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Energy Fuels Inc. (UUUU)

Q1 2025 Earnings Call· Thu, May 8, 2025

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning. My name is Konstantin [ph] and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Energy Fuels First Quarter 2025 Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session where you will be able to ask one question and one follow-up question should you desire. [Operator Instructions]. Thank you. Mr. Chalmers, you may begin your conference.

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Thank you Konstantin and thank you for that introduction. Again, Mark Chalmers, I'm the CEO of Energy Fuels. We are really appreciative of people joining the Q1 2025 conference call today. And it is always a pleasure to update everyone on our remarkable progress on building the largest critical mineral company in the United States. We are also very, very pleased to announce that we've increased our 2025 production and finished goods inventory guidance by 22% and 193% respectively. And that is quite unusual because many companies are actually going the other direction at this point in time. So we are really excited about operating the guidance. We are also happy to report that we have very strong working capital position of $214 million. We continue to advance our high-grade and low-cost U.S. uranium production, including a record production in April. That was after the quarter of 151,000 pounds at an average grade of 1.64%. And I want to point out something, that it's 1.64% in a reserve zone, in the main zone, of 0.58. So the grades that we are currently mining are almost three times what we had expected in that area, so very excited about that. And we continue to advance our world-class rare earth and heavy mineral sand projects and capabilities and no debt. So there is a lot going on. Now, Kim, are they advancing their slides or are you doing it?

Unidentified Company Representative

Analyst

No, I'm doing it.

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Okay, well I'll keep you queued on advancing your slides. There will be a conference replay available after the conference call is concluded on the website. And as always, as Konstantine mentioned, there will be time for questions at the end. Today I'm being joined for questions by Nate Bennett, our CFO. And we will just tag-team that as required. So let's get going in this first slide. I always say I love this slide, but I love this slide. And again, this is taken not far from where the White Mesa Mill is in Utah. Next slide. I may be making some forward-looking statements, and those are covered on page two. Next slide. Again, many of you have seen this before, but I think one of the things that people don't understand is that Energy Fuels has really got three different core businesses. We have this long history in the uranium business, as people know, and that is going remarkably well. We've added on the rare earth elements and the heavy mineral sands, so you're really getting an investment in three companies in Energy Fuels and investment in Energy Fuels. And I also want to mention that we have the current capability, or will have the capability, to commercially recover at least ten of the critical elements on the list of fifty at the White Mesa Mill. And that is a key differentiator. Next slide. And all of our products are in-demand for energy, defense, mobility, or health. Uranium, as I said, long history of doing that. Now we're in large-scale production. The rare earths, we are also the leading producer at NdPr Oxide, and we currently have a lot of that product out for validation. And we also have the technology to produce heavy rare earth oxides, which…

Unidentified Company Representative

Analyst

Constantine?

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. [Operator Instructions]. Your first question comes from the line of Katie Lachapelle from Canaccord Genuity. Please ask your question.

Katie Lachapelle

Analyst

Hi, Mark. Thanks for taking my question. It's great to see the increase in expected uranium production for 2025. I do, however, want to focus a bit on the rare earth segment. We've seen your balance sheet improve quarter-over-quarter with some activity on the ATM. But on our numbers, we're still seeing a pretty significant gap between the projected capital costs and your current balance sheet. So how are you thinking about the potential funding stack for the Phase 2 expansion at White Mesa in addition to advancing Toliara and Donald?

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Yes. Katie, as I said at the end, we're putting together a comprehensive financing strategy. We've already got some debt advisors on Toliara and Donald. We're looking at adding a significant U.S. bank to help us with that. In addition, we're making the rounds across DC with places like the DOD, XM Bank, and DOE, and all that. And as I said, we're looking at potential offtakes. There could be potential people willing to fund in some of these projects. So Katie, it's really going to be from a number of sources. Our strong balance sheet allows us to advance all these projects through this FID process to get all the accurate numbers and estimates for bankable purposes. But I do believe that when you look at the scale and the low-cost nature of what our plan and strategy is, when I talk about 50% to 100% of U.S. requirements, we will secure funding. Now, this doesn't mean it's going to be easy, and it's complicated. But we plan to have that strong balance sheet, get to these FIDs, and we're multitasking on number fronts when it comes to how we're going to finance these projects. And I want to point out, too, one thing. The Toliara project is so remarkable that it funds itself. It doesn't fund itself, but it can stand alone as a heavy mineral sand project only, without any credits for the rare earth. So it's a really significant project, really low-cost structures. But we still have a lot of work to do.

