Photo by: Bloombeg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Uranium miner Paladin Energy on Monday reported a 75% quarter-on-quarter increase in revenue and higher December quarter production from the Langer Heinrich mine, in Namibia.
The Langer Heinrich mine delivered a 16% quarter-on-quarter increase in production to 1.25-million pounds of uranium oxide (U3O8), while drummed material increased by 5% on the previous quarter to 1.26-million pounds of U3O8.
The increase in production was owing to a 7% increase in throughput and a 6% increase in overall recovery. However, Paladin noted that soluble recovery was below budget, owing to lower-than-expected tailings density as a result of poor settling ore and worn cyclones. In addition, ion exchange performance was also lower than budget.
Paladin reported that the company expected a continued trend of drummed production exceeding accounting production for the remainder of 2016.
Meanwhile, total sales for the quarter were 1.69-million pounds U3O8, with an average selling price of $37.90/lb generating gross sales revenue of $64.4-million. Paladin's achieved selling price compared with an average spot price of $36.03/lb.
Uranium sales for the March quarter were expected to be between 450 000 lb and 650 000 lb. The average selling price premium guidance for the 2016 full year was $4/lb above average spot price.
Meanwhile, Paladin reported that it was reviewing its production guidance for 2016, which was previously in the range of between 5-million pounds and 5.4-million pounds of U3O8. Its new guidance was likely to be in the range of between 5-million pounds and 5.2-million pounds of U3O8.
The company was also reviewing its full-year C1 unit cash cost guidance range of between $25/lb and $27/lb, with the potential for a downward revision.