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In fact, McArthur River’s ore grade is 100 times the world average, allowing the mine to produce 8.1 million kilograms of uranium a year by processing only 150 to 200 tonnes of ore per day.
Cameco recently signed a five-year, $345-million deal to supply 3.22 million kilograms of uranium to India, the first such deal since the Canada-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement came into force in September 2013, allowing Canadian companies to export nuclear products for peaceful uses to India. That uranium will likely come from Cameco’s McArthur River, Rabbit Lake and Cigar Lake mines.
By the way, Cigar Lake is the second-largest highgrade uranium mine in the world.
Largely due to its worldleading potash and uranium production, Saskatchewan ranks third among Canadian provinces with mineral production valued at $7.13 billion, behind Ontario at $10.99 billion and Quebec at $8.73 billion in 2013. Saskatchewan recently overtook B.C. (with $6.98 billion in mineral production) for sole possession of third place among mining provinces.
As impressive as Saskatchewan’s potash and uranium industries are, however, it would be wrong to assume that’s all there is to the province’s mining sector.
Lignite coal, mined by Westmoreland Coal Co. at Estevan, Bienfait and Coronach in southern Saskatchewan, produces more than 40 per cent of the province’s electrical power at SaskPower’s three coal-fired generating stations.
Saskatchewan ranks third in coal production, with just under 10 million tonnes of coal produced in 2013, behind B.C. at 30.8 million tonnes and Alberta at slightly less than 30 million tonnes.
Saskatchewan also ranks third in terms of reserves, with 26 per cent of Canada’s coal reserves, behind B.C. at 39 per cent and Alberta at 29 per cent.
With just two per cent of Canadian production, Saskatchewan is not a major gold-producing province. The province had production from just one mine in 2014, with Claude Resources’ Seabee mine producing a record 63,000 ounces of gold last year.
Saskatchewan also produces salt, meta-kaolin (a type of industrial clay), silica sand, sodium sulphate (for use in laundry detergent), clay and bentonite (used in drilling mud) and activated carbon.
Exploration expenditures are estimated at $235 million in 2014, similar to 2013, with uranium and potash accounting for 95 per cent of exploration spending. Developing mineral plays include diamonds, rare earth elements and base metals.
As for the future, Saskatchewan’s position as a world-leading mineral producer looks secure.
K+S Potash Canada is expecting to begin production at its $4-billion Legacy solution mine project by 2017 — the province’s first new potash mine in 40 years.
The world’s largest mining company, BHP Billiton, is continuing to work on its $3.8-billion Jansen underground potash project about 150 kilometres east of Saskatoon. And with $17 billion worth of ‘brownfield” expansion projects in the past decade, including Mosaic’s recently announced $1.7-billion expansion of the K3 mine at Esterhazy, there’ll be no shortage of potash.
Uranium supply is also assured with Cigar Lake ramping up production to 2.7 to 3.6 million kilograms in 2015, and up to full production of 8.1 million kilograms by 2018.
“... IT WOULD BE WRONG TO ASSUME (POTASH AND URANIUM ARE) ALL THERE IS TO THE PROVINCE’S MINING SECTOR.”