Mining at Energy Resources of Australia's Ranger mine was hampered in the first quarter of this year due to heavy December rains, the company said in its March Quarter Operations Review which was published yesterday.
The deluge left the miner unable to access high-grade ore in the bottom of Ranger Pit 3.
The company, which holds its annual general meeting at Darwin's SkyCity Casino today, said it expects to start mining again by the end of April.
This is earlier than anticipated and has enabled Energy Resources Australia to narrow its full-year production guidance to between 3200 and 3700 tonnes of uranium.
Uranium was trading at around US$51 per pound this week.
Chief executive Rob Atkinson told the NT News the flooded pit would be completely dry by July.
"Large pumps are pumping 30 mega litres per day which is stored in retention ponds then put through water treatment plants," he said.
The miner started the year by producing a total of 612 tonnes of uranium oxide.
The result was an 18 per cent lift on March 2011, but a flood-induced 41 per cent drop on the December quarter figures.
The processing plant had shown a high level of performance, Mr Atkinson said, with a mill recovery rate of 88 per cent.
"We were predominantly mining the stockpiles in quarter one," Mr Atkinson said.
"The plant did very well for what it produced."
Ranger has been predicted to run out of uranium this year.
Mr Atkinson said that the company would return to processing stockpiles once all the ore had been taken. "We will be mining all the way through to the end of the year," he said.
Engineering firm Macmahon will begin work on the $120 million Ranger 3 Deeps exploration tunnel on May 1.
If the Mirarr people approve the Ranger 3 Deeps expansion, the new resource could extend the Ranger mine's life, critical to the nearby town of Jabiru.
The company is negotiating a new mine agreement with the Mirarr, and Mr Atkinson said that he would elaborate on just exactly how the talks were progressing at today's meeting.
Ranger, which is already the world's second largest uranium mine, produces about 11 per cent of the global supply, and is 68 per cent owned by Rio Tinto.
