Cigar Lake Mine

Cigar Lake Mine is a uranium mine located in Saskatchewan, Canada. This particular uranium mine is noteworthy both because of its size, as well as the concentration of its ore. Whereas the ore at most uranium mines has a concentration of less than 1%, the ore at Cigar Lake Mine is 19%. In addition, the mine contains 232 million pounds of uranium, which is the second largest known deposit of uranium anywhere in the world. The mine was discovered in 1983. Although the first production was planned for 2007, a flood prevented the target date from being met. Production is expected to be delayed at least until 2011. The mine is also noteworthy because recent construction and planned future construction of dozens of new nuclear power plants has created a substantial increase in the worldwide demand for uranium. [1]