Taken from Denison Mines second quarter earnings report released today.
U.S. Operations
Production at the White Mesa mill from conventional ore was 114,000 pounds U3O8 for the three months ended June 30, 2009 and 422,000 pounds U3O8 for the six months ended June 30, 2009. In the comparable periods in 2008, production was 62,000 pounds U3O8 for the three months and 114,000 pounds U3O8 for the six months primarily from alternate feed material as the mill did not begin processing conventional ore until April 28, 2008. The Company produced 370,000 and 501,000 pounds V2O5 for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2009 respectively.
During the quarter, the mill was shut down for 29 days for scheduled maintenance and the processing of conventional ore restarted on April 23, 2009. Processing of conventional ore ceased near the end of May upon reaching the 2009 revised targets. Processing of alternate feed material began in early June using the newly constructed alternate feed circuit. At June 30, 2009, a total of 95,800 tons of conventional ore are on the stockpile at the mill containing approximately 359,000 pounds U3O8. The Company also has approximately 848,000 pounds contained in the alternate feed material stockpiled at the mill at June 30, 2009.
Production costs for the second quarter and first six months of 2009 were $73.85 and $76.20 respectively per pound U3O8 and vanadium equivalent. Deducting depletion, amortization and depreciation yields a production cost of $41.65 per pound and $35.62 for the quarter and first half of 2009. The production costs for the same periods for 2008 are not comparable as the mill was being refurbished during the first six months of 2008 which resulted in intermittent operation.
Inventory from U.S. production was 330,000 pounds U3O8 and 1,180,000 pounds V2O5 at June 30, 2009.
WCU Price at posting:
30.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held