paladin signs 2nd malawi sales contract

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Paladin Signs Second Malawi Uranium Sales Contract With Utility

Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Paladin Energy Ltd., the Australian company producing uranium in Africa, said it signed a second contract for the sale of material from a $200 million mine under construction in Malawi.

The agreement is for the delivery of more than 1 million pounds of uranium oxide to a North American utility in 2011-2013
at specified sales prices which are reflective of the current term uranium price," the Perth-based company said today in a statement to the Australian stock exchange.

Paladin is due this quarter to begin the process to start up the Kayelekera mine in southern Malawi and is scheduled to deliver uranium to an Asian utility this year under the first sales accord for the project. It is also expanding an existing mine, Langer Heinrich in Namibia, which started shipments in 2007.

"Although the commissioning and ramp-up of the two newly constructed operations will have its challenges, the company is at this stage hopeful it can achieve its stated production of 3.35 million pounds" of uranium oxide for the year ending June 30, Paladin said in the statement. The expansion of Langer Heinrich is running "slightly behind schedule," it said.

Paladin gained as much as 12 cents, or 4 percent, to A$3.09 in Sydney trading, beating an advance of as much as 1.4 percent in the exchange’s benchmark index. The stock was at A$3.08 at 1:45 p.m. local time.

Production at Langer Heinrich rose to 673,982 pounds in the three months ended Dec. 31, taking first half output to 1.32 million pounds, 4 percent below target, Paladin said. Sales were on schedule at 245,000 pounds, valued at $13.23 million, it said. Paladin got an average of $54 a pound for its uranium in the quarter.
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