Ian Purdy
Rainmakers & Potstirrers

Ian Purdy

CEO: Paladin Energy

www.paladinenergy.com.au

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‘Paladin is on a clear pathway to becoming a globally significant, independent uranium producer’

PALADIN is like the stock market equivalent of the great love of your life who dumped you but has reappeared on the scene leaving you wondering if you can resume the relationship and restore the magic. That’s a tough call to make. This is the stock that went from around zero to A$8 from mid-2004 to mid-2006 the last time the uranium market boomed. It then made it all the way back down to around 2 Australian cents by 2016 as the uranium market went into a long decline and Paladin eventually collapsed, shutting down its mines because of its huge debt burden.

The uranium market is now recovering and Paladin shares are back around A$1 with Ian Purdy atop a plan to reopen the Langer Heinrich Mine in Namibia. According to Purdy, the mine should restart production in the first quarter. Meantime, he’s playing hardball in price negotiations with customers for its future output. The uranium price registered a 16-year high in November on the back of geopolitical uncertainty and concerns over security of supply along with a resurgence in hopes over the role nuclear could play as baseload power amid the climate crisis. Whatever happened to the once powerful ‘greenie’ opposition that so hamstrung the nuclear power movement?

The talk is now all about future uranium supply deficits with a ‘sustained bullish market trend’ being predicted. We have heard all that before over the past decade. Maybe this time it is for real, but if you were holding ‘worthless’ Paladin stock after the debt restructuring maybe it’s time to cash in, take the money and run ... assuming you have not already done so.

 

LIFE OF IAN

He’s a chartered accountant with a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Commerce from the University of Western Australia. He was appointed CEO of Paladin in 2020 when the company’s share price stood around A$0.08 when he was recruited from Quadrant Energy where he was CFO. Quadrant is one of Australia’s largest oil and gas companies. Prior to Quadrant Purdy was MD of Mirabela Nickel – an ASX-listed nickel producer operating in Brazil – where he raised more than US$350m in equity and refinanced $450m in legacy debt.

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