• Market Watch

Langer Heinrich sees production peak in December

• 20 Hours Ago

December saw Paladin’s Langer Heinrich mine reach record production figures since its restart in March 2024, following a lengthy care and maintenance period.

Ramp up operations resulted in massive gains for the recently reopened mine, despite a November shut down.

Following the successful completion of improvement works during the November planned plant shutdown, December 2024 recorded the highest monthly production volumes since the restart of commercial production at the LHM in March 2024.

Paladin CEO Ian Purdy described the production levels reached as pleasing.

“It was pleasing to see benefits from the planned plant shutdown and other operational initiatives positively impacting production from the LHM. We continue to de-risk the operation, but recognise the LHM is still ramping up to full production and patience is required as our local team steadily achieves their goals,” Purdy said.

Following the successful completion of a number of improvement works during the planned plant shutdown in November, 308 604 pounds of uranium oxide were produced during December, which was the highest monthly production volume since the restart of commercial production at the LHM in March 2024, Paladin said in a quarterly update.

Notably the LHM has experienced significant improvements in recovery rates and the stabilisation of water supply to the plant following the shutdown.

According to Paladin, the shutdown was completed within schedule 12 days, and included a number of plant improvements and routine maintenance activities. Plant improvements included the installation of improved burner technology in the leach steam circuit, pump and pipe improvements in the charge-coupled device circuits, and reconditioned and improved heat exchange infrastructure in the leach circuit.

“The significant improvements in plant recovery were achieved as a result of improvements to operational controls identified and completed by the LHM operations team, as well as various other plant improvements and optimisation measures implemented during the shutdown,” Paladin said.

Regarding water, deliveries from NamWater improved significantly following the shutdown. Post shutdown, water flows achieved the highest sustained rates since the LHM restart, with no water related disruptions to operations during December according to Paladin.

“The shutdown also allowed the operation to increase water levels at its water storage facilities, which is expected to provide a buffer to better manage the water balance at the LHM plant. The operation continued to experience variability in the stockpiled ore grade and quality during the quarter,” Paladin said.