Financing aims to scale domestic rare-earth processing as Washington pushes to secure a mine-to-magnet supply chain
The U.S. Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital said Thursday it has signed a $725 million conditional loan commitment with Energy Fuels Inc. to expand the company’s domestic processing of rare-earth elements, the latest move in Washington’s push to reduce reliance on foreign sources for materials critical to defense and industrial manufacturing.
The financing, combined with additional private capital, is intended to support a new U.S.-based rare-earth separation and metallization facility, according to the Office of Strategic Capital, known as OSC. The 20-year loan would also help fund an expansion of Energy Fuels’ White Mesa Mill in Utah, where the company currently operates a uranium-processing facility and a rare-earth oxide separation plant.
Energy Fuels has historically focused on uranium production and will now expand into rare-earth separation and metallization — a midstream step that converts raw extracted material into a form usable for permanent-magnet manufacturing. Officials said the expanded capacity is meant to support magnet producers and other specialty defense and industrial manufacturers across the U.S. industrial base.
“OSC is deeply focused on supporting domestic processing for critical minerals and rare earths,” said David A. Lorch, director of the Office of Strategic Capital and a senior adviser to Deputy Secretary of War Steve Feinberg. “Energy Fuels’ expansion into rare earth midstream processing represents a key solution to a national bottleneck that needs to be rapidly addressed.”
Emil Michael, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, said the agreement reflects an “aggressive effort to close vulnerabilities” in the U.S. industrial base.
The commitment is conditional, with Energy Fuels required to complete additional financial, legal and technical due diligence before the loan reaches financial close. The company’s own announcement of the deal described it as a senior-secured debt commitment subject to due diligence, final documentation and customary closing conditions.
The financing comes as Energy Fuels also pursues a planned acquisition of Australian Strategic Materials Limited, which would add rare-earth metal and alloy-making capacity in South Korea. Ross Bhappu, the company’s president and chief executive, said recent events had underscored the need for durable, allied supply chains for critical materials.
The Office of Strategic Capital said it has committed more than $5 billion in debt financing in fiscal 2026 and has helped mobilize more than $11 billion in total public and private capital to support the U.S. industrial base.