RIO Tinto's locally listed uranium subsidiary, Energy Resources of Australia, has delivered more bad news, slashing uranium reserves by 46 per cent and shelving a planned expansion.
The Darwin-based ERA has also reported a first-half net loss of $121.75 million, down from a $22.7m profit a year earlier.
The loss included a $99.4m inventory writedown because of the shelved project, which would have processed stockpiles through acid-leaching, and a surprise reduction in grades of other stockpiles that ERA had planned to process.
The woes add to ERA's dismal first-half production from its Ranger uranium mine after heavy rains stopped its plant, as well as to an ailing outlook for uranium markets in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
In response to yesterday's result, ERA's shares slumped 42c, or 10 per cent, to a seven-year low of $3.92, despite the underlying loss of $22.3m beating analysts' forecasts and the approval of the $120m underground Ranger Deeps exploration decline