Economy-Finance

Areva applies to seek uranium in northern Finland

HELSINKI, Sept 1 (Reuters) – France’s Areva (CEPFi.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)submitted a claim to the Finnish government on Monday to searchfor uranium in northern Finland, the company said.

Areva Resources Finland said in a statement the exclusive,5-year exploration claim was for a 108 sq km (41.7 square miles)parcel of land lying mostly in the municipality of Ranua inLapland, 750 km north of Helsinki.

It first found traces of uranium there in 2007.

“I’d guess it will take one to two years to get (final)approval,” Chief Executive Osmo Kaipainen said, noting the firmwas factoring into its timeline expected court appeals againstthe claim.

Kaipainen said that even under the best circumstances, itwould still take 7-10 years before Areva had enough informationabout the site to decide whether mining was economicallyfeasible.

He added that work at the firm’s current uranium drillingsite, in eastern Finland, was on track.

“We can see uranium there, that’s clear, but we don’t knowif there is enough for mining,” Kaipainen said. The firm has said that if all goes well, mining at theeastern Finland site could start in 15 years’ time.

Areva is part of a consortium building a new nuclear reactorin Finland, scheduled to go on stream in 2011, one of the firstto be built in Western Europe after a long pause.

Uranium has not been mined in Finland since 1961. (Reporting by Brett Young; editing by Toby Chopra)