Cigar Lake Mine
Encyclopedia
The Cigar Lake Mine is the largest undeveloped high grade uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...

 deposit in the world, located in the uranium rich Athabasca Basin
Athabasca Basin
This article is about the uranium mining region near Lake Athabasca. Not to be confused with the drainage basin of the Athabasca River.The Athabasca Basin is a region of Northern Saskatchewan and Alberta Canada that is best known as the world's leading source of high grade uranium...

 of northern Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

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
Olympic Dam, South Australia
Olympic Dam is a mining centre in South Australia located some 550 km NNW of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is the site of an extremely large iron oxide copper gold deposit producing copper, uranium, gold and silver. The site hosts an underground mine as well as an...

 in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, 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.

It has been suggested that the 2006 flood was a direct cause of the uranium bubble of 2007
Uranium bubble of 2007
The uranium bubble of 2007 was a period of nearly exponential growth in the price of natural uranium, starting in 2005 and peaking at roughly 300$/kg in mid-2007. This coincided with significant rises of stock price of uranium mining and exploration companies...

, which caused the natural uranium spot price to reach a record high of 137$/lb (300$/kgU).

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. (209.3 Million pounds U3O8)

Ownership

The mine is owned by Cameco Corporation
Cameco
Cameco Corporation is the world's largest publicly traded uranium company, based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In 2009, it was the world's second largest uranium producer, accounting for 16% of world production.-History:...

 (50%), AREVA Resources Canada Inc (37%), Idemitsu Canada Resources Ltd. (8%), and TEPCO Resources Inc. (5%). Cameco
Cameco
Cameco Corporation is the world's largest publicly traded uranium company, based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In 2009, it was the world's second largest uranium producer, accounting for 16% of world production.-History:...

 is the project operator.

See also

  • Uranium mining
    Uranium mining
    Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. The worldwide production of uranium in 2009 amounted to 50,572 tonnes, of which 27% was mined in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia are the top three producers and together account for 63% of world uranium...

  • Uranium market
    Uranium market
    The uranium market, like all commodity markets, has a history of volatility, moving not only with the standard forces of supply and demand, but also to whims of geopolitics. It has also evolved particularities of its own in response to the unique nature and use of this material.The only significant...

  • Unconformity uranium deposits
  • Deep geological repository
    Deep geological repository
    A deep geological repository is a nuclear waste repository excavated deep within a stable geologic environment...

  • Uranium bubble of 2007
    Uranium bubble of 2007
    The uranium bubble of 2007 was a period of nearly exponential growth in the price of natural uranium, starting in 2005 and peaking at roughly 300$/kg in mid-2007. This coincided with significant rises of stock price of uranium mining and exploration companies...

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