Tailings Management

At present, all uranium production in Canada is located in Saskatchewan. Sites with active tailings management facilities include Key Lake and Rabbit Lake, operated by Cameco Corporation, and McClean Lake, operated by AREVA Resources Canada Inc. The McArthur River mine (operated by Cameco Corporation) is operational, however there is no tailings management facility at this site since the ore is transported to Key Lake for milling.

The Key Lake site has been operating since 1984. The last ore was mined from the Deilmann Open Pit in 1997, after which mining was stopped. Initial tailings at the Key Lake site were deposited in a purpose-built surface tailings management area until late 1995. In late 1995/early 1996, deposition of tailings was transferred to the Deilmann Tailings Management Facility (DTMF). Since February 1996, all tailings have been deposited in the DTMF. In January 2000, the Key Lake operation began processing ore from the McArthur River mine, which began production in December 1999.

Rabbit Lake, the longest-operating uranium production facility in Saskatchewan, began operating in 1975. Tailings were deposited at a surface tailings management area until 1985 when deposition of tailings into the Rabbit Lake Pit TMF began. Open pit uranium deposits have been mined out, but underground mining at the Eagle Point ore zone continues . In the future, the final processing step for some of the ore originating from Cigar Lake is planned for Rabbit Lake.

The McClean Lake site began uranium production in 1999. It is the first new uranium mill constructed in North America in 15 years. The mill will be expanded in the future to process ores from two development sites, the Cigar Lake and Midwest projects. Open pit mining of the initial deposit (JEB ore body) began in 1995. Once the ore was removed and stockpiled, the pit was developed as a tailings management facility.