Rabbit Lake is the second largest 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...

 milling facility in the western world, and is the longest operating uranium production facility in 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....

. The facility is located approximately 800 km north of Saskatoon

Saskatoon

Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....

, 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....

, on the northeast edge of 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...

. The closest community is Wollaston Lake

Wollaston Lake

Wollaston Lake is located in northeastern Saskatchewan, Canada. With a surface area of 2286 km² , it is the largest lake in the world that drains naturally in two directions...

, about 40 kilometers by lake or air. Rabbit Lake was the first Canadian mine to offer a seven-days-in/seven-days-out commuter system of staffing.
Access is provided by Highway 905

Saskatchewan Highway 905

Highway 905 is a highway in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It runs from Highway 102 to Highway 964 near Black Lake. The highway is approximately 456 km long.Highway 905 starts at Saskatchewan Highway 102, about 22 km southwest of Southend...

.

Operations

The Rabbit Lake deposit was discovered in 1968 and production started in 1975 using open-pit mining

Open-pit mining

Open-pit mining or opencast mining refers to a method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow....

 methods. The Rabbit Lake pit was mined out in 1984. Exploration resulted in the discovery of additional deposits in the area.

Rabbit Lake Deposits
Name	Discovered	Commenced	Depleted	Comments
Rabbit Lake	1968	1975	1984
Collins Bay A-zone	1971	1995	1997
Collins Bay B-zone	1977	1985	1991
Collins Bay D-zone	1979	1995	1996
Eagle Point	1980	1994	-	Production hiatus from 1998 to 2002 due to depressed uranium prices.

The Eagle Point deposit is being mined using underground mining methods. Recent exploration drilling has extended mine life to 2015.

When the Cigar Lake Mine

Cigar Lake Mine

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....

 begins production, the Rabbit Lake mill will process about half of the ore

Ore

An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....

 from that mine.

Reserves

As of December 31, 2009, proven and probable reserves are 1,096,400 tonnes at 0.88% U₃O₈. (21.3 Million pounds U₃O₈)

Awards

The Rabbit Lake mine has been awarded the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum

Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum

The Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum is a technical society of professionals in the Canadian minerals, metals, materials and energy industries. It was founded in 1898. In 2006, the organization had 12,000 national members...

's John T. Ryan Trophy

John T. Ryan Trophy

John T. Ryan Trophies are CIM awards of excellence given to a mine in a given category which experiences the lowest accident frequency during the previous year in all of Canada. Three national trophies are given each year, one to a metal mine, a coal mine and one to a select mine...

 for the best safety record for metal mines several times. This award is given to the metal mine with the best safety record for the previous year.

National Trophy

• 1989
• 2001

Regional Trophy - Prairies and Northwest Territories

• 2003

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...
  
  
• Unconformity uranium deposits

External links