PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Paladin Energy has continued the sale of its uranium oxide (U3O8) stockpiles during the quarter ended December, with some 475 000 lb U3O8 sold during the quarter at an average price of $31.41/lb.
Paladin in May of last year took the decision to place its Langer Heinrich operation, in Namibia, on care and maintenance, as uranium prices remained low.
The project was transitioned to care and maintenance in August 2018.
The company has now launched an optimisation study for the operation to consider multiple processing options, with the aim of resolving the current operational issues to improve the stability and reliability of the mine and processing facility in order to increase productivity and reduce risk, and to capitalise on the latest technology developments that could lower production costs, improve throughput, and potentially recover vanadium as a by-product.
Paladin said on Thursday that the optimisation concept study would be followed by a prefeasibility study, which will be completed in 2019.