Namibia diamond output up in 2010, uranium falls

Namibian diamond production jumped 57 percent in 2010, while uranium production declined marginally, data showed on Wednesday.

Diamond production reached 1.48 million carats for the year, while totals sales came to 5.58 billion Namibian dollars, data from the local unit of insurer Old Mutual showed.

The data also showed that uranium production for the year declined by 150 tonnes to 5,279 tonnes.

Australian uranium miner Paladin Energy's Langer Heinrich increased production by 4 percent to 932,731 pounds in the three months to end-December, from 899,735 pounds in the previous quarter.

Rio Tinto's production at its Rossing mine totalled 1.36 million pounds, up from 1.35 million pounds in the previous quarter, due to lower average feed grades.