Peninsula Energy Ltd (ASX:PEN, OTCQB:PENMF) is well on track to restart uranium production at its 100%-owned district-scale Lance Projects in Wyoming, US, this quarter with preparations in the final stages of completion.
The company produced uranium at its Lance Projects from 2015 to 2019 and decided to transform the facility from an alkaline in-situ recovery (ISR) operation to a low pH ISR operation.
The Lance Projects has a 2012 JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate of 53.7 million pounds of measured, indicated and inferred uranium (U3O8).
Busy December
Throughout December, the site team was actively engaged in preparations to systematically return the project to commercial production, including substantially completing engineering and design work and pre-qualifying contractors for modification works.
The company hopes to achieve commercial production grades within the pre-circulated wellfield areas late in the quarter, with plant recovery operations commencing shortly after.
"Systematic advancement"
In a corporate update, Peninsula’s managing director and chief executive officer Wayne Heili said: “We are excited to continue the systematic advancement of our flagship project with the active preparation of Lance for commercial production.
"An important milestone has been achieved by commencing wellfield pre-conditioning flow.
“Peninsula places a strong emphasis on constantly meeting the high environmental standards of the State of Wyoming and strives to be a responsible contributor to the quality of life in our local communities.
Land expansion
Concurrently, Peninsula is hoping to expand the licence area of Lance to include the Kendrick Production Area.
Its wholly-owned US subsidiary Strata Energy Inc has submitted applications to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ) for approval, which will take 18-24 months.
The company is fully authorised to conduct uranium ISR operations within the defined boundaries of Lance’s Ross Production Area.
Ross holds 5.9 million pounds of JORC-compliant measured, indicated and inferred U3O8, a licensed and constructed uranium ISR production facility and two fully developed mine wellfields. A third mine unit is under development, which the company anticipates will hold four or five mining units when completed.
Kendrick, which holds 15.9 million pounds U3O8, is planned to be the next sequential production area at Lance after Ross. A drilling program is planned to enhance Kendrick’s resource quality this year.
The Lance Projects area.
“Incorporating the Kendrick area will provide opportunities for resource and production expansion at Lance. I would like to recognise the hard work and dedication of our regulatory staff and consultants in preparing these comprehensive documents,” Heili said.
“With a strong cash position at year-end, we look forward to continuing our good work into 2023 and delivering on our biggest milestone to date, which will be commencing uranium ISR operations at Lance in Q1 2023.”
As of end-2022, Peninsula had a cash balance of US$24.8 million plus uranium inventory consisting of about 510,000 pounds. It does not have any long-term debt.