McClean Lake Mine. Photo courtesy words.usask.ca
A recent approval by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission will allow Cameco’s Cigar Lake mine to reach its uranium production target for this year.
AREVA Resource Canada’s McCLean Lake operation is now licensed to mill and package 24 million pounds of uranium concentrate. All of Cigar Lake’s ore is milled at McClean Lake.
Previously McClean was approved to only produce 13 million pounds, and Cigar Lake’s production outlook was 16 million pounds.
According to a news release by Areva, McClean Lake is the only facility in the world designed to process high grade uranium ore without dilution. McClean Lake has undergone three years of upgrades and expansions to safely handle this quantity of high-grade uranium ore.
This capacity makes the combined Cameco and Areva uranium production centre the second-largest in the world.