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Johannesburg - Australian uranium producer Paladin Energy (Paladin) is back on track with development of its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia, after a six-month delay caused by metallurgical problems in the plant.
At the same time, Paladin is pushing ahead with development of the Kayelekera uranium mine in northern Malawi at a cost of US$200m, of which US$171m had been committed by the end of August.
Langer Heinrich achieved its nameplate capacity of producing at an annual rate of 2.7m pounds of uranium oxide (U3O8) in December 2007.
The mine produced 1.71m lbs in the year to end-June and has embarked on the second stage of expansion.
This will take production to a rate of 3.7m lbs/year by May 2009.
Addressing the Africa Down Under Conference in Perth, Western Australia, Paladin GM David Marsh said he was confident the May target throughput would be met.
"That is equivalent to around 308,000lbs/month and will certainly ensure Paladin is back on track with its mine production targets," he told delegates.
Marsh said that the firm is considering a third stage to commence soon after completion of the second. This is being taken into account in the sizing of plant items for the second stage.
"The timing of this stage three expansion is related to the availability of water and power, which is currently being addressed.
"Stage three will take production to around 6m lbs per annum by end-2010," Marsh said.
The Langer Heinrich mine was officially opened in March last year.
It was initially forecast to reach its planned production rate of 2.7m lbs/year by July 2007.
That target was deferred to January this year because of the failure of leach tank liners in January 2007. This, in turn, damaged the heat exchangers which took some five months to repair.
According to Paladin MD John Borshoff, the Kayelekera project is running on time and on budget. It will be completed by the end of 2008.
At this stage the power plant has been commissioned, the semi-autogenous grinding mill is being installed and the acid plant is on schedule for delivery in October.
At full output, Kayelekera is forecast to produce 3.3m lbs of U3O8 using acid leach, resin-in-pulp technology.
- Miningmx.com
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