Boss Energy has commenced mining operations on its Honeymoon Uranium Project in South Australia, with the first wellfield being pre-conditioned in preparation for production set to begin in December 2023.
Pre-conditioning effectively cleans the wellfields of unwanted chlorides and calcium prior to uranium recovery being extracted, and is undertaken to remove calcium and chloride from the orebody to facilitate efficient leaching and uranium capture.
Following pre-conditioning, uranium extraction will commence via in-situ recovery, which involves fortifying the preconditioned groundwater with reagents prior to injecting the ‘lixiviant’ into and through the orebody to dissolve uranium.
To achieve this milestone, Boss has completed major construction activities including wellfield development, gypsum repository construction, water treatment and RO plant commissioning.
Completion of these milestones ensures Honeymoon remains on track for production in the December quarter, 2023.
Mining operations were previously suspended in November 2013 in response to falling uranium prices.
Since acquiring the Honeymoon Project in December 2015, Boss embarked on a series of technical optimisation studies to improve Honeymoon’s position as a globally competitive mining operation in a tier one location.
The project development is proceeding to plan and remains on time and on budget as Boss moves towards the restart of Honeymoon in a few months’ time.
Boss’s Managing Director, Duncan Craib, said the milestone is a reflection of the company’s dedicated team.
“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”, Mr Craib said.
Featured image: Picture of the start-up wellfield prior to pre-conditioning and commissioning. Image credit: Boss Energy.
