Paladin Energy: chief executive John Borshoff calls it quits

John Borshoff has agreed to step down as chief executive of uranium miner Paladin ­Energy.

John Borshoff is leaving Paladin Energy after 21 years at the uranium miner

John Borshoff, Australia’s most experienced uranium executive, has agreed to step down as chief executive of miner Paladin ­Energy.

Paladin late yesterday announced that Mr Borshoff would leave after more than 21 years at the company, ending one of the longest reins at an Australian-­listed entity.

He will be replaced by on an ­interim basis by Alexander Molyneaux, who was the former head of natural resources at Citi and a former chief executive of Mon­golian coalminer South Gobi ­Resources.

The departure of Mr Borshoff comes amid a prolonged downturn in the uranium sector. The uranium price has remained anchored near record lows since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, putting pressure on the bottom lines of uranium miners around the world.

The company said Mr Borshoff would continue to work in a transitional role alongside Mr Molyneaux while the company searched for a permanent replacement.

Mr Borshoff led Paladin through the doldrums of the late 1990s and early 2000s before the uranium price surge of the mid-2000s catapulted Paladin from a penny dreadful into a stock once worth more than $10 a share.

The boom conditions helped Paladin develop its Langer Heinrich uranium mine in Namibia and its Kyalakera mine in Malawi.

But the uranium price collapse in 2011 caught out Paladin at a time it was carrying significant borrowings and raised questions about Paladin’s ability to service those debts. A subsequent debt refinancing, $144m entitlement offer and the sale of a 25 per cent stake in Langer Heinrich to the China National Nuclear Corporation for $US190m helped ease that pressure. Since then Paladin has been working hard to slash costs, including a decision last year to put Kyalakera on care and maintenance.

Paladin announced last August that it would extend Mr Borshoff’s tenure until the end of 2016 but his departure has now been brought forward.

Paladin chairman Rick Crabb praised Mr Borshoff for his role with the company.

“On behalf of the board, I cannot thank John enough for having the vision, tenacity and spirit to create and lead Paladin,” Mr Crabb said.

“John will be dearly missed by the Paladin team and we wish him the best in future endeavours.”

Interim chief executive Mr Molyneaux has ties to Paladin, having acted as an adviser to Chinese private-equity group Hopu when it spent $61m to take a 19.9 per cent stake in Paladin last year.

That investment was made at 42c a share, but Paladin has since continued to drop and the stock last traded at just 18c.

While uranium prices remain low, expectations of a recovery have been boosted by the news some Japanese nuclear reactors closed in the wake of the Fukushima disaster will soon be reopened.