Cameco Cigar Lake mine grinds to a halt as processing mill undergoes repair

McLean Lake Uranium Mill. (Courtesy Orano Canada)

Uranium giant Cameco says it is temporarily suspending operations at it’s mine in Cigar Lake because of operational issues at Orano’s McClean Lake ​uranium processing mill.

The mill processes ore from Cigar Lake and is dealing with challenges involving it’s sulfuric acid plant that forced it to shut down to repair the problem.

“Orano is currently working to bring the acid plant back online and is assessing options to obtain acid supply from an alternative source while it waits for replacement parts to complete the repair” Cameco said in a news release.

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“With limited ore storage capacity at Cigar Lake, we have temporarily suspended mining activities until sufficient acid is available to allow milling to resume at McClean Lake”.

At this point Cameco says it expects the McClean Lake mill to return to operation in about two weeks and does not expect their 2026 production outlook to be impacted, though there is a risk repairs may take longer than scheduled.

“Depending on the duration of any additional delays, our 2026 production outlook could be impacted” Cameco said.