PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Uranium miner Paladin Energy has reported a 6% increase in production during the three months ended September, with the Langer Heinrich mine, in Namibia, reporting record output.
Paladin reported a combined production of 2.04-million pounds or 927 t of uranium oxide (U3O8) during the quarter under review, which was an increase on the previous corresponding period, as both Langer Heinrich and the Kayelekera operation, in Malawi, had reached steady-state production.
The Langer Heinrich mine produced a record 1.4-million pounds of U3O8 during the September quarter, which was 4% above the production guidance, and up 11% on the same quarter in 2012.
Kayelekera produced 614 603 lb of U3O8 during the quarter under review, which was 9% below the budgeted production owing to the extension of the planned shutdown.
The plant has been down for a total of 22 days for its yearly maintenance, which was about one week longer than expected, owing to process restart requirements.
For the full 2014 financial year, Paladin was expecting to produce between 8.3-million pounds and 8.7-million pounds of U3O8.
The miner was also continuing its cost reduction strategy to further improve operational efficiency. The combined corporate overhead and exploration budgets have been cut by $10.8-million to achieve an overall cash cost reduction of 24% during 2014.