Boss Energy shares plunge on issues at uranium mine
Boss Energy shares on Monday afternoon were down 42.2 per cent to a three-year low of $1.965 after the Perth-headquartered company made the announcement about its Honeymoon mine, 80km northwest of Broken Hill.
Boss said that based on more than 12 months of resumed operations, it had identified "potential challenges" that could prevent Honeymoon from ever achieving its forecast production target of 2.45 million pounds of yellowcake a year.
"We're confident that we'll get at least 1,600,000 pounds," chief executive and managing director Duncan Craib told analysts in a conference call on Monday.
The issue is production drilling at 15 to 20 metres of spacing has found less uranium mineralisation than Boss had inferred from its 2021 feasibility study, which relied on drilling at 60 or 70-metre spacing.
An independent review by experts will commence shortly to determine the extent to which this will affect assumptions from the early feasibility study, Boss said.
The Honeymoon mine opened in 2011 but operations were suspended just two years later, after a plunge in the price of uranium.
Boss bought the mine in 2015 and it resumed operations in 2024.
"It really has been a tremendous achievement that since the start of commissioning in April (2024), we've produced over one million pounds of uranium to date," Mr Craib said.
The chief executive, who is stepping down at the end of September, told analysts in response to a question that it was too soon to say how the mineralisation findings might affect Honeymoon's estimated mine life of 10-plus years.
"The mine itself is off to a flying start," he said.
It is profitable and Boss Energy has no debt, he added.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
3 hours ago
- Perth Now
ASX jumps on the latest Trump deal
Australia's sharemarket snapped a brief two day losing streak on Monday after US President Donald Trump announced his latest trade deal and the major banks bounced back from their recent falls. The benchmark ASX 200 index closed up 30.8 points or 0.36 per cent at 8697.7 after hitting an intraday high of 8704.9, while the broader All Ordinaries finished in the green up 29.20 points or 0.33 per cent to 8,963.50. The Australian dollar slipped from a nine-month high on Friday buying 65.51 US cents at the time of writing. On an overall positive day, eight of the 11 sectors finished in the green, led by the telecommunications sector, the big four banks and healthcare stocks. The ASX had a good day after Donald Trump announced a trade deal with the EU. Gaye Gerard / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia Shares in Telstra gained 0.81 per cent to $4.95, REA Group jumped 1.34 per cent to $236.09 and CAR group added 1.72 per cent to $37.89. Market heavyweight CBA gained 1.17 per cent to $174.90 offsetting half the falls in recent days, while NAB gained 0.67 per cent to $37.76, Westpac added 0.54 per cent to $33.21 and ANZ group closed 0.30 per cent higher at $30.31. Healthcare darling CSL gained 1 per cent to $270.59, Sigma Healthcare added 1.41 per cent to $2.88 and ResMed finished 0.97 per cent higher to $41.70. The markets jumped after US President Donald Trump announced a deal with the EU to end four months of negotiations between the two economic powerhouses. Following the discussions, the EU will face a 15 per cent tariff from the US, which is down from the 25 per cent the President announced in April. European Commission chief Ursula von de Leyen described it as 'a big deal, a huge deal, bringing: stability and predictability' to the two trading partners. IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said global markets around the world jumped on these trade deals. 'In terms of the trade deals with Japan and Europe, the tariff rate that will be implemented came in lower than initially threatened and the market is looking very positively on it,' Mr Sycamore said. Uranium shares were one of the rare misses during Monday's trading, dragged down by news out of Boss Energy which flagged challenges out of its Honeymoon uranium project. Boss Energy shares plummeted 43.97 per cent to $1.90, Deep Yellow fell 8.34 per cent to $1.65 and Paladin Energy dropped 4.43 per cent to $6.91. 'That is the uranium sector in a nutshell,' he said. 'It is one where you have to be prepared for extraordinary volatility. 'This was a disappointing performance day and a disappointing report by Boss Energy.' In company news, Helloworld Travel shares soared 14.14 per cent to $1.69 after the business upgraded its guidance to somewhere between $58-$62m. Stealth Group's shares also soared 11.02 per cent to $0.70 after announcing a 50 per cent jump in pre-orders on the back of the soon to be released iPhone 17. Bubs Australia shares jumped 2.94 per cent to $0.18 after the infant formula maker announced Joe Cootes as its new chief executive, effective immediately.
