Paladin Energy's (ASX:PDN, TSE:PDN) shares fell their lowest in five weeks after the Africa-focused uranium miner said its production levels for the September quarter would be almost 25 percent lower than expected.
The Perth, Australia-based company's TSX-listed shares fell to 37 Canadian cents, the lowest intraday price since Aug. 11, and were trading at 37.5 Canadian cents, down 6.3 percent, at 9:51 a.m. in Toronto.
Paladin said in a statement today that a "scaling issue" at its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia would push its production for the September quarter back a further "5 to 7.5 percent".
The company had previously flagged an expected 15 percent shortfall.
Paladin said the problem had been "brought under control" and "management strategies" to avoid a repeat of the problem had been introduced.
Production guidance for the year remained at 5.4 Mlb to 5.8 Mlb of uranium, it said.
Uranium prices hit at six-month high yesterday of $34/lb. The price is coming off an historic low, but the kick - in part attributed to the crisis in the Ukraine - has given hope to the industry that green shoots are appearing after more than two years of relative poor prices.
The weak uranium price has hit the Australian miner hard. The company reported a $338 million loss for the 2013-14 financial year.
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