McClean Lake on track

Following a brief delay, French-owned Cogema Resources has renewed construction of a tailings plant at its McClean Lake uranium project in the Athabasca Basin, Sask.

Development was suspended in mid-October by the Atomic Energy Board of Canada after it deemed the filter-drain material to be unsuitable. Cogema has since addressed this concern, and construction is now scheduled for completion early in the new year.

McClean Lake, which has a minable reserve of 720,000 tonnes grading 3.15% U3O8, is scheduled to begin production in early 1999 but has yet to be approved for operations. The tailings facility is designed to store waste from that and other deposits in the surrounding area, including Cigar Lake.

Cogema has a 70% interest in McClean Lake, with the remainder divided between Denison Mines (DEN-T), with 22.5%, and OURD Canada, with 7.5%.