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Community Updates

McClean Lake and Cluff Lake Projects

December 12, 2003

McClean Lake

COGEMA Resources has filed an application with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for a new operating licence for the McClean Lake operation. This, in turn, triggers a new Environmental Assessment under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. The licence application is for the existing McClean Lake operation, and does not include any future expansions or changes. COGEMA Resources submitted the Environmental Study Report to the CNSC in early December. The Environmental Assessment process will likely take until mid-2004 to complete. For copies of the pamphlet or Cree and Dene audio CD outlining the re-licensing process and environmental assessment, please call COGEMA Resources, toll-free in Saskatchewan, at 1-888-9COGEMA.

January 13, 2004 is confirmed for the Federal Court of Appeal hearing of the CNSC and COGEMA Resources appeal of the 2002 Federal Court decision quashing the McClean Lake 1999 operating licence. The hearing will be held in Saskatoon. McClean is presently operating under a 4-year licence issued in 2001. The court hearing will involve representatives for the Interchurch Uranium Committee Environmental Cooperative (who initiated the court challenge to the McClean Lake operating licence) as well as those supporting the appeal including the CNSC and COGEMA Resources, as well as the intervenors: Province of Saskatchewan, Northern Resource Trucking, Lac la Ronge Indian Band, and Kitsaki Development.

The McClean Lake mill is running well using stockpiled ore from the Sue C open pit mine. The mill began shutting down on December 6 for its scheduled Christmas holiday and maintenance program. The shutdown period will be from December 9 to January 6. McClean has not had a spill since the last Community Update. The concentrations of elements contained in the water discharges during November were well below the limits set by the regulatory agencies.

McClean Lake General Manager, Jim Corman, attended the Hatchet Lake First Nations Youth Centre Grand Opening on December 4. COGEMA Resources and Cameco, through the Athabasca Working Group, helped sponsor the Youth Centre construction and equipment.

Congratulations to McClean Lake employees Robert Fern from Fond du Lac and Steve Proulx from La Ronge who have recently passed their Interprovincial Journeyman exams.

Cluff Lake

Cluff Lake completed all mining and milling activities by the end of 2002. Cluff completed pumping water from the Claude pit, and is continuing to pump and treat water from the DJX pit to partially de-water Claude to make room for the waste rock that will be put into the pit. Sakitawak Development Corporation is presently doing the contract work to add a "leveling course" of till material onto the (TMA) lower solids area.

Decommissioning of the mine site cannot begin until the environmental assessment is approved and a decommissioning licence is issued. The Cluff Lake Comprehensive Study for Decommissioning will soon be available for viewing at a number of West Side communities as well as the COGEMA Resources office in La Ronge (West Side Locations PDF Version 58 KB). This report will explain how COGEMA Resources will return the Cluff Lake site to a natural state.

Cluff Lake has not had a spill since the last Community Update. Concentrations of elements contained in the water discharges from the treatment plant during November were well below the limits set by the regulatory guidelines.

Human Resources