A ceremony has
been held to mark the official launch of the Kayelekera uranium mine
in Malawi. Paladin Energy made a brief announcement that Malawi President
Bingu wa Mutharika attended the opening of the mine, which should eventually
produce 1400 tonnes of uranium per year.
Paladin Energy Ltd., formerly Paladin Resources Limited is Australia's
second biggest sole uranium mining company behind Energy Resources of
Australia, which is majority owned by mining giant Rio Tinto. It is
headquartered in Perth, Australia.
Paladin owns 85 percent of the project, which has cost around $200 million
to develop. The deposit is open to the west, where exploration continues,
but 11,265 tonnes of uranium are already classified as reserves to a
cut-off grade of 0.04 percent compliant with the JORC and NI 43-101
standards. Overall there are 15,000 tonnes of uranium as measured and
indicated resources at an average grade of 0.08 percent uranium.
The mine has been successfully commissioned, Paladin said, "with
the plant showing full capability to operate throughout its flowsheet
with yellowcake produced during this phase."
Paladin already operates the Langer Heinrich mine in Malawi, which started
production in January 2007. The company has previously said that total
cumulative production from the Langer Heinrich and Kayelekera mines
will be some 14,060 tonnes uranium oxide (11,925 tonnes of uranium)
by the end of 2012.