A federal-provincial panel has given its conditional approval to both the Cigar Lake and Midwest uranium projects in the Athabasca basin of northern Saskatchewan.
The Cigar Lake project is operated by Cigar Lake Mining, a joint-venture between Cameco (CCO-T) (48.75%), French-owned Cogema Resources (36.4%), Japanese-owned Idemitsu Uranium Exploration Canada (7.9%), TEPCO Resources (5%) and Korea Electric Power (2%).
According to an agreement among the partners, Cameco will become Cigar Lake’s sole operator once the government gives its final approval.
The panel’s approval is subject to the resolution of two issues — first, that the operator identify a suitable location for the disposal of mine waste rock, and second, that further assessment be undertaken relating to Cogema’s plans to dispose of mine tailings 80 km away in a mined-out pit at its McLean Lake uranium mine.
Reserves at Cigar Lake stand at 350 million lbs. grading 14% U3O8, with production slated to reach 18 million lbs. U3O8 annually.
The Midwest uranium project, operated by Cogema, was approved with major reservations as to the tailings disposal concept that was presented.
Midwest is a joint venture involving Cogema (56%), German-owned Uranerz Exploration & Mining (20%), Denison Mines (DEN-T) subsidiary Tenwest Uranium (19.5%), and OURD Canada Co. (4.5%).
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