Cross-Cuts FAILSAFING

In April, 1987, Inco formed a team of eight employees, familiar with the routine in and around the shaft area of the mine, to failsafe operations there. Their procedure was straightforward enough. The team drew up a l ist of jobs performed in the area. Then a flow chart of all the interrelated tasks was drawn up by the team under each of those job headings. That chart showed what actually happened during each job, not what was supposed to happen according to work manuals. To avoid potential hazards and eventually failsafe the area, weekly meetings were held to finetune the flow charts by making improvements in the operating procedures. Safer methods were determined by the consensus of the team, which was made up of operators, mine foremen, engineering, maintenance personnel and the mine superintendent, G. J. Stewart.

Since its inception, the failsafe team has made more than 100 changes to jobs performed in the shaft area, according to Inco. LA RONGE COMPANY PAYS PENALTY FOR LITTERING

A Vancouver-based mineral exploration company operating out of the La Ronge area of northern Saskatchewan has been fined $2,000 for littering, according to a press release from the government of Saskatchewan. Conservation officers last spring discovered a substantial amount of garbage abandoned on a lake. The refuse included wire cables, lead pipes, whole logs, fibreglass insulation, plastic and open bags of cement.

The offence was considered especially serious because the garbage was dumped near a heritage river and major canoe route within a provincial park. Glen Rolles, director of northern field services for the Ministry of Parks, Recreation and Culture, said co- operation is needed among all users of the Saskatchewan hinterland “in order to maintain the delicate balance of industrial development and environmental concern.” CAMECO FINDS JAPANESE CUSTOMER

Cameco, the Canadian Mining and Energy Corp., recently sold six million pounds of uranium to Chubu Electric Power Co., Japan’s third-largest electrical utility. The purchase was said to be worth between $150 million to $200 million (very roughly between $25 and $33 per 16), and deliveries will be spread over a 10-year period beginning in 1992.

Chubu is planning to build a fourth nuclear power station to complement its three operating plants. Japan now has 32 nuclear power stations and projections suggest that 68 such plants will be established by 2010. Cameco is the Saskatchewan-based company formed by the merger of Saskatchewan Mining Development Corp. and the federal government’s Eldorado Nuclear.

During a recent visit to Japan, Saskatchewan Premier Grant Devine said Japanese power utilities have expressed interest in cameco’s Cigar Lake development and the prospects for long-term supplies of uranium. Idemitsu Kosan, one of Japan’s big oil companies, has an equity interest in the Cigar Lake project.

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