By Dr. Karen Hudson-Edwards
School: University of London, England
Sunday August 14th, 2011. Today we had a long but really rewarding day visiting Cameco’s uranium mine at Rabbit Lake in northern Saskatchewan. This location meant we were up at 5 am to get ready for a 6.30 am departure by plane for the north. We got our Westwind Airways plane at Hanger 3 on Saskatoon’s air field, and fortunately we were all able to get a window seat to enjoy the view. During the trip, Pam guided us on the geology below using the Geological Highway map of Saskatchewan. We first flow over the flat, fertile former glacial lakes and deltas that developed during the last Ice Age than ended about 10,000 years ago. At La Ronge, we then flew over the 1.7-3.3 billion year old Canadian Shield, home to many northeast-southwest trending lakes (formed parallel to the metamorphic structures in the rocks). We saw some worm-like ‘eskers’ (sand and gravel bars formed by rivers underneath glaciers) but unfortunately the two circular lakes formed by meteorite impacts were covered by cloud. As we started out descent into Rabbit Lake, though, the skies cleared, giving us a sunny, smooth landing.
We were met by a yellow school bus that took us to the Eagle Point mine operated by the company Cameco. Maurice (Mo) Balych outlined the day’s itinerary, and introduced his team. What struck most of us was the great emphasis put on safety. Mo proudly reported that the mine had gone 2 years without a safety incident (lost time accident). We then donned our PPE (personal protective equipment) safety protection) gear: a white monkey suit-like coverall, safety glasses, ear plugs, gloves and rubber boots, in preparation for our underground mine tour. We loaded up like prisoners into caged trucks, and started the spiral trip down the tunnel, which was like going into a gopher hole. Although it was dark, the tunnels were spacious, with ‘escape’ tunnels lit by bright lamps leading off to the sides. We first stopped at the 370 m level (below the ground) to observe the ore, its host rock and drilling into the rock to place explosives that would eventually be blasted (when we were back up on surface!). The ore is not obvious to the naked eye, which is hardly surprising considering it forms only 1 to 2 percent of the rock. Nonetheless, some of us found yellowish, sulphur-like minerals that the mine geologist told us were altered uranium ore mineral, so we knew the uranium ore wasn’t far.
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| Annette and Lise Anne model PPE |
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| Load up in jeeps to go underground |
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| Ore truck coming up Eagle Point Decline |
Next we drove down to the 400 m level, which is the furthest depth the minerals have reached so far. There are plans to extend to 600 m deep, but this will take some time given that it takes about a week to advance only a few 10s of metres. Here we saw a water reclamation scheme being built; this will eventually be used to recirculate mine processing water to avoid using the local groundwater in their drilling processes. After this, we boarded the trucks and started back up to the surface. On the way, we stopped in a `rescue room`: these are dispersed throughout the mine and are used to house miners if there is a gas leak or other accident. This type of room recently housed the miners in Chile when they were trapped for about 3 months, and we were able to get a feel for how brave they were in such a confined space.
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| Rock Bolter securing back |
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| Underground Mine Rescue Station |
Lunch was provided in the camp cafeteria with the other on-site workers. These people work on a fly-in, fly-out basis, whereby they work long shifts for either a week or two, then fly out home for the equivalent time. The camp provides lots of opportunities to relax: a large movie room with very comfortable chairs (we know because we tested them), a gym and several organised activities both inside and outside.
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| On surface - great tour |
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| Group at Cafeteria |
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In the afternoon we toured the mill where the uranium ore is eventually turned into `yellowcake`, which is uranium oxide that is considered a low `specific activity substance` (that is, meant to have low radioactivity). The yellowcake is packed into drums and shipped to Cameco`s uranium refinery in Blind River, Ontario. After putting on new PPE, our guides Doug, Felix McDonald and Mehran took us in two groups to see the mill. It`s a lot like a big chemistry lab with different cocktails and reagents used to dissolve the ore and separate the uranium from unwanted elements such as arsenic, nickel and lead. Attached to the mill is the complex`s water treatment facility: these days all water leaving mining and milling sites must have compositions that comply with government environmental regulations. This means that Cameco must treat the water to remove excess uranium, molybdenum and selenium. On our surface tour that followed the mil tour, we also saw the place where the clean, treated water is discharged to the local stream and thence to other waterbodies. Before boarding the plane back to Saskatoon, we stopped at the `lookout`point to see that tailings dam where all the waste solids from the mining and milling are stored. This is the former open pit, original Rabbit Lake uranium mine that opened in 1975. Today it holds a plethora of multi-coloured sediments laden with the unwanted nickel, arsenic, lead and other chemicals. Cameco`s engineers have designed it so that it will undergo none to minimal leaching into the surrounding environment over 100s to 1000s of years.
We reflected on our interesting and informative day on the way back to Saskatoon, and then went for dinner and lively chat at the Taverna Italiana. Bed and sleep followed so that we could be fresh for the next day.
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| Mill - Uranium-bearing solution |
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| Final water treatment plant discharge site |
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| Tailings Management Facility - final waste site |
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| Board plane for flight back to Saskatoon |
