{"id":4385,"date":"2026-07-30T21:10:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=4385"},"modified":"2026-07-30T21:10:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:10:04","slug":"utah-mill-breaks-ground-on-rare-earth-mineral-processing-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=4385","title":{"rendered":"Utah mill breaks ground on rare earth mineral processing plant"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>KEY POINTS<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>The White Mesa Mill in San Juan County, Utah, broke ground on an expansion this week.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The new facility will allow the uranium processing plant to commercially process &#8220;heavy&#8221; rare earth minerals.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Utah is now home to one of just three rare earth processing facilities in the U.S.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The White Mesa Mill in San Juan County, Utah, broke ground this week on an expansion that will bring its rare earth element processing capabilities to a commercial scale. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=4383\">Kouri Richins\u2019 request for new trial denied<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The mill, which is a long-term uranium processing facility in southeast Utah owned by the mineral corporation Energy Fuels, spent the last six years developing the circuits necessary to become one of just three rare earth processing facilities in the United States. <\/p>\n<p>With about 70% of all rare earth stock coming from China, which also owns a further 90% of the world\u2019s entire rare earth element processing capabilities, the U.S. is at a geopolitical disadvantage. The effort at White Mesa Mill and Energy Fuels puts Utah at the vanguard of easing that global bottle neck of materials, many necessary for modern life. <\/p>\n<p>In particular, the new facility will process \u201cheavy\u201d rare earth elements, which, Energy Fuels pointed out in its press release, are \u201cessential&#8230; (for) the automotive, robotics, data center, energy and defense industries,\u201d and represent a sector of the rare earth industry that\u2019s mostly missing in the U.S. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of things happening, and all of it\u2019s exciting,\u201d said Ross Bhappu, Energy Fuels CEO. \u201cWe\u2019re really in the sweet spot between uranium and rare earth minerals. I feel like we\u2019re just in the sweet spot of what\u2019s so critical to the U.S.\u201d <\/p>\n<h3>How rare earth elements are used<\/h3>\n<p>Everything from cell phones, earbuds and electric vehicles through data center cooling units and F-35 jets rely on rare earth elements to work. And the supply chain required to mine raw material, separate that into individual oxides, form those into metallurgic alloys that are then used in the production of unique, technical magnets, is a long and complicated one. <\/p>\n<p>Energy fuels now owns mines, alloying companies and longstanding magnet makers with more than 1,000 customers. But the ability to process the material in the U.S. is what Bhappu called \u201ca game changer.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>It all started, too, because the uranium business is market driven and can be boom or bust. In order to stay afloat during a downturn several years ago, the White Mesa Mill looked for alternate revenue streams. They found the crossover between processing uranium and rare earth elements. <\/p>\n<p>So the company went to the lab, Bhappu explained, and had success. From there, it began a pilot stage where it was able to produce \u2014 in the same facility and circuits where it processes uranium \u2014 1,000 tons per year of lighter rare earth elements. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=4381\">Utah offers $5 million in grants to develop pro-human AI<\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the byproducts of that process was something close to what\u2019s called mixed rare earth carbonates, or MREC. That mixture is often found in ionic clays, which are a primary feed stock for Chinese rare earth elements. Energy Fuels realized with that on hand, it could process it for \u201cheavy\u201d rare earth elements. <\/p>\n<p>But capacity was limiting. With a recent national interest in nuclear energy, Bhappu said the mill had to decide whether to process uranium ore or rare earth elements. \u201cWe can\u2019t do both together,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>Hence the expansion. And with a conditional $725 million loan from the Department of War that came through earlier this summer, such expansions become possible. <\/p>\n<h3>Working for a more energy efficient future<\/h3>\n<p>The White Mesa Mill has long been a point of contention due to its placement adjacent to Bears Ears National Monument and the environmental concerns associated with a uranium processing plant. <\/p>\n<p>Bhappu acknowledged the White Mesa Mill would receive criticism for the expansion, but he said its efforts to process uranium and rare earth elements are working towards a more energy efficient future, one with less emitted carbon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, yes, we are going to grow. We\u2019re going to have a bigger footprint at the White Mesa Mill,\u201d he said. \u201cBut everything we\u2019re doing is, I think, actually doing a lot of benefit for the planet.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Bhappu added that the White Mesa Mill \u201cis a great place to do\u201d such \u201cbeneficial\u201d work. <\/p>\n<p>The new facility is expected to be up and running by July 2027. The following phase of its planned expansion should be completed by 2029. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=4379\">He endured hundreds of venomous snakes bites. His blood could help others survive<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are rare earth elements? What consumer products use rare earth minerals? How many rare earth facilities in U.S.? China controls rare earth market<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Utah mill breaks ground on rare earth mineral processing plant - American Movers Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=4385\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Utah mill breaks ground on rare earth mineral processing plant - American Movers Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What are rare earth elements? 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