PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Uranium miner Paladin Energy on Wednesday announced further cost-cutting measures, including redundancies and executive pay cuts, to combat the declining spot price of uranium.

The ASX- and TSX-listed miner said it had identified $23-million in cash costs that could be cut during the 2014 financial year, including $10.8-million in corporate overhead and exploration costs, and $12.4-million in discretionary capital expenditure (capex).

Exploration activities have been suspended in all project areas, except essential work on the Michelin project, in Canada, as well as some necessary follow-up work on the Mount Isa project, in Queensland.

Board and management salaries would also be lowered by 10% during 2014, Paladin announced.

The salary cut for MD John Borshoff is in addition to the 25% reduction previously announced. All bonus plans have also been suspended and salaries have been frozen until the uranium price improved.

Paladin flagged its first cost-cutting measures in November last year, telling shareholders at the time that it would reduce operating costs by between $60-million and $80-million over the next two years.

The most significant cost savings would come from the Langer Heinrich mine, in Namibia, and the Kayelekera operation, in Malawi, as full production was achieved at both operations.

Borshoff said on Wednesday that C1 cash costs at Langer Heinrich would be reduced by a further 15% during 2014, to around $25/lb, while C1 cash costs at Kayelekera would be lowered by 22% to around $30/lb.

The operating cost savings at Langer Heinrich would be achieved through production optimisation efforts, while staff cuts and production optimisation were also targeted at Kayelekera.

Discretionary capex at Langer Heinrich has also been decreased to $10.4-million, while Paladin would only spend some $2-million at Kayelekera during 2014.

Borshoff stressed that Paladin was continuing to review and optimise the management of its existing assets, and added that it had restarted efforts to divest of a minority interest in Langer Heinrich.

In August, Paladin abandoned its plans for a minority stake sale in Langer Heinrich, opting instead to raise A$88-million through a share placement to institutional and accredited investors.

The Langer Heinrich mine produces at a rate of 5.2-million pounds a year and has a mineral resource of 29.5-million tonnes, grading 0.054% uranium oxide (U₃O₈), for 15 893 t of U₃O₈, and a reserve of 111.3-million tonnes, grading 0.054% U₃O₈, for 59 184 t U₃O₈.

On the UxC indicator, spot uranium trades at $35/lb, down significantly from a level above $50/lb in July.