Tim Gitzel, President and CEO of Cameco, presented this gift to Petro Kotin, President of SE “NNEGC “Energoatom”, in spring 2023 in London during the signing of important agreements between the companies.
The painting skillfully depicts the majesty and severity of Canadian nature – the landscape of the Northwestern province of Canada. It is on the shores of Lake Ontario that minerals are mined.
It is interesting and very symbolic that in 1789, the year when in one part of the world the great chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth isolated "Yellowcake" (also called uranium) from Saxon tar ore and thus discovered the element uranium (naming it in honor of the seventh planet from the Sun in the solar system, just discovered by astronomer Friedrich William Herschel), the world-famous writer Fenimore Cooper was born in another part of the hemisphere.
In Cooper's novels "The Pathfinder", "The Deerslayer" and others, the author describes the nature and magnificence of these places, which are still preserved and beautifully depicted in the gifted artwork. On the shores of Lake Ontario, the tumultuous events of the struggle of the Indians, the indigenous peoples of Canada, for their freedom in the nineteenth century took place.
A lot of time has passed and it turned out that one of the largest and richest uranium deposits is located in this picturesque area. The descendants of the famous Indian tribes work at the largest enterprise in Canada and mine uranium using the open-pit method: uranium is washed to the surface under the pressure of water pumped into the ore-bearing layer. The technology is completely natural – there is no need to build mines or plant explosives.
Cameco employees are also vacationing on the shore of the lake depicted in the painting, enjoying the beautiful landscapes and nature of the region.
It took about six months to transport the painting from Canada to Ukraine, as it had to go through all the required customs procedures as a work of art. The canvas will take an honorable place in the Company's museum and will demonstrate the friendly, mutually beneficial and strong relations between Energoatom and Cameco.
