Cameco has temporarily suspended operations at its Cigar Lake uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, after processing was disrupted by a shutdown at Orano’s McClean Lake mill.
The pause in mining follows operational difficulties with the sulphuric acid plant at the McClean Lake facility, where ore from Cigar Lake is processed.
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Orano is attempting to restart the acid plant and is also exploring alternative sources of sulphuric acid while waiting for replacement parts needed for repairs.
Limited ore storage capacity at Cigar Lake is a key reason for suspending mining activities until acid supplies stabilise and milling can restart.
Cameco said it expects the McClean Lake mill will be operational again in around two weeks.
The company does not currently anticipate an impact on its Cigar Lake production targets for 2026 but warned this could change if repairs take longer than planned.
Since its commissioning in 2014, the Cigar Lake site has produced 174.5 million pounds (mlb) of uranium on a 100% basis. Commercial operations commenced in May 2015.
Cameco operates Cigar Lake and developed a jet-boring technique specifically for extracting ore from this deposit.
The ore is transported approximately 70km north-east to be processed at Orano’s McClean Lake mill.
Last month, Cameco and Orano Canada signed an agreement to purchase TEPCO Resources’ 5% participating interest in the Cigar Lake joint venture.
Upon closing of the transaction, Cameco’s ownership of Cigar Lake is expected to increase by 2.871%, bringing its total stake to 57.418%.
Orano’s interest will increase by 2.129% to reach 42.582%.
