Cameco suspends Rabbit Lake operations; 500 jobs to be cut

Cameco's Rabbit Lake mine is seen here in this 2014 aerial photo. (cameco.com)

Five-hundred jobs at Cameco’s Rabbit Lake mine are expected to be cut as the company suspends operations at the northern Saskatchewan uranium facility.

Cameco announced the suspension of the Rabbit Lake facility and reductions in U.S. operations Thursday. About 500 positions at Rabbit Lake will be lost and 85 positions in the U.S. will be cut. Both employees and long-term contractors will be laid off.

“Unfortunately, continued depressed market conditions do not support the operating and capital costs needed to sustain production at Rabbit Lake and the U. S. operations,” the company’s president and CEO, Tim Gitzel, said in a media release.

The mine is not being shut down permanently, according to the media release.

“The Rabbit Lake operation will be placed in a safe care and maintenance state allowing Cameco the option to resume production when market conditions significantly improve,” the company statement read.

Affected employees will be offered exit packages, and the company is considering moving some workers to other Cameco sites. About 150 people will be needed to keep up the Rabbit Lake facility.

The mine is expected to finish with a final production of 1 million pounds in 2016 — down from an outlook of 3.6 million pounds — while U.S. numbers are expected to drop to 1.1 million pounds from the 1.4-million forecast.

The company also announced Thursday production targets would be reduced at the McArthur River and Key Lake operation, but noted no layoffs would result from the reduction.