The environmental impact statement for the Cigar Lake uranium project has been delivered to the joint federal-provincial panel on uranium mining developments in northern Saskatchewan.
The statement will be reviewed for 18 months, during which time the panel will accept public submissions and hold public hearings.
The four joint-venture partners — Cameco (TSE), Cogema Resources, Idemitsu Uranium Exploration and Korea Electric Power — agreed to a plan last month, under which Cameco will become operator as soon as production is approved. Cameco estimates startup can occur two years after all approvals have been received.
The deposit, 50 km west of Wollaston Lake in northern Saskatchewan, will be mined in two phases. The first will exploit the high-grade eastern section of the deposit (26% U3O8); the second, the lower-grade section (9% U3O8). Cogema’s McClean Lake mill, 80 km away, will receive the Cigar Lake ores.
Annual output is projected at 18 million lb. U3O8 and, if all approvals are received, the deposit could be in production by 1999.
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