Katie Lachapelle

Analyst

Understood. And then maybe just one unrelated follow-up. You didn't make any uranium sales in the quarter, so kind of two questions. Can you provide us with a level that would trigger you to make some additional sales into the spot market this year? And then on the cost side, there were no reported costs for this quarter. So how are your costs tracking right now, and how do you expect them to track through the remainder of this year?

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Yes. As I said earlier, I really don't like to sell uranium at these prices, because I think it's below the cost of replacement. But I'd like to see something with an 8-handle on it or greater. When you look at our costs for the quarter, we're really just ramping up some of the mining. We had the delays with the ore transport across the Navajo Nation. But our most recent estimates are that the combined costs going forward and for the year are going to be between about $35 and $40 per pound, Katie.

Katie Lachapelle

Analyst

Perfect. Thank you, Mark.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Heiko Ihle from H.C. Wainwright. Please ask your question.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Hi, Mark. It's actually Case [ph]sss on behalf of Heiko. How are you?

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Okay. All right.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Just a quick question on Pinyon plain, seems like things are going pretty well. Could you maybe give us any color on if there's been any unforeseen supply chain issues throughout the process? And having the idea of how we're going to do that, and having the idea of how much money you plan to spend at the site during Q2?

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Well, there haven't been any issues at the site since we signed the agreement with Navajo Nation. One of the issues has been just getting the trucks pulled up to haul the ore to the mill, which we're working to resolve. We indicated that for Q2, we already had this 150,000 pounds mined. And that's continuing on. I mean, I got text from the mine this morning. It's actually going higher than that. So as I said to Katie, homogenized basis, we're looking at that $35 to $40 a pound. The mine is largely developed. So a lot of the expenditures there are just focused on producing ore and shipping it to the mill. So did I cover that all for you.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Yes, that's great. And I guess to touch on the earlier question, we like seeing you buy uranium below $65 a pound. And that was a great cash balance. Do you anticipate converting any more cash into inventory, Q2, and beyond? And is there possibly a mental maximum price for doing so?

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

I wish I'd bought more at $64. But yeah, we're going to just play it by ear. I mean, if we're giving our going forward costs at $35 to $40, that kind of gives you an idea of what we can put it in a drum, finished goods. But again, we're going to always look at mix and match. And if we think we can pick up some product at a price that we can turn around and sell, we'll consider that.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Thank you. Great color. Appreciate it. That's it for me.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Justin Chan from SCP Resource Finance. Please ask your question.

Justin Chan

Analyst

Good morning, Mark and team. Thanks for hosting the call. My first one regarding just reading through your 10-Q, you noted that part of the logic for bringing forward uranium processing is you're thinking of doing a rare earth processing campaign next year or bringing up the mill for circuit changes. I was wondering if you could just give us more color on what your current thoughts are for next year on the rare earth side of things and what are the key moving parts?

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Yes, well, exactly. As I said, if we have this inventory, we can elect on how to process uranium or rare earths. I mean, so our thoughts is to go ahead and build up our inventory, which we can do very quickly with the product out there to process. Have this other inventory that we can process later with the switch over the mill if we need to. And then looking at in 2026, we're still getting material from Chemours, but we're also looking at other sources of feed of monazite. And right now, we're getting a lot of inbounds from the US government saying, what can you produce rare earths now? What can you produce now? And you know what? We're the only ones that can produce now if we want to. And in addition to our ability to also do these heavy rare earths, we're trying to position ourselves so we can show that we have this incredible flexibility. That this flexibility allows us to be and produce whatever they may need. And if they need samarium or whatever, we can actually do that. We can't just wiggle our nose and do it, but give us a few months or six months and some support, and we have remarkable flexibility on that. So Justin, this gives us that opening to be able to do either. I mean, if we decide we want to keep producing uranium, we'll do it. If we want to switch over to rare earths, we'll do it.

