Adelaide miners Boss and Argonaut go big on uranium
Two Adelaide companies specialising in uranium mining have announced a major sales contract and a $3 million raise respectively after the mineral’s price hit a 15-year peak.
Boss Resources will recommence production at the Honeymoon uranium mine in northeast South Australia.
Boss Energy – which rebooted mining activities at the Honeymoon uranium deposit in October – has secured its first sales contract with a listed power utility in the United States.
The seven-year deal will see Boss sell one million pounds of uranium based on market-related pricing, and contains a ceiling price and a floor price “which is above Boss’ forecast production costs at Honeymoon”.
The deal comes as the uranium spot price hit a 15-year high earlier this week at US$85 per pound, with some analysts noting the mineral was in the “midst of a new…bull market”.
Boss’ deal will commence in 2025 and will continue until the end of 2033, with uranium to be supplied from its operations at Honeymoon.
“Signing our first sales contract is a major milestone for Boss and another key de-risking event for the Honeymoon Project,” Boss managing director Duncan Craib said.
“With production about to start and the project running on time and on budget, we are extremely well-placed to capitalise on the rising uranium price.
“Now we also have a binding sales contract in place which gives us financial security while allowing us to retain exposure to further increases in the uranium price.”
Shares in Boss are down 2.42 per cent after the release of the announcement.
Unley-based Argonaut Resources also jumped on the rising price of yellowcake, today announcing a $3.25 million raise to advance its uranium projects.
The company – which will soon change its name to Orpheus Uranium – said it had already received firm commitments for the raise and will use the funds for further exploration of its South Australia and Northern Territory uranium projects.
“We are delighted with the support from both existing and new shareholders in securing funding which allows us to plan a very active exploration program for 2024,” Argonaut executive chairman Mick Billing said.
“We have a number of very exciting uranium projects in the Frome Embayment in South Australia, along with Mt Douglas in the Northern Territory, which we plan to drill next year, starting with the Erudina prospect, which we expect to drill in April.
“This funding allows the company to schedule an aggressive program with confidence.”
