A new report from the Nuclear Energy Agency has underlined the promising outlook for the global uranium market and Australia, in particular.
The 30th edition of the ‘Uranium Resources, Production and Demand’ report highlights the rising global demand for uranium, fuelled by the clean-energy transition.
More than 60 reactors are under construction worldwide, and supply shortfalls are projected by the early 2030s unless new production is brought online.
With Australia having the world’s largest known recoverable uranium resources, around 28 per cent of the global total, the country is strategically positioned to play a leading role in the clean energy transition.
As governments globally double down on nuclear energy to meet emissions targets, Australia’s vast reserves and stable operating environment offer a dependable supply alternative to traditional heavyweights like Kazakhstan and Russia.
The report notes that global uranium exploration and development expenditure more than doubled from a low of $US377 million in 2020 to over $US840 million in 2023.
Most of this increase has been led by Canada, China, and Russia, with Australia seventh in the order of uranium exploration expenditure committed. Despite this, the potential remains clear.
Local opportunities include Boss Energy’s Honeymoon operation in South Australia, which commenced commercial production in January, following a strong ramp-up in operations during the December 2024 quarter.
Honeymoon is set to deliver its 2024–25 financial year (FY25) production guidance of 850,000 pounds (lb) of uranium, with a cost guidance of $37–41/lb.
The project achieved several significant production milestones during the December quarter, including a 53 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase in uranium drummed to 137,084lbs and a 96 per cent increase in ion exchange (IX) production to 215,319lbs.
“The ramp-up of operations continued to proceed on schedule across all key production metrics,” Boss managing director Duncan Craib said.
“Given this success, we have officially declared commercial production, with cost guidance provided for the second half of FY25 of $37–41/lb uranium.
“This compares favourably to other uranium development projects and is in line with inflationary increases recorded since the June 2021 enhanced feasibility study.”
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