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Production at the Cigar Lake uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, will be temporarily suspended over the coming weeks due to the increasing risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Cameco announced today. The pandemic earlier prompted a five-month suspension of production from the Cigar Lake mine from March.

Ukraine's Ministry of ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß yesterday held a meeting with representatives from Energoatom, state uranium mining concerns, trade unions, people's deputies and others to resolve issues related to the production and supply of uranium from the country's uranium mines. According to the national Ukrinform news agency, all uranium mining by state enterprise VostokGOK was suspended on 7 December.

Industrias Nucleares do Brasil has started mining uranium from the new open-pit Engenho mine at Caetité, in Brazil's Bahia state. It is hoped that resumption of uranium production at the site will make the country self-sufficient in fuel for its nuclear power reactors. A ceremony was held yesterday at the mine site, during which a detonation was carried out, symbolising the beginning of open pit mining in a new area, the Engenho mine.

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories has completed the excavation and transfer of historic low-level radioactive waste away from the Lake Ontario shoreline to a new long-term waste management facility. The waste removal marks a milestone for the Port Hope Area Initiative, which CNL is implementing through its Historic Waste Program Management Office on behalf of Atomic ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß of Canada Limited.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted global uranium production, adding to supply curtailments that have occurred in the industry for many years, Cameco said in its quarterly update yesterday. The risk to uranium supply is greater than the risk to demand that over time is expected to create a renewed focus on security of supply, the company said.

Resuming operation of the Kayelekera uranium mine in Malawi will cost an estimated USD50 million, a restart scoping study has concluded. Australian-based exploration company Lotus Resources Ltd bought the mine - currently in care and maintenance - from Paladin ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß earlier this year. Lotus says it now plans to advance to a restart feasibility study.

A proposed amendment to Spain's draft climate change and energy transition bill that would prohibit the exploration and extraction of uranium is unconstitutional, says Berkeley Energia. The Australian-based company is at an advanced stage in licensing its Salamanca uranium mine.

Rusburmash has completed geophysical surveys at the Dobrovolnoye uranium deposit in the Zverinogolovsky district of the Kurgan region of Russia and JSC Dalur has now started the construction of a pilot site for in-situ leaching of uranium there.

Most respondents to UxC's annual summer survey agreed that the uranium market has so far managed the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic effectively, and is proving robust, despite some initial issues with mine production. There is general consensus that the crisis will not harm the future of nuclear power, UxC said.

US President Donald Trump has declared a "national emergency" to deal with the threat to the USA's security, foreign policy and economy from its "undue reliance" on supplies of critical minerals from "foreign adversaries". The country must also expand and strengthen domestic mining and processing capacity for all minerals to guard against the possibility of supply chain disruptions, he said.

Kazatomprom CEO Galymzhan Pirmatov highlighted changing sentiment in the uranium market when announcing the Kazakh uranium producer's half-yearly financial results yesterday. The impact of reductions in Kazatomprom's operations due to COVID-19 measures will not be seen until the second-half of this year, he said, and the company expects its inventory levels to fall below its target of six to seven months of annual attributable production in 2020 and 2021.

A newly completed update to Vimy Resources' definitive feasibility study for the Mulga Rock Project in Western Australia has demonstrated stronger financial returns than previously forecast for the uranium project, the company says. The DFS Refresh indicates an 8% decrease in cash operating costs over the first five years to USD23.33 per pound, and a 7% decrease over life-of-mine.