Good morning. My name is Ludy, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Energy Fuels 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. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press the star followed by the number two. Thank you. Mr. Chalmers, you may begin your conference.
Thank you. First of all, welcome to this conference call, and as President and CEO of Energy Fuels, it is my absolute pleasure to provide this update on what I believe is a potential transformational combination of two companies, Energy Fuels, and Base Resources. The announcement made today is the culmination of well over one year of very hard work. We searched the world far and wide and have landed on what we believe is the perfect opportunity. I will provide a presentation on the combination of the two companies and what it means to shareholders and our strategy, our business strategy going forward. Today, you will be controlling your own slides, and I'll try to tell you when to move to the next slide.
At the end of the presentation, there will be time for questions, and I will be joined today by Dave Friedland, our Executive Vice President and our Chief Legal Officer, to assist with any questions you might have. So let's get going. Now, just to start with, this first slide, showing that beautiful picture, is taken not far from the White Mesa Mill in the sunset. That's in San Juan County. And, I just really like this picture because it really, you know, it's just, it's just a beautiful picture and where we operate down in Utah, and the Energy Fuels proposed acquisition of Base Resources, establishing a global leader in critical minerals. So again, very excited about that. So let's go to the next slide. I may be making some forward-looking statements. Those are in this second page here.
So again, that is in the presentation. Next slide. So let's talk about some of the transactional highlights. This transaction is expected to unlock significant value for both Energy Fuels and Base Resources in a way that is truly unique to our two companies. This is due to a number of valuable and identifiable synergies. Toliara is a world-class, advanced stage, low-cost heavy mineral sand project. It has significant standalone value from its core ilmenite, rutile, and zircon resources. However, when you add its massive monazite resource to the equation and Energy Fuels ability to recover, process, and monetize this monazite, the unique value of this asset becomes even more apparent. Energy Fuels is also building a world-class and low-cost REE oxide supply chain centered in the United States, where significant additional value is expected to be created by receiving low-cost monazite from Toliara.
It is also important to emphasize that we are also acquiring Base's proven leadership and management team, which developed and operated another successful mineral sand project in Africa, and this is a key aspect of this transaction. Next slide. So let's talk about the transaction overview and timing. This is a share and cash acquisition consisting of 0.026 Energy Fuels shares and AUD 0.065 cash payable by Base at closing via a special dividend per Base share. Energy Fuels will issue approximately 32 million shares to Base shareholders. Pro forma Energy Fuels shareholding will be 83.4%, and Base shareholders will own 16.6% of the combined company.
Base's largest shareholders, Pacific Road and Sustainable Capital, have signed voting intention statements, and the management and the directors have also agreed to their intent to support this transaction, which totals about 53% of the outstanding shares. The scheme of arrangement is subject to customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024. Next slide. So the transaction rationale. This transformational acquisition cements Energy Fuels' position as a clear leader in the U.S. critical minerals sector. Toliara is well-known, advanced, and I'm kind of repeating myself, low cost, very large scale, and it is truly world-class. We are focused on creating a profitable, high margin, U.S. critical mineral business with a focus on uranium, rare earths, and heavy mineral sands that produces several of the advanced materials needed for the clean energy transition.
Toliara alone will provide nearly 50% of Energy Fuels monazite feed at lower quartile cost structures. Energy Fuels has positioned itself to become a global significant producer of both the light and heavy magnet rare earths used in EVs and hybrid vehicles, direct drive, wind energy, and defense requirements. We believe this will be a capital-efficient western rare earth supply chain, producing raw materials as a low incremental cost byproduct, and leveraging existing uranium and REE capabilities in the U.S. to fulfill a gap to Western supply when it's never been more important. Next slide. We also see this transaction as significantly accretive, not dilutive, accretive. This slide shows that the Base acquisition being such, and a game changer for Energy Fuels on a net asset value per share basis, with the potential to unlock significant additional upside.
