Mine airport closed as fire approaches

Blaze gets within one kilometre of the McArthur River uranium mine facility

Cameco Corp. is taking precautions in the face of a large wildfire burning near one of its uranium mines in northern Saskatchewan, smoke from which forced the facility ’s airport to close.

Carey Hyndman, a spokeswoman for the Saskatoon-based miner, said lightning strikes kindled the fire Monday evening, and the 10-kilometre face came within about one kilometre of the McArthur River mine.

Earlier this week, Nav Canada. which operates Canada’s civil air navigation system, published a “notice to airmen” ordering all aircraft to steer at least six nautical miles clear of the mine airport because of “aerial fire suppression in progress.”

While the company has taken steps, including mobilizing emergency responders and preparing equipment, it is adopting a “waitand-see” approach to the fire, Hyndman said.

“We’ve been doing some work enhancing our fire guards, making sure all our pumps and sprinklers are ready to go if they’re needed — any of that preparation work that we are pretty well versed in,” she said.

The blaze, known as the Arthur fire, grew from about 30 square kilometres late Thursday to roughly 60 square kilometres by Friday morning, according to the province.

Speaking on a conference call Friday morning, Steve Roberts, the province’s executive director of wildfire management, said the mine site is “well protected” and crews were working to keep the fire from encroaching.

The facility 500 kilometres north of Saskatoon is not being evacuated, Hyndman noted. McArthur River has been home to a skeleton crew since it was temporarily shut down earlier this year.

Hyndman said provincial government fire management crews arrived at the mine site Tuesday, and personnel from the site are flying in and out using the nearby Key Lake airport, which is accessible by road.

Wildfires are a concern for Cameco, which has uranium operations scattered across the province’s Athabasca Basin.

The company temporarily halted uranium shipments three years ago, during one of the worst fire seasons in recent memory.

Production at its uranium operations continued apace, however.

In 2012, another fire forced Cameco to move more than 300 people from its now-shuttered Rabbit Lake mine, which is about 800 kilometres north of Saskatoon. The evacuation lasted two days.

We’ve been doing some work enhancing our fireguards, making sure all our pumps and sprinklers are ready to go.