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AREVA > Home > Operations > Cluff
Lake
Cluff Lake
Ownership:
AREVA Resources Canada [100%]
Reserves (December 2004):
Depleted
"Cluff Lake"
Portrait of a Canadian Mine
The History, The Mine, and The People
(PDF 10.08MB)
In 2002, the Cluff Lake mine reached the end of its uranium production. For close to a quarter of a century the mine was an integral part of northern Saskatchewan. With an original expected life of 12 years, Cluff Lake produced 62 million pounds of yellowcake over a 22-year period. Cluff Lake is 100% owned and operated by AREVA Resources. AREVA Resources has implemented a decommissioning program to rehabilitate the site. Most of the decommissioning was completed in 2006 after two years of work to fill the Claude pit, demolish the mill, cover the tailings management area, and reslope and cover waste rock piles. The planting of 600,000 trees by 2007 has ensured that the site will gradually blend back into the natural landscape from which it came. A monitoring program is now in effect. AREVA Resources will maintain and monitor the site until the data clearly show that the environment will be protected in the long term and that the site will remain safe for traditional land uses.
| Mid-1960s |
Orebody discovered |
| 1980-83 |
D Pit (the first orebody to be mined at Cluff Lake) |
| 1983 |
D Pit decommissioned |
| 1983-99 |
OP/DP underground mine |
| 1987 |
Gold extraction circuit added to the mill to recover gold from the Phase 1 tailings |
| 1989-91 |
DJN Pit |
| 1994-97 |
DJX Pit |
| 1994-2002 |
DJ underground mine |
| 2000 |
Original date targeted for closing of the mill. Higher ore grades and improvements in operations allow production to continue for two more years |
| 2002 |
After 22 successful years, Cluff mining operations cease with a total of 62 M pounds |
| 2003 |
John T. Ryan safety award from the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum - for the lowest lost time accident rate of any metal mine in Canada in 2002 (also awarded to Cluff Lake in 1998) |
| 2004 |
Decommissioning Licence granted and work begins |
| 2004 |
ISO 14001 certification for environmental management system - a first for a North American uranium mine in the process of being decommissioned |
| 2006 |
Physical decommissioning complete |
| 2007 |
Cluff achieves seven years without a lost-time accident |
The Cluff Lake mine achieved ISO 14001
certification for its environmental management system in 2004. This is
a first for a North American uranium mine in the process of being
decommissioned.
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