Uranium mining suspended at Cigar Lake as wildfire threatens: Cameco

Canada's Cameco has suspended uranium production at its 18 million lb/year Cigar Lake mine in Saskatchewan as a precaution due to a wildfire currently burning in the vicinity of the mine, the company said July 1.

Mine operator Cameco said in a statement that the heat dome that has recently settled over western Canada, causing extremely hot, dry weather has "complicated the situation."

The heat dome phenomenon caused temperatures to soar in the Pacific Northwest over the last week.

The company is evacuating roughly 230 non-essential personnel from site, a decision made in consultation with wildfire management officials from the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, the statement said.

The mine is located in the northern part of the province, in an area so remote that workers are flown in and out of the site by plane.

About 80 essential personnel will stay on site to "maintain the facility in a safe state," Cameco said.

This is the third time in 16 months Cigar Lake has been temporarily shut. The first was in March 2020, because of rising coronavirus cases. The mine restarted in September.

The second was in December, again due to the pandemic. Cigar Lake output was idled until its restart in April.

The mine is owned by Cameco (50.025%), Orano Canada (37.1%), Idemitsu Canada Resources (7.875%) and TEPCO Resources(5.0%), and is operated by Cameco.