AREVA > Home > Publications > Communiqué > July 2008

Communiqué

AREVA Resources Canada Named Head Office for North American Mining Division

The Québec exploration team sets up camp at the Kangiqsuallujuaq project named after the neighbouring Inuit community.

To say the AREVA Group’s mining interests are far flung is something of an understatement.

The AREVA Mining Business Unit currently has projects in Canada, the United States, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Australia and several African nations. With growing global demand for uranium, AREVA has taken steps to ensure its mining and exploration projects continue to operate efficiently by reorganizing activities on a regional basis.

The East Asia regional office will oversee mining and exploration projects in Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The Niger platform will oversee two operating companies (Cominak and Somaïr) and the new major Imouaren project in that country, while the South Africa office will look after projects in South Africa, the Central African Republic and Namibia.

AREVA Resources Canada is now head office for the North American regional mining division, which means Saskatoon will now offer resources and support to projects in Québec, Nunavut, and the USA, as well as Saskatchewan.

“This is a positive change for us,” says Vincent Martin, President and CEO. “An important element will be to ensure that AREVA is consistent in what it does across North America in terms of sustainable development.”

The change is a subtle one, although employees in human resources and information services are experiencing an increase in workload as various computer and administration systems are being set up for the Québec operations. Overall, however, this is familiar territory. In the early 1990s, the Saskatoon office acted as the North American head office for its former parent company COGEMA.

Geologist Pascal Simard (right) and his helper Jimm Unatweenuk from the nearby Kangiqsuallujuaq community set up the “Winkie” drill.

Québec Exploration Heats Up
The upsurge in the uranium market has rekindled interest in Québec as a potential uranium producing area. AREVA’s Québec activities focus on exploration efforts in several areas in the province.

“We’ve been exploring in Québec, off and on, since the 1960s and 70s,” Martin says. “In fact, in the 1960s our main office was in Montreal. At that time, we were actively exploring in both Saskatchewan and Québec. It was only after the discoveries in Saskatchewan that operations moved west.”

Since then, AREVA has been involved in minor activities in “la belle” province. It has retained a number of the properties discovered in the 70s, and made several new additions. Although Martin says it is too early to talk about ore bodies, the $12 million earmarked for exploration in 2008 is a good indication of the company’s interest in Québec.

U.S. Mining Operations Wind Down
In the United States, mining projects are in the standby and reclamation stages, although AREVA has retained its mill licenses. The various operations currently employ 22 people in Wyoming and Texas. The focus of activity is Wyoming, a major uranium producer before the large, higher grade discoveries in Saskatchewan and Australia. It still has the largest known uranium ore resources of any U.S. state.

AREVA projects include Shirley Basin, a former uranium mine and mill approximately 35 miles southeast of the town of Casper. Uranium was milled on site from 1971 to 1992, when active production ceased. Since then, the mill has been decommissioned and approximately 90% of the tailings reclaimed. Reclamation at the Lucky Mc site in west central Wyoming, which processed about 12 million tonnes of ore between 1958 and 1988, is now complete.

The Irigaray and Christensen Ranch in situ leach mines operate on one license. They are about 7 miles apart and about 90 miles northeast of Casper. Both are in the decommissioning/standby phase. Groundwater restoration is complete at Irigaray and nearly complete at Christensen Ranch.