Boss Energy and enCore Energy officially re-open Alta Mesa uranium project
Boss Energy (ASX: BOE) has officially opened the Alta Mesa in-situ recovery (ISR) uranium project in South Texas, in which it owns a 30% stake.
The grand opening was co-hosted by joint venture partner enCore Energy – which has 70% equity in the project – and establishes enCore as the only uranium producer in the US with multiple production facilities in operation.
Production at Alta Mesa commenced in June and is forecast to ramp up to a steady-state rate of 1.5 million pounds per year, with Boss retaining sales and marketing rights over its pro-rata share.
Key milestone
Managing Director Duncan Craib said the start of production at Alta Mesa was considered a key milestone for the project.
“This is another achievement in the implementation of our strategy to become a global uranium supplier with a diversified production base in premier locations,” he said.
“With operations now ramping up at Honeymoon and Alta Mesa, we are on track to hit our combined nameplate production target of 3Mlb of uranium per annum.”
“Our timing could hardly be better given the increasingly tight supply and demand fundamentals in the uranium market.”
Progressive process
The historic Alta Mesa project hosts a fully-licenced and -constructed processing plant, along with an operational well-field, across more than 800 square kilometres of private land and mineral rights.
Boss and enCore are aiming for a progressive process to advance and continually increase uranium production from the project via direct feed to the central processing unit.
The partners will initiate a phased ramp-up from the well-field, increasing production gradually and consistently as additional injection and recovery wells are tied into the production lines.
ISR technology
The project utilises well-known ISR technology to extract uranium in a non-invasive process using natural groundwater and oxygen.
Oxygenated water is currently being circulated in the well-field through injection or extraction wells plumbed directly into the primary pipelines feeding the central processing plant.
The plant produced nearly 5Mlb of uranium between 2005 and 2013, when production was curtailed as a result of low prices.