Cameco Responds To Cigar Lake Flood Concerns

Cameco Responds To Cigar Lake Flood Concerns

Monday, December 04, 2006 at 14:37

An official with Cameco admits workers at the Cigar Lake mine site were put in a stressful situation when the mine flooded six weeks ago.

Lyle Krahn is responding to comments made by a contractor at the site, who told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix that his life and the lives of others were put at risk when the flooding first started.

Michael Pacquette spoke out because he took issue with comments made by Cameco CEO Jerry Grandey, who called the evacuation of the underground mine “orderly”.

Krahn says the company realizes it was a tense time for many workers, and Cameco does appreciate their efforts to save the mine.

Pacquette says the only lift to the surface was overloaded with panicked workers, who weren’t sure it was even going to work.

Krahn says the lift wasn’t in any danger of not working, because the maximum limit Pacquette noticed referred to the number of people that could “comfortably” ride in the lift at the same time – not the maximum number it could carry.

He also says there was another, much smaller, lift that could have been used in the case of a malfunction to the larger cage.