Big writedown of share price for failing uranium company Paladin

Paladin sinks to loss on Queensland assets, SMH,February 14, 2014 – A large write-down in the value of Queensland uranium ventures has forced Paladin Energy to a net loss of $US255 million for the first half.

Paladin wrote down the value of its Queensland exploration assets by $US226.5 million after tax, while lower uranium prices also weighed on performance, with the gross loss for the half at $US29.3 million. That compares with a gross profit of $US11.3 million a year earlier.

Sales revenues for the December half slid 12 per cent to $US171 million, despite a 3 per cent rise in production to a record 4.253 million pounds of uranium oxide.

The persistent weakness in uranium prices forced Paladin earlier this month to announce it would cease production at the smaller of its two mines, the Kayelekera operation in Malawi, until prices recover toward $US70 a pound.

Managing director John Borshoff has also ruled out expanding Paladin’s flagship mine, the Langer Heinrich venture in Namibia, until prices rebound……

Mr Borshoff said mine suspensions such as Kayelekera and the Honeymoon mine in Australia would be “just the first” and that further closures were inevitable given that half of global production had costs above the current spot price.http://www.smh.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/paladin-sinks-to-loss-on-queensland-assets-20140214-32pyf.html