Cigar Lake Grand Opening
Cigar Lake is the world’s highest grade uranium mine. 2015 Achievements: • Commercial production achieved on May 1, 2015 • Three jet boring machines have been commissioned for use underground • By mid-year, Cigar Lake had produced a total of 3.1 million pounds of uranium oxide.
2014 Milestones • First ore slurry shipped on March 13, 2014. • First uranium oxide from Cigar Lake ore was packaged at McClean Lake mill on October. 8, 2014 • By the end of 2014, a total of 340,000 pounds of packaged yellowcake had been produced
Cigar Lake operation facts Location: • 660 km north of Saskatoon Ownership: • A joint venture of Cameco (50%), Areva Resources Canada (37%), Idemitsu Canada (8%) and TEPCO Resources (5%)
Cigar Lake’s environmental monitoring program confirms the operation’s environmental performance
History: • Deposit discovered in 1981 • Construction began in 2005, interrupted by water inflows in 2006 and 2008 • Construction resumed in 2011 after mine recovery and remediation • Construction completed in late 2013 and commissioning began
Jet boring progress key to Cigar Lake ramp-up success As Cigar Lake ramps up production, the focus will be on achieving consistent and reliable operation from three jet boring machines already in place underground at Cigar Lake. The jet boring system, or JBS for short, involves purpose-built machines that travel on rails within a production tunnel. The machines use piping to deliver high pressure jets of water to carve out frozen ore located about 45 to 60 metres above the production tunnel. The JBS machines also drill the initial pilot hole into the formation and, to conclude the jet boring cycle, pump concrete up into the cavity to backfill the space mined. Ore captured by the jet boring process is stored briefly in a tank on the back of the JBS unit before being piped to the underground ore handling and processing system. Overall, Cigar Lake production staff is pleased with the performance of the underground ore processing system and its ability to pump and recycle large quantities of water and move the ore slurry through various stages. Ultimately, it is pumped to surface and then loaded into special haul trucks to be taken to the mill at McClean Lake.
u Facts about jet boring at Cigar Lake: •
•
09•2015
Jet boring frozen rock, ore and clay requires controlled high pressure water coming from the jet boring tool. Jet boring operates at a pressure of 15,000 pounds per square inch, a flow rate of 260 gallons a minute and requires 3,200 horsepower of pumping power.
The speed of the water coming out of the jetting tool is supersonic, over 1,000 mph.
Jet boring is a non-entry mining method that allows frozen ore to be mined from a production tunnel located about 30 to 40 metres beneath the orebody
•
The jetting process, in fact, produces so much kinetic energy that the ore and rock, which were previously frozen to anywhere between -5C to -15C, thaw by the time the ore slurry reaches the JBS storage tank, reaching the water circuit temperature of 10 to 15C.
•
The jet boring machines do not generate their own water pressure. In order to achieve such high flow rates and pressure, a special room was constructed underground to house 10 800-horsepower pumps. The operation of one jet boring machine requires four of these pumps working in parallel.
2014 Milestones • First ore slurry shipped on March 13, 2014. • First uranium oxide from Cigar Lake ore was packaged at McClean Lake mill on October. 8, 2014 • By the end of 2014, a total of 340,000 pounds of packaged yellowcake had been produced
Cigar Lake operation facts Location: • 660 km north of Saskatoon Ownership: • A joint venture of Cameco (50%), Areva Resources Canada (37%), Idemitsu Canada (8%) and TEPCO Resources (5%)
Cigar Lake’s environmental monitoring program confirms the operation’s environmental performance
History: • Deposit discovered in 1981 • Construction began in 2005, interrupted by water inflows in 2006 and 2008 • Construction resumed in 2011 after mine recovery and remediation • Construction completed in late 2013 and commissioning began
Jet boring progress key to Cigar Lake ramp-up success As Cigar Lake ramps up production, the focus will be on achieving consistent and reliable operation from three jet boring machines already in place underground at Cigar Lake. The jet boring system, or JBS for short, involves purpose-built machines that travel on rails within a production tunnel. The machines use piping to deliver high pressure jets of water to carve out frozen ore located about 45 to 60 metres above the production tunnel. The JBS machines also drill the initial pilot hole into the formation and, to conclude the jet boring cycle, pump concrete up into the cavity to backfill the space mined. Ore captured by the jet boring process is stored briefly in a tank on the back of the JBS unit before being piped to the underground ore handling and processing system. Overall, Cigar Lake production staff is pleased with the performance of the underground ore processing system and its ability to pump and recycle large quantities of water and move the ore slurry through various stages. Ultimately, it is pumped to surface and then loaded into special haul trucks to be taken to the mill at McClean Lake.
u Facts about jet boring at Cigar Lake: •
•
09•2015
Jet boring frozen rock, ore and clay requires controlled high pressure water coming from the jet boring tool. Jet boring operates at a pressure of 15,000 pounds per square inch, a flow rate of 260 gallons a minute and requires 3,200 horsepower of pumping power.
The speed of the water coming out of the jetting tool is supersonic, over 1,000 mph.
Jet boring is a non-entry mining method that allows frozen ore to be mined from a production tunnel located about 30 to 40 metres beneath the orebody
•
The jetting process, in fact, produces so much kinetic energy that the ore and rock, which were previously frozen to anywhere between -5C to -15C, thaw by the time the ore slurry reaches the JBS storage tank, reaching the water circuit temperature of 10 to 15C.
•
The jet boring machines do not generate their own water pressure. In order to achieve such high flow rates and pressure, a special room was constructed underground to house 10 800-horsepower pumps. The operation of one jet boring machine requires four of these pumps working in parallel.
