The world's biggest uranium producer, Cameco, has submitted all the necessary documents to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), and is now awaiting the go ahead to begin pumping water out of the giant Cigar Lake project, in Saskatchewan, CEO Jerry Grandey said on Tuesday.

Cigar Lake, which is owned by Cameco (50%), Paris-based Areva (37%), Idemitsu Canada Resources (8%) and Tepco Resources (5%), is expected to start producing in 2011, "at the earliest", Grandey said, after a rock fall caused an underground flood in October 2006, delaying construction.

The CNSC is currently developing a schedule to review the application, which includes permission to dewater the mine, as well as for all other remediation activities leading up to, but not including, the resumption of underground construction work.

Once the pumping is completed and Cameco, which is the operator of the project, can send people underground to assess the damage, it will be able to publish a firm timeline and cost estimate for the project going forward, Grandey said.

The company successfully tested an underground seal at the mine in February, and has since conducted an assessment and decided that no further precautionary measures are needed ahead of dewatering.

Once the company is able to get underground, however, it plans to pour an additional engineering bulkhead where the rockfall originally ocurred, to ensure that the leak has been successfully plugged.

The giant Cigar Lake mine, which has proven and probable reserves of more than 226,3-million pounds of uranium, was to have begun production as early as this year before the accident halted development.

PROFIT DOUBLES

Cameco, which aims to increase uranium production volumes by 80% between 2007 and 2016, increased its first-quarter net earnings 125% year-on-year, to C$133-million.

Revenue rose 45%, to C$593-million, thanks to higher realised uranium and gold prices and an increase in uranium sales.

Revenue from the group's uranium unit increased by C$155-million, to C$338-million, owing to a 55% increase in the average realised price, to C$44,68/lb, compared with C$28,91/lb a year ago, and a 17% jump in reported sales volumes, the firm said.

Speaking on a conference call, Grandey said that the company's operational troubles at Cigar Lake, as well as the company's Rabbit Lake mine, in Saskatchewan, had sharpened its focus, and that 2008 would be a "year of renewal" for Cameco.

Milling has restarted at Rabbit Lake, where mining was suspended in November last year after an inflow of water underground, and the operation is on track to produce the company's forecast of 36-million pounds this year, Grandey said.

Elsewhere in the group, Cameco continues to face shortages of sulphuric acid for its Inkai mine, in Kazakhstan, which have resulted in delays in ramping up to full production.

There are also concerns over the McArthur River mine, in Saskatchewan, which was behind schedule in transitioning to a new mining area, which could affect production in 2009.

However, the company has drawn up a contingency plan and was "confident" that it would meet production forecasts, Grandey said.

Cameco shares rose 0,15% on Tuesday, to C$40,34 apiece in Toronto.