Monsters of Rock: Boss resurgent, Capricorn down, Gold Road dots and crosses, Jupiter delivers dividend

Boss is back on the bounce. Pic: Getty Images

Under fire Boss Energy lifts on positive cashflow from uranium operations
Gold Road, Capricorn deliver gold results with few surprises
Jupiter ups final dividend despite mild manganese market

We’re nearly there, coming to the end of a long reporting season, which saw mixed signals from across the mining industry as gold miners pump out record numbers, iron ore players trim dividends and battery metals producers strive to survive.

After yesterday’s mayhem, which saw well over 10 major miners report, Friday was a stroll in the park for market watchers.

But there were some intriguing sights, starting with uranium player Boss.

Boss Energy (ASX:BOE)

Yo-yo stock Boss Energy, which kind of has the vibe of a lower table premier league club right now, was up 8.5% after announcing $17.4m in operating net cash flow for FY25 from its Honeymoon and Alta Mesa uranium projects in South Australia and Texas.

BOE reported a $34.17m net loss on its first year of operations at Honeymoon, but attributed most of that to ‘non-cash’ impacts – largely $77.2m attributed to the cost of purchased uranium in its strategic inventory.

It still has $224.3m in the bank, including shares and $120.3m worth of uranium inventory, 18% lower than the $274.2m at the end of FY24.

The bad news was already out of the way for Boss, which announced the imminent departure of Duncan Craib as MD last month before dropping the bombshell that it was unlikely to hit its 2.1Mlbpa capacity after reviewing the performance of its Honeymoon mine and plant.

It’ll ramp up as expected to 1.6Mlb this year at all in sustaining costs of $64-70/lb.

An independent review of the future capacity of the project is under way.

Argonaut’s George Ross said the results were mostly in line with consensus.

“BOE is fortunate to hold significant liquid assets in the form of shares and finished uranium inventory which may come in handy if production becomes a struggle at the East Kalkaroo deposit area and uranium prices were to deteriorate,” he said in a note this morning.

Boss shares have fallen 58% since peaking at $4.67 on June 30, and are down around 20% YTD, but saw a welcome rebound today.

Gold Road Resources (ASX:GOR) and Capricorn Metals (ASX:CMM)

Two gold miners with few surprises, Gold Road upped its half year profit by 148.2% to $107m from $43.1m a year earlier as higher gold prices lifted revenue 65% for its half-share of the Gruyere gold mine.

Capricorn boosted NPAT 72% to $150.3m, with revenue rising 41% to $505.9m.

But Gold Road is very much in a holding pattern ahead of its almost certain $3.7bn sale to Gruyere JV partner Gold Fields and Capricorn is heading into build mode at its Karlawinda and Mount Gibson gold mines, so it’s not on dividend watch right now.

EBITDA was up 62% to $273.3m, Capricorn said.

Jupiter Mines (ASX:JMS)

Manganese prices have been much of a muchness this year, but the cash generation of Jupiter’s Tshipi mine has been put on display, with JMS tripling its final dividend to 0.75c.

The $14.7m payout comes in at 58% of NPAT and 122% of its payout from the Tshipi mine in South Africa, where it holds a 49.9% stake.

JMS pulled out a profit after tax for the second half of the financial year of $26.1m, slightly below last year’s $28.5m, though dividends and profits remain down on FY23’s 1.2c and $42.8m.

It’s returned $425m over the past seven years, with 100 years of resource life remaining, Jupiter MD Brad Rogers said.

“Jupiter is proud of its outstanding track record of dividend returns to shareholders. Our ability to do so reflects the established quality of the Tshipi mine and its reliable operation by the Tshipi management team, working with Jupiter and its co-investors, as well as Jupiter’s own cost discipline,” he said.

“This dividend continues Jupiter’s success at maximising returns to shareholders, noting that this final dividend is 122% of the Tshipi dividend received for this period.”

JMS is on takeover watch after South African miner Exxaro took over one the stakes in Tshipi held by its JV partners and emerged as a 19.99% shareholder in Jupiter at the equivalent of 31.7c per share. Up 0.87% this morning, Jupiter is still trading at just 23c.

Its net profit after tax for the full year came in at $40.1m, slightly up on 2024’s $38.9m, with total dividends including the half year coming to $19.6m, equal to 2024’s total.