Boss Energy Limited (ASX: BOE) has taken another step towards restarting the Honeymoon uranium mine – which suspended operations eleven years ago under previous owner Uranium One – by ticking off a final technical milestone which should see the first drum produced in the next two weeks.
The company has finished commissioning work on the column of its ion exchange (IX) circuit which is part of the processing plant for Honeymoon, meaning that first production is now expected without difficulty.
The commissioning work has involved the IX column being loaded with uranium-rich lixiviant from Honeymoon’s wellfields and high-grade uranium will be produced from this.
Managing director Duncan Craib said that perfecting the processing stage was a key factor in Boss’ development of the Honeymoon project.
“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 utilising Ion Exchange technology,” he said.
“This approach is to improve the economics of the project by increasing production rates and reducing operating costs.
“We have now achieved both of these key goals and as a result are set to fill our first drum with uranium in coming days.”
Located 80 kilometres from Broken Hill in South Australia, the Honeymoon uranium mine initially went into production in 2011 under Uranium One, but closed two years later due to a weakness in the uranium price and was subsequently taken over by Boss Energy in 2015.
An enhanced feasibility study (EFS) was completed in June 2021, indicating potential for a ten year or more mine life, based on a resource of 36 million pounds (Mlb) of triuranium octoxide (U3O8), with production expected to hit 2.45Mlb per year.
Boss Energy is trading at $4.94c.