Boss Energy makes ‘significant’ progress preparing for uranium production
Boss Energy plans on becoming one of the lowest cost uranium producers globally.
South Australia emerging uranium producer Boss Energy (ASX: BOE) says it has made “significant progress” towards the re-start of its Honeymoon uranium project.
In its quarterly report, the company says 50% of front-end engineering work is finished, a high voltage power connection agreement has been inked, and all of the piping and instrumentation diagrams are now completed at the mothballed mine.
Boss managing director Duncan Craib said the company’s strategy is aimed at ensuring its can move from a final investment decision into execution and production as rapidly as possible.
“This will enable us to capitalise on a rising uranium price at an opportunistic time.”
“Our latest outstanding progress demonstrates why Honeymoon is set to be Australia’s next uranium producer,” he added.
Inventory value increases by $30m
Boss’ original inventory of 1.25 million pounds of uranium oxide has a current spot market value of A$79.22 million.
The company paid US$30.15/lb for the inventory, which converted to Australian dollars represents an outlay of A$49.69 million, leaving a book profit of A$29.53 million.
Spot uranium prices are now sitting at US$46.50/lb.
Boss has previously noted that it has one of the few uranium projects ready to participate in the early stages of the new uranium bull market.
Three countries seek tender proposals
During the three months to 31 December, three countries with nuclear energy plants approached Boss, requesting tender proposals for uranium.
Honeymoon contains a fully permitted uranium mine with A$170 million of established infrastructure, including a plant in good condition under care and maintenance.
It is located in the uranium friendly jurisdiction of South Australia and the project holds approved heritage and Native Title mining agreements.
Also, during the quarter Boss accelerated development of its exploration strategy with a staged approach that has expanded the resource at Honeymoon from 16.57Mlbs to 71.67Mlbs, a 433% increase.
The company began exploration drilling during the December quarter as part of its strategy to continue increasing the inventory and forecast production rate.