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Community Updates

McClean Lake and Cluff Lake Projects

September 14, 2001

McCLEAN LAKE

The mill is continuing to process a blend of Sue mine low to high-grade and JEB mine low-grade ores.  The mill was shut down from July 17 to July 31 for its annual maintenance activities.

On July 24 and 25, over 30 teachers with an interest in science toured McClean Lake as part of the Saskatchewan Mining Association Annual Teachers Tour.

The second Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearing related to the McClean Lake operating license renewal was held on August 9 in Ottawa.  In late August, the CNSC renewed McClean Lake's operating licence for 4 years and amended the licence to increase the approved operating capacity of the JEB mill from 6 million to 8 million pounds of U₃O₈ (yellowcake) per year.

On July 24th, 720 litres of acid was spilled next to the mill's acid plant when a pipe gasket failed between the storage tank and the mill.  The spill was contained, neutralized and cleaned up.  The concentrations of elements contained in the water discharges from the treatment plants during July and August were well below the limits set by the regulatory agencies.

CLUFF LAKE

The mill began its summer shutdown on June 11 and re-started July 16.  Mining is taking place at 3 stopes in the Dominique-Janine underground mine.  On August 5, the COGEMA Resources employees at Cluff Lake reached 1 year without a lost time accident.

Cluff has been conducting several site cleanup and preparation activities including:

Removing unused buildings and structures.

Installing a 1-metre thick cover of till (soil and rock) on the Tailings Management Area upper solids pond.  This cover will consolidate (compress) the tailings as well as reduce potential emissions.  Work on this cover began in August and will take about seven months to complete.

Constructing 3 large-scale field cover test plots on the Claude Waste Rock Pile, including re-sloping and contouring sections of the pile to facilitate the development of the test plots and the installation of groundwater monitoring wells.

Having gone almost a year without a spill, Cluff had two spills (July 27 and August 3) near the DJX pit when a pipe broke at adjacent welds spilling a total of about six cubic metres of mine water.  Most drained into the pit - the rest was cleaned up.  Concentrations of elements contained in the water discharges from the treatment plant during July and August were well below the limits set by the regulatory agencies.

HUMAN RESOURCES

"TOPCO" Becomes "AREVA"

The company holding the assets of COGEMA S.A. (the parent company of COGEMA Resources Inc.) and several other major companies in the nuclear and "new technology" fields has changed its name from the temporary "TOPCO" to "AREVA".  Anne Lauvergeon, President of the COGEMA Group of companies, will also be the chief executive of AREVA, now with more than 45,000 employees and annual sales of about 14 billion $Canadian.  Check www.areva.com for more information.

Precautions following the terrorist attacks in the United States temporarily grounded all flights in North America including those to and from our mine sites.  This grounding lasted for Tuesday September 11 and Wednesday September 12.  On September 13, the mine flights resumed.