Cameco Corporation announced today it continues to make progress with remediation at the Cigar Lake uranium project.

Cameco previously submitted an application to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to allow dewatering of the underground development and all other remediation activities leading up to, but not including, the restart of construction underground.

The CNSC and the Saskatchewan Ministries of Environment and Advanced Education, Employment and Labour have approved Cameco's plans to pump the water out of the mine and to inspect and safely secure the mine once it is pumped out.

The remainder of the remediation activities specified in the application, including completion of the second shaft and other activities, are under regulatory review. A public hearing before the CNSC is scheduled for September 18, 2008 to formally consider the application.

As previously reported, in February 2008, the underground seal was found effective in a test consisting of lowering the water level in the shaft to 100 metres below surface. In addition, as reported in the first quarter report of 2008, Cameco completed an assessment of two areas of the mine and determined that no additional reinforcement or other precautionary measures were required prior to dewatering.

We expect to pump water out of the mine over several months beginning next week. This will allow us to equip the mine shaft with a ladderway, ventilation ducting, power and communication cables, water pipes and other necessary equipment as the water level goes down. The integrity of the plug will also be assessed at each stage of the process.

We continue to anticipate production startup in 2011 at the earliest.