almost entirely dependent on Chinese supply. On August 7, 2026, the White House convened a critical minerals roundtable, and Energy Fuels‘ strategy — using uranium revenues to fund the build-out of rare earth processing capacity — is precisely the kind of domestic response Washington is looking for. The bankable feasibility study for Phase 2, released in January 2026, estimates a net present value of $1.9 billion at an 8% discount rate.
Since July 2026, modifications to the existing Phase 1 circuits have been underway to add commercial production of samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, and dysprosium. Completion is expected between late 2027 and early 2028. Phase 2 also includes expanded NdPr capacity: by 2027, the facility aims to produce enough material to supply up to six million electric vehicles per year. Permitting with the State of Utah is progressing on schedule. If execution holds, White Mesa will not simply be a uranium mill with a rare earth circuit bolted on — it will be the only location in the United States where uranium, heavy rare earths, and vanadium leave through the same gate.
