HOUSTON, January 21 (Argus) - US key materials producer Energy Fuels will acquire Australian Strategic Materials (ASM), a producer of rare earth elements metals and alloys, to create the largest, fully integrated rare earth producer outside China.
Energy Fuels stated on January 20 that the deal will combine ASM's operating metal factory in South Korea and its planned US metal factory with Energy Fuels' existing rare earth oxide production in Utah.
Energy Fuels said that ASM is one of the few factories outside China that produce rare earth metals and alloys, including neodymium-praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium metals, neodymium-iron-boron alloy and dysprosium-iron alloy.
This move will strengthen the vertical integration, profit acquisition and market share of the entire rare earth value chain, providing the company with flexibility to sell rare earth products to end-users at multiple stages, including automobiles, robots, energy and defense technologies.
The White Mesa plant of Energy Fuels will produce 6,000 metric tons per year of praseodymium-nickel oxide, 240 metric tons per year of dysprosium oxide and 66 metric tons per year of terbium oxide.
The planned US metal plant is designed to produce 2,000 tons of rare earth alloy per year.
The agreement will allow Energy Fuels to acquire 100% of ASM's committed capital stock, which means the capital value is $299 million.
After the transaction is completed, ASM shareholders as a group will own approximately 5.8% of Energy Fuels' circulating shares.
ASM's CEO Rowena Smith said: "The proposed merger brings a considerable premium to ASM shareholders, while retaining the upside potential of a larger, better-capitalized key mining business."
