Cigar Lake Mine

Cigar Lake Mine
Location
Cigar Lake Mine Location in Saskatchewan 58°04′07″N 104°32′26″W / 58.06861°N 104.54056°W / 58.06861; -104.54056Coordinates: 58°04′07″N 104°32′26″W / 58.06861°N 104.54056°W / 58.06861; -104.54056
Location	Athabasca Basin
Province	Saskatchewan
Country	Canada
Owner
Company	Cameco(50%), AREVA(37%), Idemitsu (8%), and TEPCO (5%)
Year of acquisition	1981 (Discovery)
Production
Products	Uranium
History
Opened	2013 (planned)

The Cigar Lake Mine is the largest undeveloped high grade uranium deposit in the world, located in the uranium rich Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan, Canada.

The deposit, discovered in 1981, is second in size of high-grade deposits only to the McArthur River mine. Other deposits, such as Olympic Dam in Australia, contain more uranium, but not at the significant grades of the Saskatchewan deposits. The average grade at Cigar Lake is in excess of 20% whereas the world average is less than 1%.

Full scale construction began in 2005 with production originally planned for 2007, but the mine experienced a catastrophic water inflow in October 2006, which flooded the mine. A second inflow occurred in 2008 during the first attempt at dewatering the mine after sealing the initial inflow. Remediation efforts continued, and re-entry was successfully accomplished in 2010. Production is expected to be delayed until 2011 at the earliest.^[1]

It has been suggested that the 2006 flood was a direct cause of the uranium bubble of 2007, which caused the natural uranium spot price to reach a record high of 137$/lb (300$/kgU).^[2][3][4]

Reserves

As of December 31, 2009, the mine has proven and probable reserves of 557,300 tonnes at an average grade of 17.4% U₃O₈.^[5] (209.3 Million pounds U₃O₈)

Ownership

The mine is owned by Cameco Corporation (50%), AREVA Resources Canada Inc (37%), Idemitsu Canada Resources Ltd. (8%), and TEPCO Resources Inc. (5%). Cameco is the project operator.

See also

• Uranium mining
• Uranium market
• Unconformity uranium deposits
• Deep geological repository
• Uranium bubble of 2007

References

1. ^ "Cigar Lake floods again". Nuclear Engineering International. 22 August 2008. http://www.neimagazine.com/story.asp?sectionCode=132&storyCode=2050703. Retrieved 2008-09-01. 
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ [2]
4. ^ Andrew Mickey (2008-08-22). "Uranium Has Bottomed: Two Uranium Bulls to Jump on Now". UraniumSeek.com. http://www.uraniumseek.com/news/UraniumSeek/1219431716.php. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
5. ^ "Financial Reporting - Reserves". Cameco Corporation. http://www.cameco.com/investors/financial_reporting/reserves/. Retrieved 2010-03-21. 

External links

• "Cigar Lake". Cameco Corporation. http://www.cameco.com/mining/cigar_lake/.