Boss Energy appoints Honeymoon general manager ahead of project commissioning
Boss has appointed key personnel to ensure wellfield development and construction activities can start as soon as a final investment decision is made.
Emerging uranium producer Boss Energy (ASX: BOE) has announced two key appointments for its Honeymoon uranium project in South Australia as construction ramps up toward commissioning.
The company today revealed James Davidson has been appointed as general manager of the project while Jacobus (“Kobus”) van Rooyen has been appointed as construction manager.
Based in Adelaide, Mr Davidson is highly experienced in the uranium sector having held key technical, operational and management roles in all four of Australia’s recent uranium operations.
Boss managing director Duncan Craib described him as an invaluable asset for the company as he has strong technical knowledge of the Honeymoon operation, having led teams for the development, implementation and construction of the IX pilot plant for the Honeymoon field leach trial in 2017.
“James has immense experience across project management and construction, with a particular emphasis on uranium metallurgy and operations,” he said.
“This knowledge will be invaluable as we advance development of Honeymoon and prepare for commissioning and steady-state production.”
Last week Boss revealed the Honeymoon uranium project has reached its halfway mark in committed expenditure with the start-up of the first three wellfields expected in the second quarter of 2023.
Uranium project experience
Mr Davidson started his mining industry career at Rio Tinto’s (ASX: RIO) Technology Development Centre before becoming a senior metallurgist at Mt Gordon Copper and then at Energy Resources of Australia’s (ASX: ERA) Ranger uranium mine.
He also developed ion exchange technology as general manager of Urtek and acted as the principal process engineer developing the pre-feasibility study for BHP’s (ASX: BHP) Olympic Dam expansion project.
In 2012, Mr Davidson co-founded Inception Consulting Engineers and was involved in detailed reviews of uranium operations worldwide including Kazakhstan, the United Stated and Australia.
Other experience has included being the senior process engineer for BHP’s Brownfields expansion and lead engineer developing an ion exchange system for Olympic Dam.
He has recently been developing a process for extracting uranium from phosphates and working with Alligator Energy (ASX: AGE) on the development of the Samphire project.
Construction manager expertise
In addition, Boss has appointed Mr van Rooyen as construction manager for the Honeymoon project.
According to the company, Mr van Rooyen has more than 30 years of experience in structural, mechanical, and electrical sectors, and in managing and executing major development projects.
“Kobus is a team player, having held and achieved key senior roles as a multi-disciplined construction manager, effectively managing resources to deliver small scale all the way through to mega project objectives and deliverables safely, on time and within budget,” Mr Craib said.
““He will further bolster our team as construction at Honeymoon ramps up,” he added.