environment and safety

In the sandy soil near the Key Lake operation, summer student Sarah Gauthier checks the amount of growth on some of the 430,000 jack pines planted in the last four years.

Cameco is committed to environmentally safe operations and conducts a comprehensive sampling, monitoring and assessment program to ensure that the physical environment is protected.

The company's ongoing interaction with environmental regulators resulted in a number of developments during 1997.

McARTHUR RIVER The federal-provincial panel recommended approval of the McArthur River project, in February, subject to a number of recommendations.

The panel supported the proposed mining of the high-grade ore using non-entry mining methods and the placement of the mill tailings in the Key Lake Deilmann pit.

The federal and provincial governments endorsed most of the panel's recommendations and approved development subject to the normal construction and operation licensing process.

Two issues from this process have yet to be entirely resolved. First, there is a possible requirement for long-term monitoring of the tailings facility after a projected 25 years of operation. Second, sharing of revenues with local residents is a matter which is beyond the project owners' area of responsibility and which will be considered at the government level.

In August, the first phase of construction licensing from federal and provincial regulatory agencies was completed. A revised decommissioning plan and updated financial decommissioning assurances were filed as conditions of this licensing.

CIGAR LAKE The federal-provincial panel also recommended approval of the Cigar Lake project, subject to the resolution of two issues.

First, the operator must perform additional work to identify the best approach to dispose of mine waste rock and obtain regulatory approval.

Second, additional studies of the tailings management at the mill are required. Plans are to process the Cigar Lake ore 80 kilometres northeast at Cogema's McClean Lake mill and to place the resulting tailings in a mined-out pit. Although the panel endorsed the concept of in-pit tailings disposal for the project, it identified a number of site-specific conditions, including further assessment and monitoring that should be addressed during the licensing process.

The federal and provincial responses to the panel's report are expected in March 1998.

KEY LAKE A major step in the conversion of the Key Lake Deilmann pit to a tailings facility was completed in October after Cameco received the necessary approvals to finish construction of the dewatering and drainage system. This facility is designed to hold the remaining Key Lake tailings and the tailings from McArthur River ore milled at Key Lake in the future. Approval of the necessary changes to the operating system is anticipated in mid 1998.

Cameco finalized conceptual close-out plans for the Key Lake minesite and issued letters of credit to cover its share of the cost of environmental decommissioning. The decommissioning plan, and associated cost estimate, will be periodically reviewed as site activities change.

RABBIT LAKE At Rabbit Lake, mining and backfilling of the A-zone open pit was completed in the spring. Cameco subsequently received approval to replace the lake bottom sediment layer in the pit and to let it reflood. When the water quality meets regulatory requirements, application will be made to breach the dike that separates the flooded pit from the lake.

CONTACT LAKE A conceptual decommissioning plan was filed with the Saskatchewan government to comply with provincial regulations. The site will likely be decommissioned before financial assurances are required in 1999.

	Consultant Margarete Kalin samples algae in Upper Link Lake near Rabbit Lake. She is involved in one of several research initiatives funded by Cameco to build the company's environmental knowledge base as it prepares long-term decommissioning plans.

Overall there was a marked improvement in safety during 1997 for Cameco employees and long-term contractors. In the Canadian operations, occupational lost-time accidents decreased 30% to nine among the 1,500 people within these two work groups. Lost-time accidents are those in which the time lost as a result of work-related injury extends beyond the day of the injury and prevents employees from reporting to work on their next scheduled shift.

At Kumtor, the transition from construction to production brought a significant improvement in safety performance. Employees and long-term contractors recorded five occupational lost-time accidents, a 90% reduction from the previous year. Regrettably, there was a fatality when an employee, working during the night, backed a bulldozer into a glacial cavity which had been posted. Increased safety awareness and education will continue.

The Blind River refinery continued its excellent safety performance and in January 1998 completed eight full years of operation without a lost-time accident while establishing new production records.

Cameco's exploration department completed nine years of field work without a lost-time accident.

The federal Nuclear Safety and Control Act was passed by parliament and will likely come into effect in early 1999 once supporting regulations are in place. Under the new act, lower radiation exposure limits will be established, incorporating a formula that combines the doses of gamma radiation, radon and dust intake that an individual receives in a year. Cameco-operated sites have proven they can meet these new standards. Even in the future high-grade mines at McArthur River and Cigar Lake, Cameco anticipates that it will satisfactorily meet these new standards, based on design features engineered into the mine and mill processes and practical experience at existing operations. Cameco will continue to search for new ways to reduce exposure further as operational procedures are refined.