CHAMWE KAIRA
The Langer Heinrich Mine raked in US$24.8 million in July with the first customer shipment, containing 319 229 pounds of uranium oxide that departed Walvis Bay, Namibia in July. The mine had been under care of maintenance for a number of years.
The shipment came with a partial advance payment under the terms of the customer offtake agreement.
Paladin Energy of Australia, which is the major shareholder, said the restart project was completed on time and within cost forecast, with total project expenditure of US$119.7 million.
Paladin successfully achieved the commercial production targets set for the 2024 financial year on time and below the restart project and operational readiness budget, and the company will continue to ramp up during 2025.
The company appointed Trollope Mining Namibia for the stockpile reclaim phase of operations. The result project commenced in July 2022, and was focused on the repairs and refurbishment and debottlenecking of the existing plant which was placed into care and maintenance in 2018.
The company said it has had flexible shipping arrangements and early payment terms with its largest customer, providing flexibility and improved cash flow during the ramp up of operations at Langer Heinrich.
“The uranium term market fundamentals remain strong and Paladin continues to actively engage with top-tier industry counterparties. The company will continue to layer in industry-leading offtake agreements as production ramps up at the mine. Paladin has executed commercial agreements with all three Western conversion facilities and has secured the necessary shipping arrangements,” the annual report said.
Paladin Energy chairman, Cliff Lawrenson said Langer Heinrich is delivering production into an increasingly supportive demand. He said Paladin achieved significant milestones including completion of the restart project on time and within cost forecast, exceptional project delivery with over 2.5 million project hours with no serious injury or environment incident and the commencement of production at the Langer Heinrich. The other milestones were the inventory buildup ahead of its first customer shipment and the provision of capital flexibility to its balance sheet via a US$150M Syndicated debt facility.
“Nuclear energy will continue to play an important role in the transition to a low carbon economy as the second largest source of global clean energy with almost zero carbon emissions. Importantly uranium fuel is one of the most concentrated energy forms with one kilogram of enriched uranium-235 releasing about 24 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy through nuclear fission, which is equivalent to burning approximately 3000 tons of coal,” said Ian Purdy, Chief Executive Office of Paladin Energy.
