Published on Tuesday Sept 7 2010.
Cigar Lake Joint Venture Partnership
* Idemitsu Canada Resources Ltd.......... 7.875%
* Cameco Corporation (mine operator) 50.025%
* AREVA Resources Canada Inc............ 37.100%
* TEPCO Resources Inc.......................... 5.000%
CIGAR LAKE - - Cameco, the world's second-largest uranium producer, is back to drilling at Cigar Lake after spending the past four years drying out the flooded underground development.
"We are underground and we are now continuing to do development of the underground workings, (and) we're excited about that," said Grant Goddard, vice-president of Cameco's Saskatchewan Mining North Cigar Lake Project, after leading media in an above-ground tour of the Cigar Lake mine.
Media was also led through the underground mine by chief mining engineer Scott Bishop, who showed and explained what happened in the 2008 flooding at the 420-metre level through separate water inflows.
That part of the mine will be shut down.
Cigar Lake, the world's largest undeveloped uranium deposit, flooded in October 2006 and again in August 2008. Full draining was completed in February 2010.
"We never forget the fact that we've had to deal with those challenges," said Goddard.
"We're ever-respectful of Mother Nature and the potential risk of an inflow so positioned this project to be successful."
He said that in the past four years, the company has been looking at how to deal with the flood and the inflow, and position the mine so it can be re-entered safely and securely to restart construction.
"We've installed additional pumping, both above ground and underground, to address various levels of water that come into the mine. Both regular water that we seep in, as well as any potential, however unlikely, risk of inflow."
Goddard said additional water treatment capacity, which is increased to about 2,500 metres cubed per hour, as well as other processes have been put in place to ensure that all the water that comes out of the mine is treated and released to the environment properly.
So far, $17 million has been spent on the project, including the flood cleanup.
The ore body at Cigar Lake is about 290 million pounds, with an average grade of 17 per cent, making it the second-richest grade in world.
This means that 17 per cent of the rock that is brought to surface is uranium, compared to other facilities in the world that have between 0.7 per cent and 1.7 per cent, said Goddard.
"We have a rich deposit. With our mining approach and the assurance of success (model) approach, we believe that the economics are sound and it's a really valuable piece of our portfolio," said Goddard.
When the project is in full production, it will have about 380 to 390 full-time employees and 50 to 55 contract support personnel.
The mine targets mid-2013 as the first year of production.
"We are underground and we are now continuing to do development of the underground workings, (and) we're excited about that," said Grant Goddard, vice-president of Cameco's Saskatchewan Mining North Cigar Lake Project, after leading media in an above-ground tour of the Cigar Lake mine.
Media was also led through the underground mine by chief mining engineer Scott Bishop, who showed and explained what happened in the 2008 flooding at the 420-metre level through separate water inflows.
That part of the mine will be shut down.
Cigar Lake, the world's largest undeveloped uranium deposit, flooded in October 2006 and again in August 2008. Full draining was completed in February 2010.
"We never forget the fact that we've had to deal with those challenges," said Goddard.
"We're ever-respectful of Mother Nature and the potential risk of an inflow so positioned this project to be successful."
He said that in the past four years, the company has been looking at how to deal with the flood and the inflow, and position the mine so it can be re-entered safely and securely to restart construction.
"We've installed additional pumping, both above ground and underground, to address various levels of water that come into the mine. Both regular water that we seep in, as well as any potential, however unlikely, risk of inflow."
Goddard said additional water treatment capacity, which is increased to about 2,500 metres cubed per hour, as well as other processes have been put in place to ensure that all the water that comes out of the mine is treated and released to the environment properly.
So far, $17 million has been spent on the project, including the flood cleanup.
The ore body at Cigar Lake is about 290 million pounds, with an average grade of 17 per cent, making it the second-richest grade in world.
This means that 17 per cent of the rock that is brought to surface is uranium, compared to other facilities in the world that have between 0.7 per cent and 1.7 per cent, said Goddard.
"We have a rich deposit. With our mining approach and the assurance of success (model) approach, we believe that the economics are sound and it's a really valuable piece of our portfolio," said Goddard.
When the project is in full production, it will have about 380 to 390 full-time employees and 50 to 55 contract support personnel.
The mine targets mid-2013 as the first year of production.
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