PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mining activities have started at the Honeymoon uranium project, in South Australia, with the project on track and on budget to start production this quarter.
ASX-listed Boss Energy told shareholders that the first wellfield was being pre-conditioned in the lead-up to in-situ recovery feeding the processing plant with extracted uranium during the fourth quarter of this year.
“It is a testament to the hard work and effort undertaken by all Boss employees over many years to reach today’s pivotal milestone, the commencement of mining activities on Honeymoon,” said Boss MD Duncan Craib.
Mining operations at Honeymoon were suspended late in 2013 in response to falling uranium prices, with Boss acquiring the project at the end of 2015. The company has since embarked on a series of technical optimisation studies to improve Honeymoon’s position.
“Our timing is looking ideal, with the uranium market continuing to tighten and the spot price moving up, now trading at decade highs of US$69/lb uranium pentoxide,” said Craib.
The restart of the Honeymoon project will cost A$113-million, and the project will ramp up to steady-state production of 2.45-million pounds of uranium oxide a year over a mine life of 11 years.