Uranium in Canada | Canadian Uranium Production

Uranium in Canada | Canadian Uranium Production: "Canada produced 10,617 tonnes of U3O8 in 2008, and in 2009 production was 11,997 tonnes U3O8 (10,173 tU) – 20% of world total. Most of this comes from its third generation mines, which started operation in 1999 at McClean Lake and McArthur River in northern Saskatchewan (the Rabbit Lake mine in the same region is the third source).

The main uranium producers are Cameco and Areva Resources Canada (formerly Cogema Resources), part of France's Areva Group. Cameco was formed in the 1988 merger of Saskatchewan Mining Development Corporation and the government-owned Eldorado Nuclear Ltd. The company issued its first public shares in 1991 and was fully privatized in 2002.


In the early 1990s, the Saskatchewan government had considered phasing out uranium mining in the province. This policy was later reversed after a joint Federal-Saskatchewan study panel on health, safety, environment and socio-economic impact found that the jobs provided by the industry would be hard to replace and that the environmental impact of mining could be minimized. Today, the provincial government actively supports uranium mining, and all new Saskatchewan uranium mines have international ISO 14001 environmental certification."