Vancouver — Paladin Resources (PDN-T, PDN-A) has entered the elite league of uranium producers with successful commissioning of its Langer Heinrich mine in west-central Namibia.
Transition from the construction to operational stage was recently achieved, marking what the company describes as “the first complete new conventional uranium mining operation to come into production in a decade.”
The mine was brought online both on schedule and on budget. Paladin is working out some of the “teething problems” at the open-pit operation before ramping up production to the planned Stage 1 rate of 2.6 million lbs. U3O8 per year by mid-2007.
The deposit hosts a measured and indicated resource of 37.1 million tonnes grading about 0.06% U3O8 or about 49.7 million contained pounds U3O8 using a 0.025% U3O8 cutoff grade. An additional 43.4 million inferred tonnes averages 0.06% U3O8, equal to about 55.8 million contained pounds.
Langer Heinrich is a calcrete-type deposit where valley-fill sediments occur in a Tertiary paleo-drainage system. The calcrete, or limestones, formed as chemical precipitates in an arid to semi-arid environment.
Uranium primarily occurs as carnotite, a secondary oxide mineral that also contains vanadium. Carnotite forms a thin film that lines cavities and fracture planes in addition to coating grains and forming disseminations in the calcretized sediments.
The deposit has over 15 km of strike, along paleo-drainages, with several higher-grade pods. Mineralization occurs at very shallow depths forming 1- to 30-metre-thick horizons that are from 50 to 1,100 metres wide.
By 2009, Paladin plans a boost in production to around 3.7 million lbs. U3O8 per year. The mine has an estimated life of at least 17 years.
Shares of the Perth-based company have rallied since about mid-June, rising from around $2.80 to a recent new high of $8.29 in TSX trading.
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