This acquisition brings U.S. $2 billion of NPV to Energy Fuels based on Base's DFS and PFS on Toliara, based on HMS and monazite raw material sales alone. However, Energy Fuels is currently refining rare earth feeds and producing advanced rare earth materials, not just raw materials, so there is a further lift. So we hope to be able to beat this in due course. The transaction value represents approximately 15% of the Toliara NPV at a conservative 10% discount rate. Next slide. So let's look at the diversified portfolio of assets. The addition of Base cements Energy Fuels' position as a leading U.S.-focused critical minerals producer, with a combination of HMS, REE, and the uranium strategy. Energy Fuels will continue to leverage its uranium business and uranium processing capabilities in today's strengthened markets for uranium. But look at this portfolio, it's global.
The Energy Fuels team will focus on the uranium and the rare earth business and value add in the Northern Hemisphere, whereas the base team, as part of Energy Fuels, will focus on the HMS and monazite in the Southern Hemisphere. How good is that? So we see this as the perfect combination for what this brings to the combined companies and our shareholders. Next slide. So we are focused on building an integrated business. We are creating a high capital efficiency, critical mineral supply chain centered in the United States. This transaction lays groundwork for the creation of one of the largest integrated REE producers outside of China. This is a clear path to becoming the first fully integrated REE oxide producer in the US.
We are also evaluating opportunities to go further downstream to capture the significant potential value in producing rare earth metals, alloys, and magnets, while offering customers a true mine-to-magnet alternative. Next slide. So I've hit on Base Resources, but really, one of the biggest attributes, and I'm gonna repeat again, is securing a proven team with Base Resources. And this is a big part of the transaction, because acquiring the company and the management team with an excellent track record of HMS production. The Base team, and I'm again repeating myself, built, built a profitable, well-run mine in Africa and Kenya, and their expertise is transferable to Madagascar and as a supplement to our teams in Brazil and Australia. Next slide. The Toliara Project. I say world-class too many times, you won't forget it.
On its own, though, with significant ilmenite, zircon, and rutile, and with that, approximately 22,000 tons of monazite production per year, which will be refined at Energy Fuels' White Mesa Mill into advanced rare earth oxides at lower costs than Western competitors. With a measured and indicated resource of 1.4 million tons of monazite, and that's like 50 years of monazite production with an inferred resource of almost 800,000 tons, this is a massive deposit on every metric. Securing quality feed of this magnitude, Toliara, along with the potential joint venture with Astron, will account for material amount of Energy Fuels' long-term feed of approximately 70% of 50,000 tons of feed. Now, this didn't just happen by accident.
We enlisted the technical support of Perth-based TZMI, and we did a global review of the entire world, something like 60 or 70 projects, and came up with a shortlist, and both Toliara and Donald were on that list, and so we went after them. So it was a very focused approach. Next slide. So let's talk about White Mesa and the uranium assets, because that is still a big focus and core bit of our business, particularly in this market. The White Mesa Mill is the only facility and conventional uranium mill operating in the U.S. today that has the ability to produce these REE from monazite and has licensed capacity of over 8 million pounds of uranium per year, as well as a vanadium circuit.
We are currently mining three uranium projects right now, and we're ramping up to about 1.4-1.5 million pounds by the end of the year, and we plan to increase this up to 2 million pounds per uranium per year with limited capital. We have a suite of additional projects to bring online now and over time, and many of those do not require large sums of capital. But we also have a profile in time as the market supports of up to about 5 million pounds per year. We have been the largest uranium producer in the United States for the past five years and only second to Cameco over the past decade plus.
While White Mesa's unique global, it's unique, globally competitive, rare earth production capabilities unlock significant value from Toliara, a low-cost monazite, in a manner that no facility in the U.S. is currently capable of doing. Next slide. So this is an interesting one because look at how it uniquely positions Energy Fuels and going forward, and the synergies between Energy Fuels and Base are obvious and numerous. Unique world-class assets. You got the White Mesa Mill, you got Toliara, we've got the Donald Project, and we have U.S. uranium mines. Looking at a U.S.-focused strategy that's fully integrated. It's much more improved for in a well position, excellent position for U.S. government support, globally cost competitive from a leading metals producer. It's got scale, it unlocks inherent value, and it has feedstock diversification.
