Paladin Energy‚ a uranium producer with projects in Australia and two operating mines in Africa‚ delivered a net loss for the year to June 30 of US$172.8m‚ an increase of 110% from the previous year’s US$82.3m loss.
This translates into a loss per share of US21.1 cents form a loss of US11.1 cents the previous year. No dividend was declared.
The loss was mainly as a result of an impairment associated with the write-down of mining assets in Malawi in the quarter ended September 2011‚ MD and CEO John Borshoff said in a statement.
The financial year ending June 2013 will be the first year Paladin will operate without construction and commissioning activities running in parallel.
“In this new environment the company is well placed to optimise efficiencies and costs on its operations and benefit from returns. Debt gearing is also reducing‚” he said.
The company recorded “record production” for the year of 6.895 million pounds (Mlb) of U3O8‚ an increase of 21% over the previous year.
Langer Heinrich Mine produced 4.417Mlb U3O8 for the year‚ an increase of 25% over the previous year.
The Kayelekera Mine in Malawi delivered “record production” of 2.478Mlb U3O8 for the year‚ an increase of 14% over the previous year.
The company said that US$274m was successfully raised through convertible bonds and a portion of the proceeds was used to fund concurrent partial buyback of US$191m of the existing convertible bonds maturing in 2013.
The company said a three-year moratorium on uranium development and mining in Canada had ended‚ and Paladin would proceed to development of the Michelin deposit. Drilling began in August this year.
