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Originally commissioned in 2015, Lance successfully used an alkaline leach method to recover the uranium. However, with the uber-low price of uranium in 2019 starting to bite, the company made the strategic decision to focus on a transition to a lower cost, low-pH acid system, similar to its competitors.
Test work in 2020 and 2021 confirmed the Lance ore responded perfectly to the newer processing method, although it took another four years of hard slog to re-engineer the wellfields, lock in funding and secure the all-important regulatory ticks before the company was able to finally fire production back up.
A fourfold surge in uranium prices and a more nuclear-friendly US administration have also helped turbocharge Peninsula’s comeback.
Peninsula Energy managing director and chief executive officer George Bauk said: “The strong support we received as part of the equity raise underscores confidence in Peninsula’s revised production plan and management team and reflects broad recognition of our progress toward becoming a leading uranium producer.”
As one of America’s largest uranium in-situ recovery operations, Lance hosts a 58-million-pound JORC-compliant resource across its Ross, Kendrick and Barber areas.
With its processing plant back online, Peninsula has reset its sights on a tighter, more realistic production plan, starting with 50,000 pounds of uranium in 2025 and ramping up to between 400,000 and 600,000 pounds a year through 2026 and 2027. By 2028, the company expects to be hitting full stride with annual output of up to 1.5 million pounds.
On the ground, a major operational overhaul has seen wellfield designs optimised, injection and production wells tightened from 100 to 60 feet apart, and flow-rate maintenance plans implemented to improve consistency and lower costs.
Meanwhile, development and feasibility studies are progressing at the company’s Kendrick and Dagger satellite projects, where further resource upgrades are expected to support future growth. At over 1000 ppm uranium oxide, Dagger represents a significant step change opportunity for Peninsula. It is a separate horizon to the north of the existing project that grades about half that amount.
With US energy policy now heavily focused on nuclear expansion, including plans to quadruple national capacity and ban Russian uranium imports, Peninsula’s timing could hardly be better.
Having emerged from its reset stronger, cashed up and now in production, Peninsula Energy now looks set to take its place among America’s next generation of uranium suppliers.
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