Couple that with a strong balance sheet and commercial positioning over $200 million of liquidity, strong shareholder base, and becoming a top-tier REE supplier. This is impressive, folks. This is impressive. So I'm really enjoying giving this, this conference call. So next slide, pro forma. The combined companies will have a market capitalization of about $1.1 billion. I talked about the cash position of north of $200 million. It's New York listed and Toronto listed, providing access to institutional capital, and we trade over $20 million a day, and we've averaged that over three months. Our current shares out are about 164 million. So with this transaction, that'll increase to the shares issued to Base to 196 million.
So this is a very strong company going forward, well-positioned to capitalize on all the great things that we do in the uranium space, the rare earth space, and the heavy mineral space. Next slide. Look at the takeaways, and there are many. The benefits to both sets of shareholders, vertically integrated rare earth production, independent of China, increased commodity diversification, potential share price re-rate with the REE strategy and uranium, increased costs or increased scale and diversification, enhanced value proposition through synergies between the two companies, combined access or continued access to the Base management team, ability to deploy staff between various projects, and significant rare earth production visibility, which we're targeting around 6,000 tons of NdPr per year and up to 300 tons of Dy and Tb.
The benefits to the Base shareholders is immediate and significant premium to current share price, materially reduced dilution and financing costs, reflecting if Base did this on their own, and the opportunity to retain exposure to a diversified critical minerals company with a re-rate there that we believe will be significant. Meanwhile, the benefits to Energy Fuels shareholders is secure a long-life, low-cost source of monazite with a White Mesa REE separation and expansion. Access again to the Base team. I'm giving a lot of kudos, and by the way, I have, Tim Carstens is here with me in my room here in Singapore. It's accretive on a NAV basis per share and increased, commodity diversification or an exposure to uranium, the rare earths, and the heavy mineral sands business. Again, this is a great news story. So the timeline, the next slide, just shows the timeline.
So we announced this, 22nd of April. I think it's, 22nd in, wherever you're at in North America. But the timeline is to have this thing closed, late in August of, of this year. And so we'll be advancing down that timeline as we look forward to putting this, together for all the right reasons that I've mentioned. Okay, last slide, just showing that beautiful sunset again. In summation, we are immensely excited about this announcement to acquire Base. We've gotten to know the Base team and their assets very well over the past several months.... It is clear to me that our companies belong together. We also believe that this acquisition is highly accretive to Energy Fuels shareholders from a net asset value.
I mentioned the base boasting a NPV of $2 billion, which we think is real and can be realized, if not improved on, with the extra integration steps at the mill. Combined, Energy Fuels and Base have the potential of becoming a diversified critical mineral juggernaut, with raw materials mined in allied nations and production of advanced rare earth materials occurring in the United States, all key points for potential customers and U.S. government support. Combine this with our expertise, infrastructure, strong balance sheet, no debt, and significant momentum, look out, world! So we look forward to continuing to keep the markets updated on upcoming developments, including updates on this transaction and on Energy Fuels' rapidly advancing uranium and rare earth production, business, and strategy. That is it, and I'm now open to questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press the star followed by the number two. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from the line of Joseph Reagor from—sorry, Roth MKM, your line is open.
Hey, Mark. Thanks for taking the questions. Couple of things. I guess the first thing being on Toliara. There was a note in Base's last presentation that they did publicly, that there was, like, a suspension of the project. I'm not fully up on it, so could you kind of walk us through what that was? Has it been resolved? And if it hasn't, what's your outlook there?
Yeah. Well, it's work in progress. It has been in suspension till 2019, and but since that time, they've come up with a new mining code, and I have Tim Carstens here, who's lived through it. A new mining code and a stability agreement. So there's been a number of changes in Madagascar to provide sort of a broader base of a shareholder appreciation. Tim, do you wanna add anything to that?
Yeah. Sure. I mean, the reason for the suspension was it was put in place back in 2019, at a time when the government was looking at implementing a new mining code, because Madagascar had had two very large mining projects ahead of Toliara. One was a Rio Tinto project, and the other was the Ambatovy nickel cobalt project, a $9 billion development. None of the—neither of them had really generated the outcomes for the country that they wanted. And so they had some pretty significant wants in terms of our new project. And, you know, so the challenge for us was negotiating that outcome that they were after. So they put the suspension in place while we discussed those fiscal terms.
