Uranium giant Cameco Corporation has successfully tested an underground seal at its jointly-owned Cigar Lake project, the company said this week.

Remediation work at Cigar Lake, which was scheduled to have begun production as early as this year before a rock fall caused an underground flood, was continuing on schedule, the company said.

The company has finished pouring a concrete barrier in the area of the inflow and has injected cement into the rock around the area to seal it off.

Dewatering is expected to be completed by the end of this year, after which crews will be sent underground to assess the condition of the mine.

The results of a seal test conducted last week were positive, and indicated that the seal was effective, with no sign of plug deterioration throughout a six-day testing period, Cameco said.

Further testing would be conducted as the company prepared to dewater the mine.

The company must now assess whether depressurisation, reinforcement or other precautionary measures are necessary in two other areas of the mine.

“We anticipate results from this assessment in the first quarter of 2008 and can then determine if additional remediation is required in these areas,” Cameco said.

The company is preparing a regulatory application to allow dewatering of the underground development and all other remediation activities leading up to, but not including the restart of mine construction.

It will submit the application in the first half of this year and, if the request is granted, expects to start dewatering in the second half.

Cameco, which is the operator of the project, owns 50% of Cigar Lake, while Paris-based Areva owns 37%, Idemitsu Canada Resources holds 8% and Tepco Resources owns 5%.

The mine, which has proven and probable reserves of more than 226,3-million pounds of uranium, is expected to start producing in 2011.

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