Midwest to go ahead (December 24, 2007)

The partners in the Midwest uranium joint venture in northern Saskatchewan have announced they plan to bring the project into production in 2011.

Areva (ARVCF-O), Denison Mines (DML-T, DNN-X), and OURD Canada will now seek full regulatory approval to begin work in mid-2009. The project has a reserve of 360,000 tonnes grading 4% U3O8 and would produce about 14,000 tonnes U3O8 over a 2.5-year life, but a number of satellite deposits could be developed to extend the project further.

Midwest ore would be hauled to the McClean Lake mill, 20 km away, on a private haul road. A previous Midwest development proposal had been rejected partly because it required use of a public road (Saskatchewan 905) to transport high-grade uranium ore.

The project has a capital cost of $400 million, including a $100-million expansion of the McClean mill. It would employ a workforce of 150. Areva owns 69% of the project, Denison 25%, and OURD, a subsidiary of Japan-based Overseas Uranium Development, the rest.