Australia rejects Rio Tinto unit’s uranium mine lease renewal
Decision ends a decades-long dispute over Jabikula, one of the world’s largest untapped deposits of high-grade uranium.
Boss Energy (ASX: BOE) is just two weeks away of producing its first drums of uranium amid a restarting of activities at its Honeymoon uranium mine in New South Wales, Australia, where production was halted in 2013 due to low prices for the radioactive material.
Having reached the final technical milestone this week, Boss Energy is now focused on filling its first drum of uranium as it continues to ramp up production to achieve full capacity, it said.
“Since acquiring Honeymoon, Boss’ strategy has been to increase the uranium tenor in the wellfield feed solution to the plant and develop a larger processing facility utilizing ion exchange (IX) technology,” managing director Duncan Craib said in the statement.
Once ramped up, Honeymoon will produce 2.45 million pounds of uranium a year, at all-in sustaining costs of $32 per pound.
After acquiring in February a 30% stake in enCore Energy’s (TSX-V: EU) Alta Mesa in situ recovery mine in Texas, Boss Energy has now a second horse in the uranium race. This transaction resulted in the company raising $215 million, with a payment of $60 million for the stake.
Australia currently has two active uranium mines — BHP’s Olympic Dam and Heathgate Resources’ in-situ recovery (ISR) Four Mile mine.
Boss’ acquisition of Honeymoon in 2015 could potentially contribute an additional 2.45 million pounds (1,225 tonnes) of production per year to a market that currently demands around 67,500 tonnes annually, according to data from the World Nuclear Association.
For over sixty years, uranium has served as a fuel to power nuclear plants and reactors. Nearly two-thirds of the world’s uranium production originates from Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia.
Boss Energy, with investors such as Paradice Investment Management LLC and Tribeca Investment Partners Pty, has experienced an almost 21% increase in its shares so far this year. Other major producers such as Cameco (TSX: CCO) and Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN) have seen their shares rise by 20% and 47% respectively.
