Canada: Cluff Lake mine closes on a positive noteLake

Brief

June 12, 2002

Despite being in its last year of operation, the Cluff Lake uranium mine, a 100% COGEMA subsidiary, is still achieving significant results. On May 21, the mill produced it 60 millionth pound of yellow cake. The mill will produce another 2.4 million pounds by the time operations are suspended in December for a 2002 total of about 4.1 million pounds U3O8. On the safety side, Cluff has also several achievements: - the mine won the Canadian regional John T. Ryan safety award in the metal mine category for 2001. Cluff did not have a single lost time accident in 2001. - the underground mining contractor at Cluff Lake has just completed 2 years without a lost time accident. Mining ceased at Cluff Lake in early June 2002 with the remaining stockpiles of ore to be milled by the end of this year. Decommissioning will begin in 2003 subject to regulatory approvals.