Cigar Lake Mine
BW
The Cigar Lake is a lake in Saskatchewan, in the north of Canada.
Below the region 's second-largest known uranium deposits in the world exists according to McArthur River, Canada. The lenticular ore body is located at a depth of 450 meters. The uranium occurrence is two kilometers long and between 50 and 100 meters wide. Its thickness varies between 1 and 20 meters. The uranium deposits were found associated with electromagnetic studies, which demonstrated that graphite in bedrock. Graphite is often found in association with uranium. The ore body below the Cigar Lake was formed over 1.3 billion years ago. The Uranoxidkonzentration averages 14 percent, but can be in some places up nearly 21 percent.
No natural cleavage
Natural nuclear fission (see Nature reactor ) has never occurred at Cigar Lake. There are too many other present substances that absorb the free neutrons that are required to start the fission process. The ore body is surrounded by a 1 to 20 meter thick layer of clay that keeps the radioactive substances from being transported by groundwater flow in the area. The uranium deposit is a natural counterpart for a disposal site. When uranium deposits at Cigar Lake can no increased radioactivity on the surface are detected, even if the sound that surrounds the ore body is water permeable, as the bentonite clay at disposal sites.
Use
The degradation operates a consortium of companies led by the world's biggest uranium producer Cameco Corporation (50 %) and AREVA Resources Canada Inc. (37%) in addition to the Japanese Idemitsu Uranium Exploration Canada Ltd.. ( 8%) and TEPCO Resources Inc. ( 5%). On 22 October 2006, a flooding, which affected the intention to increase production to 7,000 tonnes per year occurred. In the summer of 2008, started to pump the water from the mine. It was found that again massively penetrated water. Thus, the intention of production to 2011/2012 is in question. The same loss of Cigar Lake and thus cover a loss of 10 % of world uranium requirements, a market analyst for the uranium sector the "loss of Saudi Arabia for the oil market."
The mine construction cost 660 million Canadian dollars.