Boss Energy reports strong progress at Honeymoon and Alta Mesa uranium projects

The ramp-up of Boss Energy’s (ASX: BOE) Honeymoon uranium project in South Australia is proceeding as planned, with the first ion exchange production column reaching nameplate capacity during during the three months to the end of September.

The company reported that 89,516 pounds of uranium oxide were drummed during the period, compared to 28,844lb in the June quarter and the second column is now operating, with the third on track for completion by year-end.

Honeymoon’s final three columns will be commissioned in 2025, enabling the ramp-up to continue in line with feasibility study forecasts and achieve nameplate capacity of 2.45Mlbpa.

Uranium sales

Boss secured its third binding sales contract for Honeymoon concentrate during the quarter, signing a market-linked deal with a US power utility.

This follows the July sale of 200,000lb of uranium oxide to a European nuclear utility under an existing sales contract, resulting in $23.4 million in cash.

Total locked-in sales amount to around 3.5Mlb until 2033, providing Boss with financial certainty while retaining exposure to uranium price increases.

A maiden shipment of 57,000lb of uranium oxide was also sent to the Honeywell uranium hexafluoride processing facility in the US after feedback based on a representative sample noted a clean and high-quality product and approval was granted for future bulk shipments to the facility.

Alta Mesa start-up

Boss announced the start of production at its 30%-owned Alta Mesa in-situ recovery project in South Texas earlier this month.

Operations at the central uranium processing plant and well-fields have since focused on drying, packaging, and shipping uranium yellowcake, with the most recent shipment taking place in the past week.

In June, Boss advised that Alta Mesa’s uranium production is forecast to ramp up to a steady-state rate of 1.5Mlb per year by 2026, with additional drying capacity of 500,000lb per year.

Boss owns the sales and marketing rights over its pro-rata share, amounting to 450,000lb at nameplate capacity.

Project drilling

Drilling at Alta Mesa is ongoing, with a total of 749 holes completed between March and September.

The latest intercepts are believed to follow the pattern of earlier results and significantly exceed the cut-off grade thickness requirements for the in-situ recovery of uranium.

Boss and joint venture partner enCore Energy currently have seven drill rigs in full operation at the project, with plans to double that number over the next year.

Executive appointment

In September, Boss announced the appointment of resources executive Matt Dusci to the role of chief operating officer.

Mr Dusci has more than 25 years of mining industry experience across a diverse range of commodities, including battery metals.

For the past decade, he has held executive positions at IGO (ASX: IGO), where he played a major role in the company’s growth, development and transformation.

Cash on hand

Boss held $244.9m in cash, liquid investments and physical uranium at the end of September, with no debt.

The uranium inventory was valued at $145.4m and includes 200,000lb of uranium loaned to enCore Energy, which is repayable in cash or in kind.

The company’s unrestricted cash and cash equivalents stood at $66.6m and listed investments were valued at $32.9m.