Boron One Holdings has published an updated preliminary economic assessment for its Piskanja boron project in southern Serbia. The study puts the after tax internal rate of return at 89 percent, up from 79 percent in the 2022 assessment, and the after tax net present value at a 10 percent discount rate at $558.8 million, up about 6 percent from $524.9 million. Average annual gross revenue rises to $140.4 million from $126 million, and initial capital costs are unchanged at $79.9 million, with payback projected within a year of commercial production starting.
The trade offs sit below the headline. Mine life falls to 13 years from 16, and average annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation ease to $87.7 million from $91.3 million. The assessment excludes inferred resources and remains preliminary in nature: the resources in it have not demonstrated economic viability, which is the standard caution for this study stage.
Piskanja is planned as an underground mine producing colemanite and ulexite plus boric acid. Boron is classed as a critical mineral in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, with uses in fertilisers, specialty glass, ceramics and some battery applications, and global production is dominated by Turkey and the United States.
The next steps are a work program toward a feasibility study, permitting and plant qualification, alongside an offtake for at least 25,000 tonnes a year of boron products reported with the study. Until the feasibility work lands, the 89 percent return is a study output, not a financeable number.