Key highlights

  • Peninsula Energy (ASX:PEN) shares fell 11.63% to $0.19 during the Trading session on 20 October 2026.
  • The 28 September 2026 update said Header House 17 was operating at about 500 gallons per minute, above a 450 target.
  • CY2027 uranium production is still expected to fall within 500,000 to 600,000 pounds of U3O8.

Peninsula Energy Limited (ASX:PEN) shares fell 11.63% to $0.19 during the trading session on 20 October 2026. Separately, on 28 September 2026, the company issued an operational update on its Lance Project in Wyoming, USA, covering header house performance, newly drilled wells and a refined development plan for FY2027. The two events occurred on different dates and are not linked here.

About Peninsula Energy Limited

Peninsula Energy is an ASX-listed uranium producer, also quoted on the OTCQB, whose main asset is the Lance Project in Wyoming. Lance uses in-situ recovery, in which a leaching solution is circulated through the orebody via wells grouped into header houses, with uranium recovered at a central processing plant.

Header house performance

Header House 15 began production on 2 September 2026 and was operating at about 350 gallons per minute (GPM), with average well flow of about 12.5 GPM. The release notes this is below the 400 GPM design basis for that header house but at a level the company considers acceptable. Hydrogen peroxide addition began in early September and no gassing issues have been observed since.

Header House 17 began acidification on 10 September 2026 and is operating at about 500 GPM against a disclosed target of 450 GPM, with average well flow of about 15.6 GPM versus 14 GPM in the design basis. Flow is capped at 500 GPM, from a natural rate of about 550 GPM, by capacity limits in the dissolved air flotation process. It is the first header house started with a “soft start” acid procedure.

Newly drilled wells and cost measures

Additional wells were drilled in Header Houses 12, 14 and 16 over two months. In Header House 14, new wells showed flow rates above the average and uranium grades above 100 mg/L. New wells in Header House 12 achieved flow rates above 14 GPM per well compared with historical averages of about 6 GPM.

The company said initial indications point to operational, rather than orebody, causes for earlier issues, while noting that more data is needed to confirm this. In Mine Unit 1, wells producing below 30 mg/L were taken offline, and the release says wider-spaced patterns and multi-horizon screening in Mine Unit 3 have proven ineffective, so a redesign may be warranted.

Revised FY2027 development approach

Peninsula will prioritise production from existing header houses and defer non-essential Capital spending. A Final Investment Decision on the next mine unit is now expected in the first half of CY2027. A Technical Committee has been established, and an interim senior vice president was appointed after a site Leadership change.

Sector backdrop

Uranium producers in the United States operate under state and federal permitting, and in-situ recovery output depends on wellfield design, reagent costs and plant throughput. Production ramp-ups at ISR projects often involve staged commissioning of new header houses.

The company’s own release refers to current sulfuric acid pricing as a Factor in operating decisions.

Risks shareholders should weigh

The release acknowledges earlier low flow rates and low grades, and that further data is required to test management’s assessment. Header House 15 is running below its design flow rate, and Header House 17 is capacity-limited by the flotation process.

Mine Unit 3 may need redesign, lower-grade wells have been shut in, and the decision on the next mine unit has been set for the first half of CY2027. Site leadership changes and the company’s capital needs add further uncertainty.

What’s next

The company expects further operational data from the header houses, ongoing wellfield work, the Final Investment Decision in the first half of CY2027, and CY2027 production within the guided range of 500,000 to 600,000 pounds of U3O8.