Increased Flooding Halts Work At Cigar Lake

Increased Flooding Halts Work At Cigar Lake

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at 13:49

 

 

Work to dewater the flooded Cigar Lake uranium operation has taken a step backward.

 

Cameco is reporting that remediation efforts have been temporarily suspended because of an increase in water flowing into a mine shaft.

 

The company says the water is coming in at a rate that makes it impossible to continue working.

 

Cameco spokesman Gord Struthers says it’s not clear how much this will set back remediation work, and what impact, if any, it will have on the planned production startup in 2011.

 

At last word, the company was still determining the source of the new flooding.

 

Cameco chief operating officer Tim Gitzel calls the latest development “disappointing”, and says dewatering of the mine shaft had been progressing smoothly up to this point.

 

Cameco expects to know more tomorrow when it updates investors.

 

The Cigar Lake operation first flooded in October 2006.