Energy Fuels, a U.S.-based uranium and critical minerals company, announced its plans to initiate uranium production at three new sites in Arizona, with preparations underway for additional sites to start production soon. The company anticipates selling 200,000 pounds of uranium to its existing long-term contracts in 2024, with the majority of sales projected to occur in the first quarter of the year.
Furthermore, Energy Fuels informed that one of its customers has the option to acquire an additional 100,000 pounds in the coming year. In addition to the developments in Arizona, the company is currently gearing up two other mines located in Colorado and Wyoming, both of which are expected to be operational within a year. Additionally, Energy Fuels is actively progressing through the permitting process for several other large-scale mines across the United States.
This strategic decision was driven by various promising factors in the market, such as the increase in spot and long-term uranium prices, a growing interest from U.S. nuclear utilities to purchase uranium, global support for nuclear energy, as well as the need to decrease reliance on Russian uranium and nuclear fuel.
Aside from advancing uranium production, Energy Fuels aims to expand its rare-earth elements program. The company is increasing its capacity with a target of achieving an annual output of up to 1,000 metric tons of neodymium-praseodymium oxide.