Energy Fuels on Tuesday announced it is acquiring an Australian company that produces rare earth elements and alloys in a deal worth $299 million.

The Lakewood-based company, which describes itself as a leading U.S. producer of uranium, rare earth elements and other critical materials, said its acquisition of Australian Strategic Materials would make it the “largest, fully integrated REE ‘mine-to-metal and alloy’ producer outside of China,” according to a news release announcing the deal.

The move is still subject to approval by Australian Strategic Materials’ shareholders, the Federal Court of Australia and Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board, the company said, but would “close a critical strategic gap in global supply chains for magnet applications, including automotive, robotic, energy and defense technologies.”

The combined operations would produce rare earth materials for consumer electronics and defense systems. Building domestic and non-Chinese capacity in these downstream industries helps ensure reliable supply chains.

“We see an opportunity to deliver an expanded suite of REE products by combining U.S. rare earth oxide production at our White Mesa processing facility in the U.S. with downstream metal and alloy manufacturing capacity at ASM’s Korean Metals Plant, one of the only producing REE metals and alloys facilities outside of China,” Mark S. Chalmers, CEO of Energy Fuels, said in a statement. “ASM’s proven skills and intellectual property will also allow us to expand REE metal and alloy capacity in the U.S.”

The deal brings together Energy Fuels’ rare earth oxide production at its White Mesa Mill in Utah with Australian Strategic Materials’ Korean Metals Plant and planned American Metals Plant.

China controls roughly 70 percent of global rare earth mining, more than 90 percent of processing and nearly all alloy production and magnet manufacturing, creating a single point of vulnerability for technologies essential to everyday life and national defense, according to analyses by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Energy Fuels is closing the gap by building one of the largest fully integrated rare earth supply chains outside China.

The White Mesa Mill is the only fully-licensed and operating conventional uranium mill in the United States while also capable of processing rare earth ores into concentrated form.

Energy Fuels has uranium holdings across the western United States, including active production at its Pinyon Plain mine in northern Arizona. The unusual “breccia pipe” mine that is producing high-grade uranium ore has drawn controversy for its location near the Grand Canyon and its role in resuming domestic uranium output amid national security and energy independence concerns, as reported in The Denver Gazette.

Chalmers, president and CEO of Energy Fuels since 2018, brings nearly five decades of experience in uranium mining and mineral processing to the company. A registered professional engineer with a mining engineering degree from the University of Arizona, Chalmers has held senior roles in both conventional and in-situ recovery operations across the United States, Australia and Africa.

He previously served as executive general manager of production for Paladin Energy, overseeing uranium mines in Namibia and Malawi, and managed the Beverley in-situ mine in South Australia. Chalmers, who holds dual U.S. and Australian citizenship, joined Energy Fuels in 2016 as chief operating officer.

Energy Fuels traces its roots to the consolidation of several legacy uranium producers in the early 2010s. The company acquired the White Mesa Mill — built in 1980 as one of the last conventional uranium mills constructed in the United States — when it merged with Denison Mines’ U.S. assets in 2012.

Located near Blanding, Utah, the mill has operated for more than four decades, initially focused on uranium and vanadium recovery from conventional mines across the Colorado Plateau. After uranium prices collapsed following the 2011 Fukushima disaster, the company maintained the facility through lean years while preserving its unique licenses to handle naturally radioactive materials.

In recent years, Energy Fuels has repositioned the mill as a multi-commodity processor. It began processing monazite sands for rare-earth oxides in partnership with Chemours, achieving commercial-scale output of separated rare-earth concentrates ahead of most U.S. competitors. The facility remains the only conventional uranium mill in the country still operating, producing yellowcake when market conditions support it, and serving as the backbone for the company’s ambitions in critical minerals.

Chalmers described the White Mesa Mill as uniquely positioned for the energy transition, capable of recovering uranium, vanadium, rare earths, and potentially medical isotopes from the same process streams. He has repeatedly stated that the facility’s best days lie ahead, driven by demand for secure domestic supplies of nuclear fuel and rare earth elements.

The Australian Strategic Materials acquisition aligns with that vision, combining upstream oxide production in the United States with downstream metal and alloy capabilities abroad to create a more complete nonscience supply chain.

The transaction includes Australian Strategic Materials’ Dubbo Rare Earth Project in New South Wales, Australia, which would bolster Energy Fuels’ development pipeline alongside existing projects in Australia, Madagascar and Brazil. Those projects are intended to supply feed materials for planned expansions at White Mesa.

Energy Fuels expects the transaction to close in late June 2026, assuming all conditions are met.