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PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Uranium miner Paladin Energy has reported a 10% decline in production during the March quarter from its Langer Heinrich mine, in Namibia.
The company said on Friday that while mining production volumes remained on target, production at the Langer Heinrich plant was affected by a failure of the pre-leach thickener feed well in February.
The event took 12 days to repair and recommission, and about 100 000 lb of uranium oxide (U3O8) production was lost during the quarter.
Significant plant maintenance was also undertaken during the quarter in the front-end and mid-section of the plant, to improve plant operating time and to facilitate a stable operation.
During the three months to March, the Langer Heinrich operation produced 1.23-million pounds U3O8, compared with the 1.37-million pounds produced in the previous quarter, bringing year-to-date production to 3.7-million pounds.
Uranium sales for the quarter reached 440 000 lb, with an average selling price of $38.03/lb, generating sales revenue of $16.7-million.
During the quarter under review, Paladin successfully commissioned the bicarbonate recovery project (BRP) at the Langer Heinrich project, to assist in carbonate uranium processing, and besides minor downtime to complete priority construction punch list items, the plant ran continuously at, or above, design output.
The BRP formed part of the miner's process optimisation strategy at the Langer Heinrich mine.
Paladin noted that the anticipated substantial reductions in reagent consumption, a notable reduction in certain plant processing constraints and improvements on soluble recoveries were immediately apparent, and in light of the plant’s current performance, Paladin expected the BRP to exceed expectations and yield direct savings of up to 100%, without the need for further capital expenditure.
Looking ahead, Paladin maintained its full-year production expectations at between 5-million and 5.2-million pounds of U3O8 from the Langer Heinrich operation.
The Kayelekera mine, in Malawi, remained on care and maintenance during the quarter under review. Studies to restart the operation were well advanced and would likely be completed by the end of June.