Justin Chan

Analyst

Got you. So maybe just reading between the lines, probably the key determinant right now is perhaps some signal from the government absent a huge price response or NdPr or something like that?

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Yes, I think that's correct. I mean, if we get a signal from the government, we want to say we're going to deliver in the United States, in Utah.

Justin Chan

Analyst

Got you. And on Toliara, could you give us an update on how things are going in country and I guess what the next 12 months looks like between now and FID in terms of so we can track progress over the next four quarters?

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Look, I've got Tim Carstens here. Tim, calling you on the spot here. Okay, he's here. I might as well bring him in.

Tim Carstens

Analyst

Good question with that notice. Hi, Justin.

Justin Chan

Analyst

Hey, Tim. Speaking of Toliara.

Tim Carstens

Analyst

Yes, exactly. Yes, so there's three key focuses at the moment in Toliara. One is, as Mark mentioned earlier, it's finalizing the agreements to lock in the fiscal terms with government, and that's all making good progress. The government's amending its large mine investment regime at the moment in good consultation with us, so I'm comfortable with the direction that's taking. On ground, we're doing a lot of work with governments on, I guess, community, I won't say sensitization, but more just sort of making sure that we've got full community on side, we've got the various, I guess, engagement and dialogue structures in place, tripartite dialogue structures between ourselves, government and communities to make sure any issues are addressed adequately, that we avoid the influence of the opponents of the project that aren't really motivated around the project, but as you know from the past, have attempted to use the project as, I guess, a football for their own objectives. So we've been working really closely with the government in managing that, got a really good position, excuse me, on that now, and on-ground work is now starting to happen as we head towards FID. So that being one of the challenges we've experienced over the last five years is well in hand now. On the project side, there's quite a lot of work that needs to be done over the next 12 months or so as we head towards the FID, quite a bit of geotechnical drilling that needs to be done, particularly in relation to the bridge and the port facility. They're kind of long lead time items for that. We're busily building the team at the moment. As you know, with our approach is to bring on a lot of the operational people early and embed them in the project. So people like our GM operations are already in place and they're starting to assemble their team to sort of drive our input in project execution, so that's coming together quite well. Quite a significant spend over the next 12 months as you would expect for a project of this scale. So yes, at this stage we're well on track for an FID as Mark said in the first half of next year.

Justin Chan

Analyst

Got you. And is there a plan to kind of put out updated CapEx and I guess high level economics and roughly went along that timeline? Do you think that would be?

Tim Carstens

Analyst

Yes, we're in the process of completing that now. The intent is to release a full updated DFS in, I think its due in June, maybe early July, which will sort of form the basis of the next phase of execution of the project. So that'll get released to the market with a full update, and also for the basis of the debt funding. So that'll become the debt funding model.

Justin Chan

Analyst

Okay, that's June, early July this year, like in a couple of months?

Tim Carstens

Analyst

Yes, yes, a couple of months. We're in the final stages of that now.

Justin Chan

Analyst

Okay, got you. Thanks very much. All right, thanks very much. I'll flip the line and rejoin if I have any more questions. Thank you.

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Thank you, Tim.

Operator

Operator

Your next question. I'm sorry, your next question, sir, comes from the line of Zach Perry from Robertson Stephens. Please ask your question.

Zach Perry

Analyst

Hi Mark, thanks for the question. Quick question on the rare earth side. At scale and how you've defined that, what is your cost structure relative to other projects around the world? Obviously if you have the feed stocked and you look at the future, what would you be your cost structure? Not just in the United States, but relative to other projects around the world?

