Mining & Milling
The Eagle Point underground mine
Mining activities at Eagle Point were restarted in July 2002. The
mining method used is vertical blast-hole stoping with delayed backfill.
Broken ore is removed with remote-controlled scoop trams, operated
from distances of 15 to 30 metres.
The orebody is located under Collins Bay in competent hard rock
which provides a strong structure around the orebody. There is a
minimum of 50 metres of rock between the mining area and the bottom
of the lake.
Pictured is Collins Bay showing one of zones and the dam which separated the pit from the bay. In the distance is the entry to the Eagle Point underground mine.
The Rabbit Lake mill began production in 1975, making it the longest running uranium milling operation in Canada.
Mining
The original Rabbit Lake open pit
The Rabbit Lake pit was mined out in 1984 after producing 41 million
pounds of uranium. It is now being used as a tailings facility.
The mined-out Collins Bay zone orebodies
Collins Bay B-zone was mined out in February 1991 after removing
more than 36.5 million pounds of uranium. D-zone was mined out in
April 1996 after removing more than 5.2 million pounds of uranium.
A-zone was mined out in April 1997 after removing more than 17.3
million pounds of uranium.
Milling
The Rabbit Lake mill has a proven capacity of 12 million pounds
U3O8.
It will be retrofitted to allow for the processing of Cigar Lake
uranium.
The mill circuit Milling consists of the following basic steps:
- grinding which breaks the rock down to sand
- acid leaching to dissolve the uranium
- separation of uranium-rich solution from waste solids
- solvent extraction to purify and concentrate the uranium solution
- yellowcake precipitation and drying which recovers uranium as
a crystal
- packaging in steel drums
- waste management
