By Adolf Kaure.
Australian exploration company, Paladin Energy has stated that the restart of the Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia and the acquisition of Canadian company Fission, are its two major highlights for the second quarter of the year.
This was underpinned in Paladin’s recently released Quarterly and Cash Flow Reports for the period ending June 2024.
Langer Heinrich Uranium’s first customer shipment containing 319,229lb of tri-uranium octoxide, a byproduct of uranium mining, departed Walvis Bay on 12 July 2024.
“The Langer Heinrich operations team have done an exceptional job in delivering early production and the operational knowledge gained has underpinned our 2025 financial year production guidance of between 4.0 to 4.5Mlb of tri-uranium octoxide,” said Paladin Chief Executive, Ian Purdy.
The CEO further stated the acquisition of Fission, wouldbenefit Langer Heinrich making Paladin a bigger Uranium front-runner globally. “The acquisition of Fission [in Canada], along with the successful restart of our Langer Heinrich Mine, is another step in our strategy to diversify and grow into a global uranium leader across the top uranium mining jurisdictions of Canada, Namibia and Australia,” he said.
HIGHLIGHTS
The Langer Heinrcih Restart Project was completed on time and within cost forecast, with total project expenditure of US$119.7 million.
Final outstanding cash payments included within the total project expenditure will be reflected in the 2025 financial year.
In completing the Restart Project, over 2.5 million hours were worked with no serious injuries or reportable environmental incidents.
The rolling total recordable injury frequency rate (TRIFR) per million hours worked at 30 June 2024 was 4.4, with one lost-time injury during the quarter.
“There is a significant ongoing focus to drive improvements in safety performance,” said Purdy.
Following the achievement of commercial production at Langer Heinrich on 30 March 2024, production ramped up with 517,597lb of tri-uranium octoxide produced to 30 June 2024. In addition to the stated production, metal-in circuit was increased across the plant as part of the initial operations activities.
Langer Heinrich will continue in operational ramp up during the 2025 financial year, with ore feed sourced from previously mined stockpiled ore.
Production levels are expected to be higher in the second half of the year.
Mining activities are expected to re-commence in 2026 ahead of achieving nameplate production of 6Mlb per year by the end of 2026.