Now, why it's taken so long to get to where we are, there are two main factors. One, the government needed to get some sensible advice from the World Bank and the IMF on what sort of fiscal terms were realistic for Madagascar, was one issue, and that started during 2020. And then obviously, we had COVID coming in between, and Madagascar was shut down completely. So that whole process got slowed down significantly. The country reopened in 2022, and we've been embarking on discussions with the government since. They've put the new mining code in place. We have agreed, in principle, what the fiscal terms are going to be.
We're working our way through a process at the moment that we're expecting is going to see fiscal terms agreed over the course of the next, you know, three or four months, is the current timeline that we're working to with government. So it's been a long process, but there have been some pretty reasonable reasons for it. And we're in a pretty good place now.
Okay. That's helpful. Yeah, second question-
So we're very confident that this is gonna be approved to go forward. And when you look at the stable of projects we have, like Bahia and Astron and our relationship with Chemours, you know, we have a little bit more flexibility there, but we believe it will be done this year, okay? And if it isn't this year or the next year, this is a great deposit, and this new stability agreement and whatnot is excellent for the country. And so we're very bullish that this is all gonna happen. And but it's a—this is where it's a huge opportunity to get this across the line. And we also believe that, you know, we're gonna work closely with the Madagascar government and the stakeholders in Madagascar, the local communities.
Base has done some excellent work on that front. Outstanding work! And we were there in country and really impressed with how Base operates in Madagascar, and in Kenya, and that was a key part of our decision process here.
Okay, fair enough. The second question on, I'm gonna probably butcher your name, Kwale?
Kwale.
I believe the old plan was to shut that mine down at the end of this year. Is that still the plan, or is there any opportunity there for Energy Fuels?
... Well, it's still the plan to shut it down this year. So yeah, that'll, it's still cash flowing. They're still producing there, but the plan is that towards the end of the year, it'll come to an end.
Will there be any reclamation costs or ongoing care and maintenance costs after shutdown?
Yeah, but they're also doing a lot of that reclamation right now, and they've been a provision of about almost $50 million to get that reclamation completed. So, but yeah, we think it's fairly adequately provided for the reclamation. And in our assumptions, we also added sort of an ongoing amount over a number of years just to make sure it's all properly put to bed. So, we think we've got that covered very well.
Okay. And then one final thing. Does this need Energy Fuels shareholder approval or just Base Resources?
Just Base Resources.
Okay. I'll turn it over. Thanks, Mark.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Justin Chan from SCP Resource Finance. Your line is open.
Hi, Mark. And Tim, congratulations on getting this deal announced. Just maybe a follow-on on your timelines for the stability agreement. I'm just curious, I guess, what are the next steps from here? And I suppose, I guess, when do you expect to start engaging with the government? I would presume it's probably after close of this deal, but perhaps you can just give us a bit more color on how that process unfolds over the next rest of this year or into next year.
Yeah. Well, look, it. First of all, we see Base, with the great work Base has done in Kenya and in Madagascar, is Base is the face on this transaction. I mean, it's, it, there, it's their still their company. It hasn't closed. So, you know, we're very comfortable with the fact that Base is gonna continue on with their good work, in country. And, Tim and I will sit down and decide, you know, what involvement, if any, is required from Energy Fuels, but we certainly will have some involvement. But, Tim, I don't know if you have any other feedback to Justin on that.
Yeah, I mean, we're on an understood process with the government. Then the next major step forward is the lifting of the suspension, which the Minister of Mines is planning to happen immediately following the May 29 parliamentary elections. We have negotiated the fiscal terms applying to the project, so we know what they are. They're very much based on the mining code, but with an uplifted community development commitment. And yeah, the investment agreement that glues all of that together is, you know, not the biggest thing we're going to have to negotiate.
And there's also quite a strong stability regime in Madagascar. It's called the LGIM regime that was developed by the World Bank, which basically locks down your fiscal terms, you know, for the life of the mining license. So, you know, all of that's well understood. It's the sort of thing that can be, yeah, can be completed by July. So there's every prospect of us having this locked down by the time we close it.
