French nuclear giant Areva applies for claim permit for large uranium deposit in Northern Finland

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On Monday the French nuclear energy giant Areva filed an application with the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy for examining a large uranium deposit straddling the between the northern city of Rovaniemi and the neighbouring municipality of Ranua.
     
Of the Asentolamminoja claim area, 94 square kilometres lie on the Ranua side of the border and 14 square kilometres on the Rovaniemi side.
      The principal landowner in the region is the Finnish state. But there is also private land in the area, and even a couple of houses.
      Areva prospectors found the potentially very valuable deposit in the summer of 2007.
      Osmo Kaipainen, CEO of Areva Resources Finland, considers the deposit exceptionally interesting.
      “There aren’t many known boulder formations this extensive that contain uranium. And when there are boulders such as these, they have to originate from a bedrock somewhere”, Kaipainen says.
      Areva aims to work out how profitable mining for uranium would be in the roughly 110sq.km. area.
      “The precondition for commencing mining would be the area’s ability to produce a minimum of 500 tonnes of uranium per year for the next 15 years”, Kaipainen continues.
     
Additional examination of the area, drilling for samples in practice, can begin at Asentolamminoja once the claim permit has been legally validated.
      This is likely to take between one and two years, depending for instance whether appeals are made against the filing of the permit.
      Should a substantial amount of uranium be found, Areva can apply for permission to commence commercial mining. In practice, this could happen in seven to ten years’ time at the earliest.
     
There are currently 21 uranium deposit claim applications pending in Finland.
      Areva has a claim in Eno and a pending claim request for an area between Rovaniemi and Ylitornio. The request is currently being supplemented with an urgency account related to the Natura 2000 preservation programme.
      In addition to Areva, uranium is being sought in Finland by Cameco, Agricola Resources, Apofas Oy, Karelian Resource Services, Mawson Energi, Uranium Star Corp, and Namura Finland Oy.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Four foreign mining companies prospect for uranium in Finland (18.1.2006)

Links:
  Areva
  Natura 2000
  Geological Survey: Uranium in Finland
  Uranium deposits in Finland (.pdf file)

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