Cameco is restating production at its Cigar Lake facility later this month.
The uranium producer suspended operations in December over concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The safety of our workers, their families and communities is always our top priority,” said Cameco president and CEO Tim Gitzel. “In recent months we have implemented several enhanced safety protocols for Cigar Lake, including increased distancing between passengers on flights, mandatory medical-grade masks for all workers and increased sanitization and physical barriers in our eating areas. We also worked with the Saskatchewan Health Authority and have established a licensed COVID-19 testing facility at the mine site.”
Cameco said it will closely monitor the case counts and the vaccine rollout. The timing of production restart and the production rate at Cigar Lake will be dependent on how quickly it is able to remobilize the workforce.
Orano said it too would resume production at the McClean Lake mill later this month, in tandem with Cameco.