CEO of ASX's newest uranium producer Boss Energy says: "It's time to repay the faith"

This interview was filmed on Friday, 31 January 2025

It’s time to repay the faith of stakeholders. That’s the underlying message from the CEO of Australia’s newest uranium producer, Boss Energy's Duncan Craib.

Over the years, the ASX has proven to be a graveyard for hundreds of small mining companies that were unsuccessful in making the leap from explorer, to developer, to producer. In my experience, if a thousand start the journey, perhaps only a dozen or so complete it.

Boss Energy (ASX: BOE) is an ASX mining success story, having successfully navigated its way through the long path to production. As we start 2025, the company appears to be in a very strong position.

In some ways it’s success overnight, but really it’s 8 years in the making for Boss Energy

—Duncan Craib, Boss Energy CEO

Production is flowing from two mines in two Tier 1 jurisdictions – Australia and the USA – about as good as you can get in today’s tense geopolitical environment. The ramp-up of the company’s flagship Honeymoon mine in South Australia is on time, on budget, and, importantly, beating analysts’ estimates on costs.

The company is profitable, sitting on huge strategic stockpiles of both uranium and cash, and is debt-free – a most envious position among Australian mining companies.

But with most mining companies at some stage, the reality of the dreaded “commodity price cycle” hits. It's a fact that the prices of many commodities swing between boom and bust as they cycle through deficit and surplus.

The timing is looking increasingly right on this point, too, suggests Craib. He notes the fundamentals for future uranium price strength are trending in the right direction. Demand is growing, and despite the uranium price doubling over the past couple of years – it remains insufficient to incentivise sufficient supply to meet the world’s growing energy transition needs.

A lot of companies can’t get up at this point, the longer those companies can’t get into production, that deficit continues to widen and it’s going to lead to a pop in the commodity price.

—Duncan Craib, Boss Energy CEO

Focus on the term price, not the spot price, says Craib – and the term price is rising. Also consider a substantial amount of supply is increasingly becoming bifurcated between East and West. Given these factors, Craib believes Boss Energy is perfectly positioned to leverage its standing as a trusted producer.

Listening to Craib, it’s not hard to come away with the impression that Boss Energy is hitting its straps at the perfect time. However, as is the case with many commodities and with many commodity companies, the market can be both slow and fickle with its recognition that the worm is turning.

Boss Energy’s share price has pulled back from recent highs, which is in line with the uranium spot price. So, is this the perfect time to buy quality on sale? Let's dive in!

Boss Energy CEO, Duncan Craib

Timecodes

• 0:00 – Intro

• 0:23 – The journey to production

• 1:39 – Most fail, few succeed – what sets Boss apart?

• 3:02 – Uranium price outlook

• 5:48 – Term pricing vs spot pricing

• 8:51 – The Alta Mesa uranium project

• 11:16 – Boss’ strategic uranium inventory

• 13:03 – The geopolitical landscape for uranium

• 15:21 – A two-tiered uranium market

• 17:00 – Boss’ quarterly update

• 19:38 – How is the ramp-up tracking?

• 21:18 – What does the future hold?

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This article first appeared on Livewire Markets on Wednesday 5 February 2024.

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