Langer Heinrich output jumps 75% qoq

Australian uranium mining giant, Paladin Energy earlier this week reported a 75% quarter-on-quarter increase in revenue and higher December quarter production from its Langer Heinrich mine in the Erongo Region near Arandis.
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 first quarter of 2016 are expected to be between 450,000 lb and 650,000 lb.
The average selling price premium guidance for the 2016 full year was US$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.