Name and Location
Cigar Lake uranium mine project, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Client
Cigar Lake is owned by Cameco (50%), Areva (37%), Idemitsu Canada Resources (8%) and Tokyo Electric Power Company Resources (5%).
Project Description
Cigar Lake is the second-biggest high-grade uranium deposit in the world. Itke has total compliant proven and probable reserves of 537.1-million tonnes grading 18.3% uranium oxide, containing 216.7-milion pounds of yellow cake.
The Cigar Lake deposit occurs at depths ranging between 410 m and 450 m below the surface where water-saturated Athabasca sandstone meets the underlying basement rocks. Owing to geological conditions, it is necessary to freeze the deposit and surrounding rock to improve the ground stability and prevent groundwater inflows to the mine.
The jet boring mining method was selected for the Cigar Lake deposit after extensive testing. Operated from tunnels in the basement rock below the orebody, the method entails using high-pressure water jets to mine out cavities in the orebody. Ore and water will be piped away from the cavities to underground processing circuits, where it will be ground, thickened and pumped to the surface for transportation to Areva Resources Canada’s McClean Lake mill for processing to uranium concentrate.
Value
The total costs for the project as at December 2013, had risen to C$2.6-billion, a far cry from the expected $450-million when construction was first approved in 2004.
Duration
Production is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2014.
Latest Developments
Cameco has started ore shipments from the Cigar Lake uranium mine.
The mining system and underground processing circuits are operational and ore is being transported to the mill, which is located 70 km north-east of the mine site.
The mill will produce between two-million and three-million pounds of uranium concentrate this year, ramping up to 18-million pounds by 2018.
Cameco's TSX-listed stock rose 2.68% to C$27.63 apiece on Thursday.
Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.
On Budget and on Time?
Cameco expected first production by 2007. However, a series of setbacks added to rising costs and a lengthening timeline, including a rock fall causing an underground flood in October 2006, delaying construction.
Cameco delayed the startup date even further, eventually aiming for a startup at the end of last year; however, during commissioning activities of the underground ore-handling facilities in the mine last September, Cameco identified additional work that would delay jet boring in ore to the first quarter this year.
Project partner Areva Resources Canada had also at that point realised that further mill modifications were required at its McClean Lake mill, and that the mill was expected to start processing Cigar Lake ore only by the end of the second quarter.
Contact Details for Project Information
Cameco director of investor relations Rachelle Girard, tel +1 306 956 6403.
Areva, tel +331 34 96 12 15, fax +331 34 96 16 54 or email press@areva.com.