Paladin has announced it will cease production at its Kayelekera uranium mine in Malawi.

It comes after the miner advised it would place the operation in to care and maintenance earlier this year.

According to Paladin it is ceasing production “due to reasons beyond the company’s control and related to the depressed uranium prices”.

On May 21 it halted all operations at the mine, and will now cease supplying uranium to the global market, causing a drop of around 3.3 million pounds of supply per annum.

“The outcome is an unfortunate but direct consequence of the continuing deterioration in the uranium price,” the company said in a statement.

“Certain estimates now place up to 60% of current annual global production with costs above the current spot price, which is unsustainable.”

However Paladin went on to stress that is focusing on maintaining the mine and its infrastructure in working order to facilitate a rapid resumption of production once favourable market conditions return.

It pegged a restart price of between US$70 and US$75 per pound.

“At this price, and the demonstrated operating costs of the project, the future value of this de-risked project to the company is clearly substantial.”

The miner will continue exploration activities to further delineate additional uranium resources around the deposit.