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Yes, we're finishing all of our studies. But at scale, we believe we're going to be, if we're not the lowest cost, we're going to be the second lowest cost in the world, is what we believe. Okay? Now how China fits in. But certainly outside of China, we're going to be low cost producer and we will be producing in the United States. And a lot of that is driven on the fact that the contribution of these various projects, particularly Toliara, with the scale of Toliara and the low cost structures of Toliara is going to provide us with a supply of monazite, significant, about half of the mills capacity of, and it could be more in due course if we want to upgrade it, effectively for free. So that's a pretty good start, Zach.

Zach Perry

Analyst

Yes, so it sounds like you're very low cost without the Toliara and you basically get almost free feedstock assuming Toliara is profitable on heavy mineral sands on its own. Is that a way of thinking about it?

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Yes, it becomes a counting exercise how you want to account for it. But yes, no, these pieces, as you said, at scale. And that's a big part is at scale because I mean, Phase 1 is at the mill is about a thousand tons of NdPr per year. The expanded Phase 2 is 6X that, right? So that makes a difference in terms of the fixed variable cost in terms of how you go forward, so.

Zach Perry

Analyst

Got it.

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Just coming back to your point about the free monazite, I mean, Toliara, just as a mineral sand project, so completely excluding any monazite revenue in terms of revenue to cash cost ratio, it's about four to one revenue to cash cost. It's pretty much the most profitable mineral sand operation in all -- profitable mineral sand operation in the world, excluding monazite. So that's one of the real strengths of that as a project and how it contributes to a relatively low risk way for Energy Fuels to develop rare earth capability relative to anybody else because you've just got that protection.

Zach Perry

Analyst

All right, now it makes a lot of sense. So with that, assuming the U.S. government wakes up and if they're going to get in a trade war with China, would want to get your project up and running, how quickly could you get a separate REE line up and running assuming if the government showed up and said, do it tomorrow? What's the timeframe actually get up and running if you have full funding and everything?

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Yes, well, Phase 1, couple months, okay. That'll do it in NdPr and we're currently piloting the Dy and Tb. We've been telling the government that some of these specialty products, if they want a one or two or three, it probably take us six to 12 months, but we are looking at like a Phase 1B, which is the addition of other circuits to recover some of these other products if the government wants them, that we can provide them with a custom built solution for that. When it comes to the Phase 2 mill, we've been talking about Phase 2 rare earth plant of having that up and running in 2028 and that's kind of where it is on the current scale, but it isn't impossible to think that the government might not want to fast track that, but we also have to make sure that that ties in with the mines and when these mines are up and producing. So, there's a little bit of a juggling. One thing that's kind of interesting is there are sources of monazite out there in the world that people are looking at sending to us because they believe it makes a lot of sense for them to send it to White Mesa. So, we're still exploring some of those options and opportunities so that we have larger run of rare earths and being able to, again, process the rare earths at the mill or the uranium and being flexible. So, yes, we're kind of just keeping our options open on how we go, Zach, but there's a number of pieces to this that we can orchestrate as required.

Zach Perry

Analyst

Great, thanks. Yes, I mean, it looks incredibly exciting. It's a fast timeframe without a push by the U.S. government, but if I was in the U.S. government, I'd be pushing towards go faster. So, it looks pretty interesting. Thanks, guys.

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Noel Parks from Tuohy Brothers Investment Research. Please ask your question.

Noel Parks

Analyst

Hi, good morning. So, I just wanted to check back on the Navajo Nation cleanup. So, the process of unlocking the dedicated funds for that, is that something that would involve any financial commitment from Energy Fuels and capital or operating side? And so, just wondering about the scale of it. Is it just a few thousand in G&A or something larger?

