Key Lake mine

Its deposits jointly remain one of the higher grade large uranium deposits discovered, with an average grade of over 2% U₃O₈. Key Lake was the third largest uranium deposit in the Athabasca Basin and is surpassed only by McArthur River and Cigar Lake.

Uranium exploration was carried out by a joint venture led by Uranerz Exploration and Mining, a subsidiary of German Uranerzbergbau GmbH. Uranium anomalies in lake water detected in 1969 were followed up in 1971 with the location of radioactive pitchblende boulders in transported overburden, which were eventually followed back to their source, resulting in the discovery of the Gaertner orebody of the Key Lake deposits in 1975.

The nearest village by road is Pinehouse, 220 kilometres south of Key Lake. The mine is considered the official northern terminus of Saskatchewan Highway 914, as reflected by provincial highway maps, although online mapping such as Google Maps suggest the highway continues on to another mine, McArthur River, further to the north.

In late 2017, citing "continued low uranium prices", Cameco announced that the McArthur River/Key Lake operation would suspend production for approximately ten months starting by the end of January 2018. In July 2018 Cameco announced that this shut-down would extend for an indefinite period of time pending an upswing in the uranium market.

History