Boss Energy has pushed forward completion of the front-end engineering and design (FEED) works at the Honeymoon uranium project in South Australia amid a six-year high for prices of the radioactive mineral.
The company is expecting FEED works to be completed in the March 2022 quarter, enabling the company to begin design work and order long-lead items for Honeymoon.
Boss stated the uranium spot price hit a six-year high of $US39 per pound last week, setting the stage for Honeymoon to restart amid positive market conditions.
The company paid $US37.68 million for 1.25 million pounds of uranium it acquired in March, which has since increased to $US48.75 million amid the higher spot price.
“Strategically, this inventory is highly valuable to Boss on several levels as the Company secures offtake agreements, finalises project funding and moves into production,” Boss stated.
Detailed design work at Honeymoon will be completed after a final investment decision for the restart is made.
The aim of the FEED is to finalise key technical decisions, provide technical documents, confirm product specifications and outline the budget and scope for the project.
“We continue to extend our advantage as the most advanced emerging uranium producer in Australia,” Boss managing director Duncan Craib said.
“We have a plant on care and maintenance, other significant production and storage infrastructure in place, we have formed an owner’s team to restart Honeymoon and we are moving through the FEED stage rapidly.”
Boss is allowed to export 3.3 million pounds of triuranium octoxide equivalent per year over an initial 12-year mine life at Honeymoon.
The company announced Honeymoon’s resource had increased from 16.57 million pounds to 71.6 pounds in February, since acquiring the site in 2015.