Gotcha. And maybe one just operationally, given the—I mean, at full ramp-up, when this is 25 million tons a year at Toliara, you can almost fill at least the base level of the phase two White Mesa monazite requirement, and then perhaps some other projects fill it in, you know, to get from 30,000 tons to 50. But I'm just curious, in that first 13 million ton a year phase, can you sequence the ore body at all to kind of increase monazite production, given how the timelines cross over with White Mesa? Or, I guess, is it more likely that you'll have another project feeding as well during that period, and then Toliara does the expansion?
Yeah, I mean, if you look at the timelines, you know, assuming we're planning to close the Astron deal, that could come sooner. You know, because, you know, they're gonna do the FID in the next 12 months or something. That'll be pretty close, but I think that Donald could come on sooner. We're continuing to have a relationship with Chemours. They're looking at expanding some of their abilities in the United States. So right now, Justin, you know, our main goal right now is to get all our ducks lined up.
You know, with the price of NdPr currently around $50, you know, we feel that right now, we can, we can maximize the uranium plan right now because of uranium prices. And let's get our ducks lined up and get this thing all organized so we can really burn rubber here, looking out, you know, on that 27-28 time period, you know, with this new, very significant, world significant, rare earth business. So right now, it's unique that we have the uranium plan to fall back on, not to fall back on, but right now, it's time to burn rubber in uranium. And we'll burn rubber in rare earths, looking out a few years.
Yeah, and I guess another aspect of this transaction is, I mean, just the mineral sand side of the business will generate a lot of cash flow to kind of support all the rest of the business, given not only the economics of Toliara, but the market's actually structurally quite tight on a supply-demand basis.
Yeah, I mean, you know, the thing I like about this diversification is, yeah, you've got cash flow from the heavy mineral sands, you got the uranium, you got the rare earths, and depending on where the cycles are, where they're at, that creates other opportunities for further consolidation or doing other things, because you've got that diversified cash flow. So I think this is a really, really, great outcome for trying to come up with, you know, a strong business strategy and plan going forward with this diversification.
Gotcha. Maybe just one last one for me. I guess, looking at your other potential sources of feed, I guess, where are things with regards to Astron? And then, I know Bahia is earlier stage, but maybe just could you give us an update on what you expect news flow-wise there over the next year or two years?
Yeah, yeah, we're still exclusive with them to the end of the month, and we're trying to finalize our agreements with them. So we're well advanced there. So, yeah, you know, we're getting there with Astron and expect to get there. So, you know, we'll get that, we believe, finalized. We're still advancing the Bahia project. We've been hiring people. We're looking at a country manager for Brazil. You know, so we're advancing, you know, Bahia as well. There are other companies that are still looking at us as an alternative for a home for monazite that we're also advancing as well too, potentially. But the bottom line is, with Toliara, Donald and Bahia, that's a lot of feed of monazite. That's a lot of monazite.
I mean, you're looking at measured, indicated and inferred, you know, like 2 million tons at Toliara. Donald has something like 700,000-800,000 tons. Don't quote me on that, but it's a lot. You know, between all these projects, there's a lot of monazite, okay? And a lot of heavy mineral sands, too. So, you know, again, I just... I think this is a really unique outcome, and I think that we, there's no playbook on how we're trying to put this all together. You've got the physical separation that's up front and the heavy mineral sands, and you have the hydromet, and you got two teams that are like-minded in how you put that together to get the momentum and the outcomes that we're looking for.
Gotcha. Yeah, I think it's a, it's a hell of a business, and, and I really like the combination of, the cash flow from mineral sands and then, you know, cash flow ultimately from rare earths and, and uranium. But, you know, one really adds the strategic component, and the other is actually a very stable business. So that's, that's great. Congratulations, guys. Well, thanks a lot.
Thank you, Justin.
And once again, if you would like to ask a question, simply press Star, followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from the line of Richard Hatch from Berenberg. Your line is open.
Thanks very much. Yeah, thanks for the call. Much appreciated. I'm just interested to know what the lockup period is of the Base management team for the deal, given the importance that you've sort of suggested that you've kind of flagged as part of the deal. Thanks.
Dave Friedland, you're on there somewhere. You tell me, you're the lawyer. There's... Are you talking about after closing?
Yeah, just in, you know, you've pointed that the Base management team, obviously, they've successfully built quality, have really brought Toliara along. But, you know, they're a key part of building this asset, and I'm just interested to hear what the lockup period is of that management team as part of this deal post-closing.
