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Concept
Uranium mining in Canada
Résumé
Canada is the world's second largest producer of uranium, behind Kazakhstan. In 2009, 20% of the world's primary uranium production came from mines in Canada. 14.5% of the world production came from one mine, McArthur River. Currently the only producing area in Canada is northern Saskatchewan, although other areas have had active mines in the past.
Canada's first recorded discovery of uranium came in 1930 when prospector Gilbert LaBine discovered pitchblende, a major uranium bearing mineral, on the shores of the Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories. This discovery led Labine's company, Eldorado Gold Mines Limited, to develop the Eldorado Mine at Port Radium, Northwest Territories in 1932 and a refinery to extract Radium from the ore in Port Hope, Ontario, the following year.
During World War II, the demand for uranium exploded as the United States and its allies, Britain and Canada, began the Manhattan Project to produce the first atomic weapons. As a result, in 1943 the Government of Canada expropriated the assets of Eldorado and formed a federal crown corporation, Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited, to oversee Canadian uranium assets. Exploration for uranium was restricted to Eldorado and the Geological Survey of Canada.
The ban on private prospecting was lifted in 1947. This led to an exploration boom that quickly resulted in the discovery of mines in the Northwest Territories (Rayrock), Ontario (Bancroft and Elliot Lake), and Saskatchewan (Uranium City). By 1956, thousands of radioactive occurrences had been noted and by 1959, 23 mines were in operation in five districts. In 1959, Canadian uranium exports were valued at $330 million, more than for any other mineral exported from Canada that year. In the early 1960s, military demand for uranium declined and in 1965 Canada imposed a policy of only selling uranium for peaceful purposes. This period marked the end of the first uranium boom and saw the number of operating mines drop to four. To assist the domestic uranium industry, the federal government initiated a stockpiling program to purchase uranium.
Source officielle
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