Boss Energy kicks off mining activities at Honeymoon uranium project
Boss Energy (ASX: BOE) has officially kicked off mining activities at the resurrected Honeymoon uranium project in South Australia.
The first wellfield has been pre-conditioned to eliminate unwanted chlorides and calcium and is part of the final step before in-situ recovery (ISR) of uranium.
A water treatment plant, reverse osmosis plant and 25,000 tonne gypsum repository are being commissioned within the same process.
Extracted uranium is expected to be fed to the processing plant within the coming weeks, with first production scheduled before year end.
Boss managing director Duncan Craib said it was a significant achievement for the company.
“It is a testament to the hard work and effort undertaken by all our employees over many years to reach today’s pivotal milestone,” he said.
Falling prices
Mining operations were first suspended at Honeymoon in late 2013 in response to falling uranium prices.
Boss acquired the project in 2015 and embarked on a series of technical optimisation studies to improve Honeymoon’s position as a globally-competitive mining operation in a Tier 1 location.
Mr Craib said the project development remains on time and on budget as Boss moves towards a restart of Honeymoon in the coming months.
“Our timing is looking ideal, with the uranium market continuing to tighten and the spot price moving up and now trading at decade highs of US$69 per pound,” he said.
New tenements
Earlier this month, Boss added four new tenements to its South Australian portfolio as part of an agreement with Coda Minerals (ASX: COD).
The tenements form the Kinloch project and are located approximately 130 kilometres south of the Honeymoon mine.
The geological setting is reported to be similar to the Lake Eyre basin to the north, where Boss is exploiting palaeovalley-hosted uranium deposits including Honeymoon, Jason’s, Gould’s Dam, Billeroo and Sunrise.
While previous uranium exploration around Kinloch has concentrated on the upper Murray basin stratigraphy, Boss’ major focus is on the unexplored lower portion, in particular palaeochannel sequences within the Renmark group.
The Murray Basin comprises fluvial to shallow marine sediments and extends into south-eastern South Australia, western New South Wales and western Victoria.