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**Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE: UUUU) (TSX: EFR)** released the results of its updated Feasibility Study (FS) for its 100 percent-owned Vara Mada project in Madagascar (formerly known as the Toliara Project). The FS confirms the project's exceptional economics, its world class quantities of high-quality rare earth, titanium, and zircon Mineral Reserves and Resources, and an initially modeled 38-year mine life which the Company expects to be significantly expanded with planned refinements to the mine plan and additional drilling*.*
Highlights include:
* ***$1.8 billion NPV*** *(10 percent discount rate, post-tax, pre-debt (real), post final investment decision (FID)).*
* ***$7.30 per share NPV*** *(10 percent discount rate, post-tax, pre-debt (real), post FID), based on current outstanding shares.*
* *Monazite from Vara Mada to be processed at Energy Fuels' 100 percent-owned White Mesa Mill (Mill) in the U.S. into separated REE oxides at expected low capital and operating costs, setting a new paradigm for responsible, globally competitive U.S.-centered REE oxide production.*
* ***Ramping up to over $500M of expected annual EBITDA*** *(referred to as Operating Profit in the FS) from the project alone, not including the expected additional downstream EBITDA from processing the recovered monazite at the Mill, which is expected to be the subject of a separate feasibility study to be published in the coming week*
* *At full capacity, monazite produced from Vara Mada and Energy Fuels' other HMS projects has the potential to supply up to 30 percent of U.S. demand for light REE oxides and 85 percent of U.S. demand for heavy REE oxides like dysprosium and terbium, as compared to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence's 2032 REE supply forecast.*
Vara Mada is a world-class, advanced-stage, and large-scale heavy mineral sand (HMS) project located in southwest Madagascar containing significant low-cost ilmenite (titanium), zircon (zirconium), and monazite (REE) Mineral Reserves and Resources. Monazite concentrates produced from Vara Mada, and other HMS projects globally, are a rich source of both light and heavy 'magnet' REEs, used in a variety of clean energy and advanced technologies, including electric and hybrid vehicles, advanced robotics and manufacturing, consumer electronics, renewable energy, and key defense technologies. The Company plans to import monazite concentrates from Vara Mada into the U.S. for processing into high-purity separated light and heavy REE oxides at Energy Fuels' 100 percent-owned White Mesa Mill in Utah for commercial and government customers in the U.S. and allied nations.
**Key Economic Metrics:**
* $1.8 billion NPV (10 percent discount rate, post-tax, pre-debt (real), post FID);
* $7.30 per share NPV (10 percent discount rate, post-tax, pre-debt (real), post FID), based on current outstanding shares;
* 24.9 percent IRR (post-tax, pre-debt, post-FID);
* Ramping up to over $500 million of expected annual EBITDA (referred to as Operating Profit in the FS) ($387 million of expected average annual EBITDA over the modelled life of the project);
* 72 percent expected average annual EBITDA margin over the modelled life of the project;
* $264 million of expected average annual free cashflow, over the modelled life of the project; and
* FS applied price forecasts from TZ Minerals International Pty Ltd (TZMI) (mineral sands) and Adamas Intelligence Inc. (REEs).
**Annual Production Averages** (excluding first and last partial operating years):
* Expected production of 959,000 tonnes of ilmenite (sulphate, slag, and chloride), 66,000 tonnes of zircon, 8,000 tonnes of rutile, and 24,000 tonnes of monazite.
* 73 percent of expected revenue from external sales of ilmenite, zircon, and rutile to global customers, and 27 percent from internal sales of monazite concentrate to Energy Fuels' White Mesa Mill for further processing into light and heavy REE oxides (the additional expected margins from refining the monazite into REE oxides at the Mill are not included in this FS, but are expected to be included in a separate feasibility study to be published within the coming weeks).
**Mineral Reserves and Resources:**
* The scale of Vara Mada is underpinned by the project's Ranobe deposit, which contains significant Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources and the long-term supply-demand outlook for rare earths and mineral sands:
* Ranobe's Mineral Reserves are estimated at point of feed to the dry mining unit (DMU) at 904 million tonnes of Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves with an average heavy mineral grade of 6.1 percent. The Proven and Probable heavy mineral assemblage includes 73.0 percent ilmenite, 1.0 percent rutile, 1.0 percent leucoxene, 5.9 percent zircon and 1.9 percent monazite, supporting an initially modeled mine life of 38 years.
* Ranobe's Mineral Resources (exclusive of Mineral Reserves) are estimated in situ at 485 million tonnes of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources with an average heavy mineral grade of 3.3 percent. The Measured and Indicated heavy mineral assemblage includes 69.6 percent ilmenite, 1.1 percent rutile, 1.1 percent leucoxene, 6.0 percent zircon and 2.0 percent monazite.
* Additionally, there are 1.2 billion tonnes of Inferred Mineral Resources with an average heavy mineral grade of 3.3 percent. The Inferred heavy mineral assemblage includes 69.2 percent ilmenite, 1.0 percent rutile, 1.0 percent leucoxene, 5.8 percent zircon and 2.0 percent monazite.
* Key assumptions for the Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates include:
* A cut-off grade of 1.5 percent heavy mineral.
* Assumed price per metric tonne for Ilmenite $199, Rutile $1,250, Leucoxene $0 (when processed, Leucoxene reports to Ilmenite and Rutile products), Zircon $1,200, Monazite $6,600.
* Assumed recovery for Ilmenite 89.6 percent, Rutile 49.9 percent, Leucoxene 17.5 percent, Zircon 77.2 percent, Monazite 78.6 percent.
* Assumed operating costs $1.00/tonne mined, $0.64/tonne feed to WCP, $13.38/tonne feed to mineral separation plant (MSP) ilmenite, $18.04/tonne feed to MSP rutile, leucoxene, zircon, monazite, $3.45/tonne product transport to port, $8.91/t product wharf cost, $1.71/tonne mined overhead cost.
The reserve estimate, on which the economic analysis is based, is considered to be conservative, as it is based on the cutoff grade and mine plan originally determined before monazite recovery was added to the project. The Company plans to revise its mine plan using a revised cutoff grade that takes into account the economic margins from the added monazite recovery, which is expected to increase the amount of Reserves within the existing Mineral Resource. The Company also plans to undertake an exploration drilling program in the Lower Sandy Unit (LSU) at the site which is described as an Exploration Target in the FS that is prospective for further HMS delineation up to an estimated additional 1,200-1,600 million tonnes of mineralized material. To the extent these activities generate additional Reserves and Resources, the life of the project would be expected to extend beyond the initially modeled mine life of 38 years.
**Capital**:
* Pre- FID CAPEX is expected to total $121 million.
* Post-FID, Stage 1 CAPEX to establish a 13 million tonnes per annum (tpa) mineral processing operation is expected to total $769 million.
* Stage 2 CAPEX adds $142 million to 25 million tpa mining rate.