Yeah, yeah. There's no formal lockup team. I'll let Mark deal with it, but, you know, we, we don't think we need to lock up this team. I think both teams are really excited about this combined company. Mark, do you want to take it from there? Yeah, no, and I've got Tim here, too. So, you know, I think one of the things that was really important to us, and I think the Base is, you know, you want to work with people you want to work with. So, they're boots in on trying to get quality up. Or not quality, but Toliara up and running. And, you know, through this deal, I think everybody's gonna have some a pretty good shareholding in the combined companies.
But mostly I just want people to have, enjoy and help build a very successful business going forward. And Tim, I don't know what you want to say.
Yeah, so excellent question, Richard. Look, at the starting point for all of this is me and my senior team. We're all in this to pull this off. You know, we're highly motivated to finish the job we started with, with Toliara, and now we're, you know, really energized by the opportunity to create something, you know, pretty special in the critical mineral space. You know, obviously things like, you know, how our long-term incentive plan gets replaced by the equivalent plan at, at Energy Fuels. You know, we've got to land on all of that, but, you know, their scheme is very similar to our scheme.
So in terms of the motivation, I guess the only thing that really changes for our team in the way we look at it is, you know, we're one step removed from the top of the public company. But, you know, that's not really what motivates us. So-
Yeah.
We're in for the long haul.
Well, and I apologize. I think you were talking about the voter intention statement signed by the shareholders, but I misunderstood a bit. But yeah, it's you know, we're focused on an environment that you know that will be conducive and productive for all the people involved. And as I said, I see Base Resources you know operating as Base Resources, and again, we're very impressed with how they operate. And you know, it's a good team and with our team. So yeah, it's all about creating value, but it's also about making sure that people are properly engaged, properly compensated, and feel part of the team and feel appreciated. So
Cool. I appreciate that.
Thank you.
Sorry, just my—that's great. And my second one is just, sorry, again, on lock-ups, but this time from a shareholder perspective. So, obviously, Base and yourselves have announced that the two sort of key shareholders of the Base perspective, or register of, have given their indications that they approve the deal. So, is there a period of time in which those converted shares sit within Energy Fuels? And then, sorry, can you just remind us what percentage of a Base shareholder vote do you need to get the deal passed? Thank you very much.
Yeah, I'll still let Dave answer that. So...
Yeah. Okay. Yeah, we have voting intention statements from two major shareholders. That's approximately 55% of the shares, something like that. Those-
51%. Yeah.
Is it 51? Okay. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, 51.
Yeah.
Those continue through this transaction. You know, there's abilities to, you know, to respond to superior bids if any arise, things like that. That's and yeah. So that's basically the way it's set up. And sorry, did... Can you state your question again?
Yeah, so it was just, sorry. It was just how whether if there's a period of time in which those shares relating to the Sustainable and Pacific Road have got whether there's a period of time in which they're locked up, and then, sorry, and then what percentage you need to get for the Base shareholder-
Okay.
to get the deal done?
Sorry. Yeah, sorry. Okay. Yeah. So the voting potential statement goes through this transaction. The vote required is twofold. There's a 75% of the votes held, as well as 50% of the shareholders at the meeting who vote.
Okay.
So it's a... Yeah.
Great. Thank you very much.
Yeah.
Richard, just to clarify, there's not a lock-in per se on the other side of the transaction.
Gotcha. Okay. Thank you, Tim. Cheers. Thanks all.
Yeah.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Reed Rubin. Your line is open.
Morning or evening in Singapore. Are you hedging uranium at this level, sir?
Are we hedging uranium at this level, Reid?
Yes.
Yeah, look, we're still looking at contracts that we can secure at these type of levels, but we're not gonna, you know, hedge all of that. I mean, we've got some long-term contracts, and we continue to advance that. But, you know, we think it's healthy to have at least a certain portion of our production under long-term contracts. Right now, Reid, one of the issues is, you know, it's hard to find miners, and the miners don't like to get laid off. So, we're trying to have at least a basic uranium portfolio that can keep the miners, you know, fully engaged and, but also have opening to the upside.
