Bahia Project

The Bahia project is a heavy mineral sands and rare earths project in southern Bahia State, Brazil, held 100% by Energy Fuels (Energy Fuels). It sits near the municipalities of Alcobaça, Caravelas and Prado (Energy Fuels). As of October 2026, Energy Fuels describes Bahia as an exploration and permitting stage project and not an operating mine (Energy Fuels 8-K, October 2026).

What the Bahia project's sands contain

Historic drilling found titanium minerals (ilmenite and rutile), zircon and the rare earth mineral monazite at and near the surface (Energy Fuels 8-K, February 2023). Those holes were shallow: 3,300 vertical auger holes, drilled by previous owners, that averaged only 5.7 meters deep (Energy Fuels 8-K, February 2023). When Energy Fuels completed the purchase, it reported no mineral reserves or mineral resources at Bahia under the SEC's S-K 1300 rules (Energy Fuels 8-K, February 2023).

Ownership and drilling status (as of October 2026)

Energy Fuels acquired Bahia in February 2023 through its wholly owned subsidiary, Energy Fuels Brazil Ltda. (Energy Fuels 10-K, February 2026). The original package was 17 mineral concessions covering 15,089.71 hectares (about 37,300 acres) between Prado and Caravelas (Energy Fuels 8-K, February 2023). By the end of 2025 it had grown to 19 concessions covering 41,951 acres (Energy Fuels 10-K, February 2026).

Drilling resumed in December 2025 after Bahia State's environmental agency, INEMA, issued an exploration license (Energy Fuels 10-K, February 2026). For 2026, the company planned to drill the southern half of the project with the goal of declaring an S-K 1300 Initial Assessment and an NI 43-101 technical report by the end of the year, while advancing baseline studies for permitting (Energy Fuels 10-K, February 2026). Its August 2026 results release listed Bahia among its three heavy mineral sands and rare earth projects but gave no drilling or Initial Assessment update (Energy Fuels, August 2026).

The resource estimate has slipped before. In November 2024, REEx reported that Energy Fuels expected to complete an S-K 1300 compliant mineral resource estimate on Bahia during 2024 (REEx, November 2024). In December 2025, REEx found the estimate still pending (REEx, December 2025).

Why Bahia matters for Energy Fuels' monazite supply

Energy Fuels expects monazite concentrate from Bahia to be shipped to its White Mesa Mill in Utah for processing into separated rare earth products (Energy Fuels 10-K, February 2026). It expects Bahia feed for the mill's planned Phase 2 circuit in 2030, subject to completing permitting and a positive final investment decision (Energy Fuels 10-K, February 2026). The company says that if Vara Mada, Bahia and the Donald project are successfully developed, which it expects in the 2028 to 2030 time frame, together they would give it monazite sources capable of producing up to about 4,500 metric tons a year of separated neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) (Energy Fuels 10-K, February 2026). For Bahia alone, Energy Fuels said in 2022 that, based on preliminary historical estimates it was not treating as current, the project had the potential to supply about 3,000 to 10,000 metric tons a year of monazite sand concentrate to the mill, depending on production rates (Energy Fuels, May 2022).

The annual report also names risks specific to Brazil. A federal or state government could create a conservation unit that restricts or prevents mining, and the company's mineral rights in Brazil are at risk of forfeiture if it fails to take required actions, achieve required results or obtain required approvals on time (Energy Fuels 10-K, February 2026).

REEx has described the monazite pipeline that includes Bahia as contained potential rather than secured throughput (REEx, December 2025). In June 2026, REEx noted that Energy Fuels' long-term plan relies heavily on Donald, Vara Mada, Bahia and third-party feed (REEx, June 2026).

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