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Yes, the agreement that we did with Pinyon Plain, we agreed to 10,000 tons. We'd haul it and take it for free with the option that can be expanded later on. There really is no capital investment required. But there is, last I checked, there was about $2 billion in trust for the Navajo Nation to clean those sites up. And so, one of our goals working with Navajo Nation, we put out this offer for the free material so that they can be comfortable and see how it actually works. And so, there's no cost to us. We can take it right now. And we'll probably start taking some of that material, that 10,000 tons this year. It's really about them deciding which site would they like us to take it from. Again, that material can change uranium. We can process it, we get free feed. Well, the initial 10,000 tons, we're hauling it to the mill. So, there's a number of different ways this can roll out. We have had, with the new administration, discussions with the EPA and the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Navajo Nation. And they are keen about working with Energy Fuels. Keen because they know we can do it right now, like a lot of things right now. And there's not been a lot of action on the Navajo Nation on this cleanup. And this is just a perfect way that we can work with the Navajo Nation with this ore haulage contract. They can see how the ore is hauled across the Navajo Nation. And also, they can see the good we can do helping them with some of these cleanups that have been stagnant for 50 years.

Noel Parks

Analyst

Great, thanks for the clarification. And talking about the potential catalyst of the government deciding it does want to move forward with some of the minerals that you could produce. Do you have any sense of sort of the interaction when it comes to looking for, I guess, funding overall for the various projects in the company? Because I think of, you know, government financing in good terms, but tends to move slow. And I mean, is it possible that there could be sort of like a larger package that could, you know, help with white mesa, help with the critical minerals there, help with Toliara, or do I really need to think of them as just sort of entirely separate, you know, thrusts?

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

We're actively talking to the U.S. government on every front right now, multiple groups. And we're making proposals to the U.S. government on multiple fronts. They can be large or they can be small. And I mean, we want to, you know, tap into whatever makes sense, but you're right. A lot of the government funding takes time and is slow. So you've got to look at the balance between commercial options, government options, how those fit together, how prescriptive they are and getting those funds. I know there's a number of different variables, but no, we're actively working with the U.S. government and providing them options, just as I've discussed in this presentation. And if it makes sense, we're there to deliver.

Noel Parks

Analyst

Great, thanks a lot.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. Your next question comes from the line of Richard White, Private Investor, please ask your question.

Richard White

Analyst

Hello, Mark. You mentioned...

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

How are you?

Richard White

Analyst

I'm doing pretty good, Mark. You mentioned you have a or purchase contract with a third party in the region of the White Mason Mill. I was wondering, are you, do you have, or are you anticipating a buying schedule for the other small miners in the region who could get into production?

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Yes, Rick, first of all, good to hear your voice. Well, and it's no secret that Western has put out a press release that we're buying their or. What we find, and you can appreciate this, that going back 20, 30, 40 years, there were a lot of mines that could feed into a buying schedule, and now there aren't that many. So we've kind of taken the approach that if somebody has a mine that's fully permitted in compliance, just come visit us, right? And see what they've got. We want to know the quantities and the grade, and we'll just kind of work out a special arrangement if it makes sense to us to go forward. So to put out a blanket buying schedule, there's so few people, it's too difficult because the variables like the grade and even the metallurgy in some cases, is it uranium, vanadium ore, what is it? But yes, if somebody has a mine, I would say give us a ring, give Curtis a ring, and we'll see what can be worked out or not.

Richard White

Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Mark Chalmers for closing comments. Sir, please go ahead.

Mark Chalmers

Analyst

Yes, well, again, thank you everyone who joined this call or listens to the replays in the next few days. Exciting time for Energy Fuels. These pieces are starting to come together on multiple fronts, but I also want to say that some people have questioned our conviction to the uranium business, and I think that the numbers that are starting to come out with our uranium production and the scale and the cost show that we're not out of the uranium business. We still have a lot of work to do. Pinyon Plain Mine, which I built in 1987, took 38 years to go from when I built it to getting that ore to the pad at White Mesa is really paying dividends. And as I said, I think the highest grade uranium project I've seen in my career. Dick, if you're still listening, I know we worked at the Schwarzwälder [ph], which had some high grades too, but not at this kind of scale. So yes, it's exciting time and we're pulling it together. And I think we couldn't be in a better place with the critical mass we have. We're not a pretender. We're out there to deliver an outcome that's extraordinary. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you for participating in the Energy Fuels Conference Call. Please reach out to the company directly for any additional investment questions. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect. Thank you.