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Cigar Lake

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Ownership:
AREVA Resources Canada [37.1%]
Cameco Corporation [50.025%]
Idemitsu Uranium Exploration Canada Ltd. [7.875%]
TEPCO Resources [5%]
Operator:
Cameco Corporation (mine under construction)
Reserves (December 2006):
226 million pounds of U₃O₈
with an average grade of 20.7%
Planned Production Capacity:
18 million pounds of U₃O₈ annually.

Cigar Lake is the world’s second largest known high-grade orebody, with an average grade of 20.79%. Construction began in January 2005 and production is expected to begin in 2011. Due to a water inflow in late 2006, remediation and dewatering is the focus of activities in 2007.

Cigar Lake ore will be ground to a fine material and mixed with water to form a slurry. The slurry will then be pumped to the surface and loaded into trucks for the 75-kilometre trip to the McClean Lake mill for processing. In the future, a portion (subject to regulatory approvals) will be processed at Cameco's Rabbit Lake mill. The mill at McClean Lake is being expanded to handle the additional ore from Cigar Lake. This expansion is an integral part of the Cigar Lake project.

	Cigar Lake Public Consultation 2002 PDF Version (3.78 M) Audio version of Cree and Dene translation
	"Disposal of Cigar Lake Waste Rock" PDF Version (1063 KB) This executive summary of the EIS describes the proposed disposal of Cigar Lake waste rock in the McClean Lake Sue C pit.
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