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.

Kazakhstan's JSC National Atomic Company Kazatomprom says it will continue to "flex down" production by 20% through 2022. The company is also maintaining its 20% reduction in 2021, with no additional production planned to replace volumes lost in 2020 due to the measures taken to combat COVID-19.

The Municipality of Retortillo has issued Berkeley Energia a land use permit, known as an Urbanism Licence, for construction works at the Salamanca uranium project in western Spain. The project still requires a construction permit for the uranium processing plant before full construction of the mine can begin.

Developing the Etango uranium project in Namibia as an 8 million tonnes per year (Mtpa) throughput operation as opposed to the 20 Mtpa operation envisaged in previous studies will cut upfront capital costs while maintaining project economics, according to a newly completed scoping study by Bannerman Resources.

Kazakhstan's JSC National Atomic Company Kazatomprom plans to return staffing levels at its uranium mines to normal by around the end of this month. The number of employees at the mine sites was reduced between April and July in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Virginia's 38-year-old moratorium on uranium mining will continue following a district court ruling in a case challenging its constitutionality. Virginia Uranium Inc first brought the state suit in 2015 in its effort to mine what it claims is the largest known uranium deposit in the USA.

Cameco and Orano Canada have announced plans to restart operations at the Cigar Lake uranium mine and the McClean Lake mill. Cameco will restart mine operations at the beginning of September, and Orano expects to be processing uranium by the middle of the month.

Work has started in Kyrgyzstan to overcome the legacy of uranium mining in Central Asia with a ground-breaking ceremony in Shekaftar, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced today. The Shekaftar mining complex includes three closed mines and eight mining-waste disposal areas that contain about 700,000 cubic metres of waste from mining operations.

Denison Mines has resumed in situ leach field testing activities at the high-grade Phoenix deposit at Wheeler River in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. All operating procedures have been adapted to incorporate physical distancing and enhanced hygiene protocols to comply with COVID-19 health and safety guidelines.

The USA's Environmental Protection Agency and Nuclear Regulatory Commission aim to improve their coordination and cooperation in the regulation of uranium extraction using in-situ recovery methods through a new Memorandum of Understanding.

JSC National Atomic Company Kazatomprom has today announced it is extending for one month its reduction in operations due to COVID-19. Kazakhstan's government last week announced a second two-week lockdown after a national surge in coronavirus cases followed the lifting of an earlier lockdown.