Uranium mine resumes production

Gary Park, Petroleum News Calgary correspondent

Cameco, the world’s largest uranium producer, has resumed production at its northern Saskatchewan mine well ahead of schedule.

The company, which owns 70 percent of the McArthur River mine, was forced to shut operations April 7 following a cave-in and flood and did not expect to restart until late July or early August.

It expects operations at McArthur River and nearby Key Lake will produce up to 13 million pounds of uranium in 2003.

The area where the water entered the mine has been “filled with concrete and work is continuing to permanently seal it off by mid-August,” Cameco said in a statement.

The shut down did not result in any layoffs, but is expected to trim Cameco’s net earnings for the year by about C$8 million to C$10 million.