DENVER, CO — January 8, 2026 — Leads & Copy — Energy Fuels Inc. has released the results of its updated Feasibility Study (FS) for its 100%-owned Vara Mada project in Madagascar, formerly known as the Toliara Project. The company also announced the renaming of the Toliara Project to Vara Mada.
The FS confirms the project’s 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. The FS for Vara Mada can be found [here].
The highlights include:
$1.8 billion NPV (10% discount rate, post-tax, pre-debt (real), post final investment decision (FID)).
$7.30 per share NPV (10% 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%-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 $500 million 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 weeks.
At full capacity, monazite produced from Vara Mada and Energy Fuels’ other HMS projects has the potential to supply up to 30% of U.S. demand for light REE oxides and 85% of U.S. demand for heavy REE oxides like dysprosium and terbium, as compared to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence’s 2032 REE supply forecast.
FS prepared in compliance with S-K 1300 (U.S.) and NI 43-101 (Canada), which consolidates and supersedes the 2021 definitive feasibility study (DFS) and 2024 monazite-focused prefeasibility study (PFS) prepared in compliance with JORC (Australia).
According to Mark S. Chalmers, CEO of Energy Fuels, the FS confirms what the company has known since acquiring the project in 2024. Chalmers said that Vara Mada is a generational project that has the potential to positively alter the dynamics of global rare earth and critical mineral supply chains.
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. 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%-owned White Mesa Mill in Utah for commercial and government customers in the U.S. and allied nations.
Chalmers said that Energy Fuels is pursuing a similar strategy to China’s rare earth industry, which begins with the importation of monazite concentrates produced as a low-cost byproduct of HMS mining. He believes that it enjoys numerous competitive advantages over traditional ‘pure-play’ rare earth approaches, including larger-scales, lower-costs, and availability of superior concentrations of both light and heavy rare earth oxides.
Energy Fuels is committed to operating Vara Mada to the highest global standards of health, safety, sustainability, and environmental protection, while advancing the economy of Madagascar, enhancing the quality of life of local communities, and serving as an important component of U.S. and allied rare earth and critical mineral supply chains. The company believes the project’s large scale, long mine life, and economics create a foundation for Energy Fuels to provide competitive and responsible rare earth production.
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%. The Proven and Probable heavy mineral assemblage includes 73.0% ilmenite, 1.0% rutile, 1.0% leucoxene, 5.9% zircon and 1.9% monazite, supporting an initially modeled mine life of 38 years.
Key assumptions for the Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates include:
A cut-off grade of 1.5% heavy mineral.
Assumed price per metric tonne for Ilmenite $199, Rutile $1,250, Leucoxene $0, Zircon $1,200, Monazite $6,600.
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.
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.
Vara Mada offers synergies with the Company’s White Mesa Mill in Utah, where monazite from Vara Mada is expected to be processed into valuable, high-purity, separated REE oxides. The Mill has its current “Phase 1” capability to process up to 10,000 tpa monazite concentrate into up to 1,000 tpa neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide. The Company plans to expand its “Phase 1” capability to also produce up to 48 tpa dysprosium (Dy) and 14 tpa terbium (Tb) oxides, which could be operational as soon as Q4 2026.
The Company is also in the process of permitting its “Phase 2” expansion at the Mill, which is currently expected to be commissioned as early as Q4 2028. Upon completion, the “Phase 2” expansion is expected to increase the Mill’s processing capability to up to 60,000 tpa of monazite concentrate into approximately 6,000 tpa NdPr, 275 tpa Dy, 80 tpa Tb, and potentially other REE oxides.
In order for a positive FID to be made for the project, the Company and the Government of Madagascar will need to formalize the fiscal, stability and other terms applicable to the project. Energy Fuels and the Government of Madagascar are continuing to progress fiscal terms negotiations based generally on the previously disclosed memorandum of understanding signed by the parties in December 2024.
Daniel Kapostasy, Vice President, Technical Services of the Company, a qualified person under both S-K 1300 and NI 43-101, has reviewed the technical information in this press release.
Source: Energy Fuels Inc.
