This is a trend to keep an eye on...I clearly recall reading somewhere years ago that the top wouldn't be attained until "many" Uranium funds were launched. One thing I'm sure we can all agree with - everytime you call a top you're always getting closer to being correct.
Cameco says Cigar Lake production delayed until 2010 Canadian Press Monday, March 19, 2007
SASKATOON — Uranium miner Cameco Corp. said its Cigar Lake mining project will cost more and begin production later than it had anticipated because of massive flooding at the site last year.
Cameco said it aims to bring the mine into production by 2010. The original target date was 2008.
The Saskatoon-based company also said the capital costs related to Cigar Lake's production startup have risen to $508-million from the last estimate of $330-million. Cameco has already spent $234-million on construction so far, with another $274-million remaining.
But despite the increased capital costs, Cameco insists Cigar Lake, in northern Saskatchewan, remains a financially attractive project.
“While this extraordinary deposit presents its challenges, Cigar Lake will be developed and will enable Cameco to significantly increase its uranium production for years to come,” said Jerry Grandey, Cameco's president and CEO.
In addition to the capital costs, Cameco said its share of flood remediation is estimated at $46-million and will be expensed in the year they occur. The company spent and expensed $5-million of that amount in 2006.
Cameco said it will file a technical report on the mine's progress to the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) by the end of the month.
The flooding at Cigar Lake sent uranium prices soaring in 2006.
Last April, water flooded a shaft at Cigar Lake used mainly for underground ventilation. Then in October, two massive bulkheads failed to hold back water from a flood after a rock slide in a shaft about a half-kilometre underground, flooding the entire mine.
Last month, Cameco said two rigs on site had drilled eight of the 14 holes planned for reinforcing and sealing off the flooded area.
In 2006, Cameco saw its earnings fall by more than half that of the previous year. But its 2007 outlook remains rosy. It says its revenue from its uranium business is forecast to grow by 45 per cent and its fuel services business will be 20 per cent higher than that of 2006.
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