https://www.miningweekly.com

Paladin mothballs Namibia uranium mine

25th May 2018

By: Esmarie Iannucci

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Australasia

     

Font size: - +

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed Paladin Energy on Friday confirmed that its Langer Heinrich uranium mine, in Namibia, was being placed under care and maintenance, but said that the low-cost openpit operation would be one of the first to resume production when the uranium market normalised.

Paladin in April said that it was unlikely to resume physical mining activities at the mine despite the medium-grade ore stockpile currently feeding the processing plant set to be exhausted before mid-2019.

The ASX and TSX-listed company on Friday said that it had received consent from all the relevant stakeholders to place the operation under care and maintenance, and had now stopped presenting ore to the plant.

There would be a run-down phase of up to three months where various stages of the plant would be progressively suspended and cleaned, and during this time, there would be some continued production of finished uranium.

Paladin noted that once the run-down phase was complete, operations would have been completely suspended and Langer Heinrich would be under care and maintenance.

The company noted that the decision to place Langer Heinrich under care and maintenance was not taken lightly, particularly as it would impact a number of employees and contractors, as well as the community in which the mine operates.

“However, care and maintenance is the most logical decision to preserve Langer Heinrich’s valuable uranium resource and mitigate operating cash flow losses. The company believes the ongoing care and maintenance costs will be substantially less than the Kayelekera mine, in Malawi, due to differences in water balance and plant footprint,” Paladin said.

Furthermore, the Langer Heinrich mine was expected to have a relatively low working capital requirement and short lead time to resume operations.

Paladin was expecting the uranium market to normalise over the next few years, in the absence of any external shocks, with the company telling shareholders that curtailments by producers could serve to accelerate the anticipated market correction.


 

Edited by Mariaan Webb
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION