Kayelekera hits record productionFRIDAY, 18 JANUARY 2013 08:55...

Kayelekera hits record production
FRIDAY, 18 JANUARY 2013 08:55 BUSINESS REPORTER

Uranium production at Paladin's Kayelekera Mine in Karonga surged by 20.9 percent in the quarter ended December to hit a new record, the miner said on Thursday.

In its December 2012 Quarterly Activities Report, Paladin said production in the three months from October to December raised 772,280 lb (about 350,300kg) up from 638,950lb (about 289822kg) in the three months ended September.

During the quarter ended June 2012, Kayelekera produced 726,299lb while in the first three months of 2012 the mine produced 724,552 lb.

Paladin Energy Limited Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer John Borshoff said total material mined for the December quarter was on target with ore mined 12 percent above target due to a change in mine sequencing.

Borshoff said ore availability on stockpiles remains in excess of four months of plant requirements.

The quarterly update comes at a time when there is some discontent among Malawians over Paladin's contract for Kayelekera with some quarters calling for its renegotiation.

People's Transformation Movement (Petra) president Kamuzu Chibambo on Monday said his party would give the Malawi government 14 days to explain why the Kayelekera deal cannot be renegotiated.

Chibambo wants government's stakes in the mine increased from the current 15 to 40 percent.

But Paladin Africa Limited General Manager for International Affairs Greg Walker has declared that it will not renegotiate the agreement with the Malawi government until the expiry of the 10 year period of the current contract.

"We will not renegotiate the agreement. And people think that terribly unreasonable. But it is not," said Walker.

He warned that any attempts to forcibly change the terms of the agreement would damage Malawi's reputation as an investment destination.