The Alta Mesa in-situ recovery uranium central processing plant (CPP) in South Texas is now open, enCore Energy (TSXV:EU,NASDAQ:EU) announced earlier this week.
A 70/30 joint venture between EnCore and Boss Energy (ASX:BOE,OTCQX:BQSSF), Alta Mesa began production from its wellfield in June. The companies are targeting full operational capacity by 2026 following a phased ramp up.
The operations are located 80 miles from enCore’s Rosita central processing plant (CPP) and wellfield, and 75 miles from its Kingsville Dome CPP and wellfield. The company’s Rosita uranium operations came online last November.
A grand opening was held at the Alta Mesa CPP and wellfield on October 3, with former US president George W. Bush among the event’s 300 attendees.
“(We) celebrated the restart of the Alta Mesa CPP and established enCore as the only uranium producer in the United States with multiple production facilities in operation,” the announcement read.
Alta Mesa holds a total operating capacity of 1.5 million pounds of uranium per year plus an additional drying capacity of 0.5 million pounds. It previously produced nearly 5 million pounds of uranium between 2005 and 2013, before production was curtailed due to the low uranium price environment.
The Texas-based operation uses ISR technology, a non-invasive uranium extraction process using natural groundwater and oxygen.
The operation sits on over 200,000 acres of private land and mineral rights in and regulated by Texas, and EnCore indicates on its website that only 5 percent of the project area has been explored, as well as only 5 of the 52 identified linear miles of stacked uranium roll fronts.
Joint venture partner Boss Energy wholly owns and operates the Honeymoon uranium ISR operation in South Australia, which entered production in April of this year. It is currently ramping up to annual production of 2.45 million pounds of uranium.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: Boss Energy is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.
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