Revenue soars at Paladin Langer Heinrich Mine

Paladin Energy’s revenue surged to US$259 million on account of increased production and cost reduction activities employed at its Kenyan and locally operated mines it stated in a quarterly report.
To date, revenue at its Langer Heinrich operation surged to close to N$90 million for the nine months ended 31 March from the sale of uranium.
Langer Heinrich’s costs of production had fallen to US$28./lb U03, down 8% from US$30.4/lb U03 for the nine months ended 31 March, 3% comparatively from US$29.8/lb to US$29/lb. Paladin had earlier reported record production at its local operation totalling 1,939 tons yellow cake produced over nine months.
According to the quarterly report, cost reductions were due mainly to reductions in soluble loss, reagent usage and impact of foreign exchange movements. Further cost savings and optimisation initiatives are being implemented to further improve unit costs for Langer Heinrich mine and reduce corporate costs over financial years 2014 and 2015 the mining house reported in its quarterly.

Paladin also reported that refinancing activities at its Kenyan and local operations had been completed coupled with the fact that a Chinese entity was eyeing a minority stake in its Langer Heinrich operation of 25%. A non-refundable deposit of US$20 million has been paid out to Paladin and has been released from escrow. The US$190 million deal is expected to be complete by June, subject to certain Chinese regulations.
Positive cash flow from operating activities totalled US$33 million for the nine months ended 31 March after interest payments of US$17 million. The remaining expenditure was US$1.2 million for exploration.
Cash outflow from investing activities of US$23.4 million for the nine months, plant and equipment acquisitions of US$19.2 million, predominantly the new tailings facility at Langer Heinrich mine and nano filtration equipment and tailings pipeline at Kayalekera Mine, and capitalised exploration expenditure of US$5 million.