Mine Cleanup To Take Longer Than First Thought

Tuesday, December 04, 2007 at 13:58

 

 

Cameco has revised its timetable for the resumption of production at its flooded Rabbit Lake operation.

 

The company now expects it will seal off the water inflow at the Eagle Point mine by early 2008.

 

That’s a much longer timeframe than what was stated last week, when company officials were hinting the situation would be taken care of in about a week.

 

Cameco spokesman Lyle Krahn says now that company officials know a little more about the situation, the schedule for re-startup has changed.

 

Concrete barriers are in the process of being installed in the affected area of the underground mine — and the company says it’s now removing water at about the same rate that it’s coming in.

 

There are 270 Cameco workers at the site, and another 220 contractors — but the flooding isn’t expected to result in layoffs.

 

However, the company says the workers might be re-assigned to other tasks and see their schedules adjusted.