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Thursday, 14 February 2008

Paladin Energy Gets Financing for Malawi Uranium Mine (Update2)

Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Paladin Energy Ltd., the Australian company building a uranium mine in Malawi, got bank approval for the remaining funding of $167 million to develop the project.

The financing comprises a 7-year project-finance loan of $145 million, a cost-overrun loan of $12 million and a performance-bond loan of $10 million, Perth-based Paladin said today in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.

The Kayalekera project will be Paladin's second producing venture after the Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia. Commissioning and the ramp-up of output are due to take place in the March quarter of 2009, the Australian company said last month.

Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking, Nedbank Group Ltd. and the Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd. are providing the financing, Paladin said in the statement. The same banks provided funding for the Namibian project, it said.

Paladin gained 70 cents, or 13 percent, to A$6.00 in Sydney trading on the exchange, the biggest jump in three weeks.

The uranium market for both spot prices and long-term contracts has recovered from declines in the third quarter of last year, Paladin said a separate statement today, announcing a loss after tax of $11.2 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2007.

``The growing realization that the challenge of combating global climate change will entail significant and substantive shifts in energy production and use in the developed world has stimulated a resurgence of reactor building and planning worldwide,'' Paladin said.

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