Published on Sunday Nov 14 2010
Uranium miner Paladin Energy expects a project to expand capacity at the Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia to 5,2-million pounds a year will reach mechanical completion and be ready for commissioning early next year, the firm said on Friday.
The project represents the third stage of production growth at Langer Heinrich, which produced 900 000 lb in the September quarter, an increase of 38% compared with the same period of 2009, but lower than in the June quarter this year.
The budget for the stage-three project is still within 10% of expectations, and the project is about 70% complete, Paladin said.
Paladin is already studying a stage-four expansion to some 10-million pounds a year, and reported last month it had doubled the resource at Langer Heinrich to 134,1-million pounds.
The average cost of sales for the mine in the September quarter was flat at $26/lb, despite a 7% appreciation of the rand in the quarter.
The company also owns the Kayelekera mine in Malawi, which has ramped up to nameplate capacity a few months later than originally expected, but is now showing significant improvement, the firm reported.
The company started the completion test required by lenders to the project on November 1, and the process will continue for three months.
Paladin expects to report a reserve upgrade for Kayelekera before the end of the year.
Altogether, the company produced 1,36-million pounds of uranium in the September quarter, up 83% compared with the same period a year earlier.
Sales rose 48%, to 1,04-million pounds, and the firm realised an average sales price of $46,44/lb, compared with $54,48/lb a year earlier. The price was lower because it sold more material on the spot market, Paladin indicated.
Quarterly revenue from uranium sales rose 26%, to $48,4-million, and the firm narrowed its net loss to $8,2-million, from $19,4-million in the year-ago period.
Paladin is in the process of buying up the last shares it does not already own of NGM Resources, after 90% of the company was acquired in an off-market takeover offer.
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