The Age
4 hours ago
- The Age
Strategic CEO hire to drive NeuroScientific stem cell therapy release
NeuroScientific Biopharmaceuticals has made a second heavy-hitting appointment in less than a week, bringing in experienced Melbourne-based executive Nathan Smith as its chief executive officer, as the company gears up for the commercial release of its innovative StemSmart stem cell technology. Smith has extensive experience in cell and gene therapies in senior commercial, operational and strategic roles in Australia and the United States, which should prove invaluable as the company navigates the regulatory and commercial pathways for its innovative StemSmart technology. The company says his deep expertise in good practice manufacturing will be critical for converting the biotechnology startup into a scaled-up commercial stem cell company. NeuroScientific acquired the StemSmart technology in late June via its $4.1 million acquisition of unlisted Perth-based stem cell company Isopgen. StemSmart uses a specific type of stem cell, mesenchymal stromal stem cells (MSC), as a last-line infusion treatment for critically ill patients, including those experiencing severe immune complications from bone marrow transplants, kidney and lung transplant rejection and inflammatory Crohn's disease. 'I was attracted to NSB given the historical success of StemSmart in multiple serious clinical disorders and the clear potential of the technology for further development.' NeuroScientific Biopharmaceuticals chief executive officer Nathan Smith Adding to the company's ranks of highly credentialled personnel, NeuroScientific announced on Friday that it had also recruited well-regarded Perth-based paediatric haematologist and oncologist Dr Catherine Cole as its chief medical officer. The news of both appointments has continued to fuel a stellar rise in the company's share price, which traded 11.3 per cent higher today to 24.5 cents on the best turnover since April. The company's share price is up 360 per cent since the start of June. Smith was the director of business development at Melbourne's Cell Therapies, which develops and manufactures advanced cell-based therapies and is located within the city's pioneering Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He has held key roles at Genzyme Corporation, Mesoblast Inc and GlaxoSmithKline in the US, as well as other leading companies in the cell therapy sector.
West Australian
4 hours ago
- West Australian
Strategic CEO hire to drives NeuroScientific stem cell therapy release
NeuroScientific Biopharmaceuticals has made a second heavy-hitting appointment in less than a week, bringing in experienced Melbourne-based executive Nathan Smith as its chief executive officer, as the company gears up for the commercial release of its innovative StemSmart stem cell technology. Smith has extensive experience in cell and gene therapies in senior commercial, operational and strategic roles in Australia and the United States, which should prove invaluable as the company navigates the regulatory and commercial pathways for its innovative StemSmart technology. The company says his deep expertise in good practice manufacturing will be critical for converting the biotechnology startup into a scaled-up commercial stem cell company. NeuroScientific acquired the StemSmart technology in late June via its $4.1 million acquisition of unlisted Perth-based stem cell company Isopgen. StemSmart uses a specific type of stem cell, mesenchymal stromal stem cells (MSC), as a last-line infusion treatment for critically ill patients, including those experiencing severe immune complications from bone marrow transplants, kidney and lung transplant rejection and inflammatory Crohn's disease. Adding to the company's ranks of highly credentialled personnel, NeuroScientific announced on Friday that it had also recruited well-regarded Perth-based paediatric haematologist and oncologist Dr Catherine Cole as its chief medical officer. The news of both appointments has continued to fuel a stellar rise in the company's share price, which traded 11.3 per cent higher today to 24.5 cents on the best turnover since April. The company's share price is up 360 per cent since the start of June. Smith was the director of business development at Melbourne's Cell Therapies, which develops and manufactures advanced cell-based therapies and is located within the city's pioneering Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He has held key roles at Genzyme Corporation, Mesoblast Inc and GlaxoSmithKline in the US, as well as other leading companies in the cell therapy sector. NeuroScientific says that having led programs across their full therapeutic cycle, including pre-clinical development and clinical trials, Smith has extensive experience in navigating regulatory approvals and developing commercial product supplies. Smith said he was excited to help advance the technology and make it accessible to patients with serious and life-threatening conditions. 'I was attracted to NSB given the historical success of StemSmart in multiple serious clinical disorders and the clear potential of the technology for further development,' he said. The high-level executive duo of Smith and Cole join a strong leadership team, which also includes Perth-based haematology medical scientist Dr Marian Sturm, as NeuroScientific's chief scientific officer. Sturm pioneered the use of the MSC used in StemSmart over the past 20 years in her former role as facility director of Royal Perth Hospital's Cell and Tissue Therapies centre. StemSmart offers a step up from traditional MSC manufacturing in that the cells are grown in a special media, becoming activated in the process. The platform technology was developed at Royal Perth Hospital and manufactured using the hospital's processes. The cells have been used many times over the years via early-phase clinical trials, studies and on compassionate grounds, with promising results. Later in the year, the company expects to receive the interim results from its latest compassionate trial involving patients with difficult-to-treat fistulising Crohn's disease, in which an open wound develops from a gut flare-up that extends out to the skin. A successful trial will help the company validate its proprietary StemSmart technology in this patient group, who otherwise have limited treatment options. NeuroScientific has created a bit of a whirlwind this year with its Isopogen acquisition, re-energised leadership team and a $3.5 million capital raise. The funding has handed the company a $7.5 million war chest to support further trials and development and helped it generate plenty of momentum towards its long-term goal of partial or full registration for StemSmart, first up as a Crohn's treatment. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
