Uranium mining begins at delayed Cigar Lake project

Miners at Cigar Lake, Sask.,marked a milestone Monday, as they began water jet boring into underground deposits of uranium.

Cigar Lake is the world's richest undeveloped uranium deposit. The project660 kilometres north of Saskatoon isoperated by Cameco, which has a 50 per cent stake in the mine.

The mine is expected to employ 250 peopleonce full production begins.

Officials at Camecosay miners are using high-powered jets of water to remove uranium ore from underground shafts. Right now, miners are usingthat ore to test thickening and grinding equipment, which will be used to treat the uraniumbefore it's sent above-groundas a slurry.

Development of the flood-prone deposits underground stalled in October 2006, withflood watersinundatingsome of the project after a rock fall. The flooding set back production five years, as crews tried to find ways to stop water inflows.

"Commissioning in ore for the underground mining and process equipment continues," said Cameco officials in a news release today. "Cameco is on track to begin ore production at Cigar Lake during the first quarter of 2014."

Uranium ore from Cigar Lake will be trucked 70 kilometres east, to Areva'smill atMcClean Lake.

Arevaowns 37 per cent of Cigar Lake. Tepco Resources Limitedand Idemitsu Canada Resources Limited own five and eight per cent stakes in the project, respectively.