Paladin looks at options
Australian miner Paladin remains confident that it can find a lasting solution to its planned restructuring, which hit a brick wall recently.
It will be business as usual at embattled Australian mining group Paladin's Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia, despite worries about a restructuring deal that is not going as planned.
Efforts to restructure and sell off a stake of the Langer Heinrich mine to the China National Nuclear Corporation have not gone as planned, resulting in Paladin chief executive officer Alexander Molyneux voicing concern about potential job losses should the structuring deal not go through.
Namibian Sun this week asked Langer Heinrich Namibia how operations were being affected by the standstill.
Its spokesperson, Bernadette Bock, responded: “Although Paladin ultimately has little influence over China National Nuclear Corporation's (CNNC) decision-making, it would be in their best interest to retain the employees and in light of this, we do not foresee major disruptions to the current staff complement on site. Notwithstanding this, Paladin is currently pursuing various options, including disputing the validity of CNNC's claim, in order to preserve its assets and valued employees.”
“In the absence of the Langer Heinrich stake sale, I'm very happy that our bondholders are supporting the company with a viable restructure that preserves long-term value for all stakeholders,” Mining Weekly quoted Molyneux as saying.
Mining Weekly also reported that Paladin could be a bankruptcy casualty of the uranium price downturn that has ravaged the industry for several years now. In 2016, spot prices fell 37% from US$34.70 per pound to US$18.50 per pound on November 14, according to independent market consultant UX Consulting, before turning somewhat positive again to trade at US$20.25 per pound as on January 2. This is still a far cry from the lofty all-time high of US$136 per pound hit in 2007.
Meanwhile, The Langer Heinrich mine produced 1.20 million pounds of uranium oxide during the December quarter, with the volume of ore milled down 5% on the last quarter, while the average plant feed grade also decreased by 2% over the September quarter.
Total uranium sales during the three months under review reached 1.52 million pounds of uranium oxide, with average selling prices of US$26.26 per pound, generating gross sales revenues of $40.1 million.
This was a 166% increase over the previous quarter's revenue, as spot prices increased from the US$19.72 per pound recorded in the September quarter.
Paladin told shareholders that lower uranium sales of between 700 000 pounds and 800 000 pounds were expected in the March quarter due to the timing of deliveries under a major contract.
OGONE TLHAGE
Efforts to restructure and sell off a stake of the Langer Heinrich mine to the China National Nuclear Corporation have not gone as planned, resulting in Paladin chief executive officer Alexander Molyneux voicing concern about potential job losses should the structuring deal not go through.
Namibian Sun this week asked Langer Heinrich Namibia how operations were being affected by the standstill.
Its spokesperson, Bernadette Bock, responded: “Although Paladin ultimately has little influence over China National Nuclear Corporation's (CNNC) decision-making, it would be in their best interest to retain the employees and in light of this, we do not foresee major disruptions to the current staff complement on site. Notwithstanding this, Paladin is currently pursuing various options, including disputing the validity of CNNC's claim, in order to preserve its assets and valued employees.”
“In the absence of the Langer Heinrich stake sale, I'm very happy that our bondholders are supporting the company with a viable restructure that preserves long-term value for all stakeholders,” Mining Weekly quoted Molyneux as saying.
Mining Weekly also reported that Paladin could be a bankruptcy casualty of the uranium price downturn that has ravaged the industry for several years now. In 2016, spot prices fell 37% from US$34.70 per pound to US$18.50 per pound on November 14, according to independent market consultant UX Consulting, before turning somewhat positive again to trade at US$20.25 per pound as on January 2. This is still a far cry from the lofty all-time high of US$136 per pound hit in 2007.
Meanwhile, The Langer Heinrich mine produced 1.20 million pounds of uranium oxide during the December quarter, with the volume of ore milled down 5% on the last quarter, while the average plant feed grade also decreased by 2% over the September quarter.
Total uranium sales during the three months under review reached 1.52 million pounds of uranium oxide, with average selling prices of US$26.26 per pound, generating gross sales revenues of $40.1 million.
This was a 166% increase over the previous quarter's revenue, as spot prices increased from the US$19.72 per pound recorded in the September quarter.
Paladin told shareholders that lower uranium sales of between 700 000 pounds and 800 000 pounds were expected in the March quarter due to the timing of deliveries under a major contract.
OGONE TLHAGE
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