As part of efforts to ramp up exploration work at its Kintyre uranium project in Western Australia, Canadian miner Cameco has opened a Perth office and appointed Ron Matthews as managing director.
As part of efforts to ramp up exploration work at its Kintyre uranium project in Western Australia, Canadian miner Cameco has opened a Perth office and appointed Ron Matthews as managing director.
The news comes around eight months after Cameco and Mitsubishi Development bought Kintyre from Rio Tinto for $US495 million.
Cameco's office is located at the IBM Centre in Perth, near Parliament House. Mr Matthews said there will be around 9 people working at the office.
Mr Matthews said Cameco is spending around $9 million over the next 12 months to establish the office and carry out exploration work at Kintyre.
Kintyre, located in the East Pilbara, is considered one of the major uranium projects in Australia and has potential to host mineral deposits ranging from 62 to 80 million pounds of uranium oxide at a grade of around 0.3 per cent.
In a statement released today, Cameco said it will carry out an exploration program to confirm a regulatory compliant resource for the deposits.
"Activities to be conducted in the coming months include re-establishing an exploration camp and infrastructure at the site to support in-fill drilling and other activities to verify the results of previous exploration work," Cameco said.
The camp will accomodate for around 40 workers.
Cameco holds 70 per cent of the Kintyre project.
The announcement is below:
Cameco Corporation announced today that it has opened an office in Perth and appointed Ron Matthews managing director of the Kintyre uranium project in Western Australia.
Cameco operates a joint venture comprised of Cameco (70%) and Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd. (30%) that acquired the Kintyre project from Rio Tinto in August 2008 through a bidding process.
Matthews is a geophysicist with 30 years experience with Cameco and its predecessor companies. He managed Cameco's Australian exploration projects from 2001 to 2007 when he was based in Darwin, Northern Territory.
"I look forward to moving Kintyre ahead," said Matthews. "This is one of the world's most promising uranium plays and its development will create opportunity for people across Australia."
Kintyre is an advanced exploration project located approximately 1,600 kilometres northeast of Perth in the East Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Cameco will be undertaking an exploration program with the objective of confirming a resource for the Kintyre deposits.
Activities to be conducted in the coming months include re-establishing an exploration camp and infrastructure at the site to support in-fill drilling and other activities to verify the results of previous exploration work.
Cameco will continue to work closely with the Martu people, the Native Title Holders, toward advancing the Kintyre project for the benefit of all stakeholders.
Cameco Australia has been actively exploring in Australia since 1996 and has exploration licences for more than 795,000 hectares of land in Western Australia (some proximate to the Kintyre deposits), plus projects in South Australia and the Northern Territory.
