Johannesburg — URANIUM producer Uranium One, which is listed on the JSE and the Toronto Stock Exchange , wrote down its mineral properties and equipment by $2,4bn after tax offsets in the year to December, including a $1,8bn write-down on its Dominion mine in SA.

Uranium CEO Jean Nortier yesterday said Dominion could be sold. Potential buyers were looking at it and a due diligence investigation was under way.

The company said in October it would put the Klerksdorp mine on care and maintenance, retrenching more than 1000 workers, because of a drop in the uranium price, cost increases and a slower than expected ramp-up in production.

For the past year to December, Uranium One's only operating mine was Akdala in Kazakhstan, but its South Inkai mine came on stream at the beginning of this year.

The company's attributable share of uranium sales was 2,2-million pounds in the past year, 37% higher than in the previous year, realising an average price of $68/lb compared with $83/ lb in 2007. The average operating cost was $14/ lb of uranium sold, up from $11/ lb in 2007.

Nortier said that in this financial year, Uranium One was targeting attributable production of 3,5-million pounds and next year, 5,6-million pounds.

Asked about the outlook for the uranium price, he said it was expected to continue to be weak this year, with support at about $40/ lb. But from about 2011 onwards the price could strengthen significantly.

Uranium One will spend about $27m on capital projects this year. Its Kazakhstan joint venture projects would be internally funded, which meant they would pay little or no dividends to Uranium One this year, Nortier said.

The company held $176m in cash at the end of December and has raised C$270m since year-end through a private placement of a pro-forma 19,95% of its shares with a Japanese consortium.