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Cameco Corp (TSX:CCO,NYSE:CCJ) and AREVA announced that the Cigar Lake uranium mine and the McClean Lake mill have officially began production.
Cameco Corp (TSX:CCO,NYSE:CCJ) and AREVA announced that the Cigar Lake uranium mine and the McClean Lake mill have officially began production.
As quote in the press release:
Cameco president and CEO Tim Gitzel, and Olivier Wantz, member of the executive committee and senior executive vice-president, mining and front end business group for AREVA, welcomed dignitaries including Saskatchewan Economy Minister Bill Boyd and community leaders from northern Saskatchewan, and led a tour of the underground workings.
Mining at Cigar Lake began in March 2014. The first packaged uranium concentrate was produced in October 2014 at the McClean Lake mill which is majority owned and operated by AREVA Canada Resources Inc.
During 2015, through September 19, the McClean Lake mill processed and packaged 6.1 million pounds of uranium concentrate (U3O8) from ore mined at Cigar Lake.
The jet boring mining system (JBS) continues to perform as expected. There are now three JBS machines commissioned for use underground. Cigar Lake has achieved the lower threshold of its 2015 production target range of 6 million to 8 million packaged pounds (100% basis) for Cigar Lake and McClean Lake. We are reviewing the target and will provide an update in Cameco’s third quarter report.
Tim Gitzel, president and CEO of Cameco, commented:
I thank all of our stakeholders and partners whose strong support helped us bring this rich and challenging deposit into production. This achievement took 10 years, great perseverance and technical creativity, and I commend the many people who contributed.
Click here to read the full Cameco Corp (TSX:CCO,NYSE:CCJ) press release.