We did sell some uranium, on the spot in the Q1, and I think we sold it for $103 a pound. We'll continue to do that, Reid. We'll continue to try to maximize that balance between, you know, a contract portfolio and spot sales, whatever seems to make sense, to maximize our return on that production.
Contract pricing is roughly what now?
Well, the long-term price is still $75 a pound, and, so, you know, but that isn't an exact rule. But, you know, we're always out there trying to maximize, you know, whatever contract provisions we have. The uranium we sold that was under contract in Q1 was $75.13 a pound or something, so pretty close to that contract price.
Right.
But then we sold 100,000 pounds at $103, and the weighted price was about $84. So, you know, the price right now is about $90, so you know, that's a little bit less, but you're not always gonna get the top all the time.
Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Joseph Reagor from Roth MKM. Your line is open.
Hey, Mark, I had one other question. If this assuming this deal gets consummated, is the plan still to pursue the Astron JV as well, or is there some possibility that you would just pursue one?
Well, I mean, our intention is to pursue both of them. And, you know, and again, we're trying to secure this diversified feed sources at scale, you know, to build out this world significant rare earth supply chain. So, you know, but it all has to boil down to the ultimate economics of everything we do. I mean, we're always going to make decisions based on what we think is what's best for the shareholders and for the business. So, but, you know, our intention is to go ahead with both of these transactions.
Okay. And then assuming you go ahead with both, can you kind of walk us through, like, just capital budget numbers for construction in Madagascar, for phase two at the White Mesa Mill and then at Astron? What are those totals?
Well, I mean, you got to be careful when you look at the totals over time. But, you know, if you look at like, for example, we've got, just say we've got, well, well north of $200 million, maybe closer to $250 million, $225 million. You know, the Astron deal was to kind of prepay the development and the equity portion of getting the FID done and also getting non-recourse financing, and that was $120 million. But that would be expended over a period of a couple of years. So it'd be 2024, 2025-ish, maybe into 2026. So we certainly have plenty of money to cover that. We've still got, you know, revenue coming in from the uranium business.
When it comes to Toliara, you know, we'd have some, you know, front loads on getting the FID done and some of the stability payments that are required. We're again, still in good shape for that. When it comes to phase two, phase three, we still have to get that submitted to the state of Utah before we know when exactly that is gonna be required, you know, to those capital expenditures. But when you look at Toliara, you're looking at sort of in the order of $600 million over time. When you look at Astron, we think that this initial contribution of $120 million-$125 million with a non-recourse loan will get us there for at least phase one.
And then if you look at White Mesa, the phase two, phase three, particularly phase two, you're probably looking at, depending on what size we build out that facility between about $300 million-$500 million. But remember, too, Joe, that we have this phase one plant that can still run, and it can run for as long as we need it, and we can be doing all these other things and timing them, you know, based on when we think this feed is going to arrive. So there's quite a bit of flexibility. I mean, we have had a number of discussions with the government, including high levels of the government, and we think there's gonna be a huge appetite for financing these projects.
These are the best projects out there, Joe, that I believe are out there to finance, to advance, and they're gonna get a lot of attention, I believe, for all the right reasons. So, you know, we're really excited about this and, and, you know, you know, it's for the right reasons, because we're building an integrated, profitable business that's diversified.
Okay, thanks. I'll turn it over.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn it back to Mr. Chalmers for closing comments.
Yeah, I mean, closing comments is again, it's, this is exciting times for our companies and, we appreciate the interest in Energy Fuels. I've said this many times, we are not getting out of the uranium business. I've been doing the uranium business for 48 years, and I'm not stopping now. As a matter of fact, we're going to continue to expand the uranium business where we can. So I do not want people to think this is a clear sign we're getting out of the uranium business. It is just a great compliment on what we're doing, because everything we're doing is radioactive and has uranium that we can monetize and recover, so it fits perfectly into our wheelhouse.
I think that a lot of people in the rare earth business would, don't use this word incorrectly, die for the ability to handle the radionuclides and recover the uranium like Energy Fuels can. So this is unique. There is no playbook. We're excited about it. We're going for a big win here. We're not trying to be normal. We're trying to do things that are extraordinary. So thank you very much.
Thank you, presenters. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.