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Regulatory Oversight Report for Uranium Mines and Mills in Canada: 2014

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Table 1-1: CNSC staff inspection efforts at uranium mines and mills
  Cigar Lake McArthur River Rabbit Lake Key Lake McClean Lake Total
Number of inspections 6 6 6 5 6 29
Estimated inspection person-days* 104 94 80 64 121 463
Directives 1 0 0 0 0 1
Action notices 10 3 9 5 6 32
Recommendations 12 4 3 4 2 25
Table 1-2: Results of the 2014 IEMP water sampling conducted at the Key Lake mill
Parameter Near-field (Station 3.8 David Creek ~2.3 km downstream) Mid-field (Station 3.3 Delta Lake ~12.3 km downstream) Far-field (Highway 914 at the Wheeler River Bridge ~21.5 km downstream)  Reference (David Creek – Upstream of mill) Drinking water quality guideline(1) Aquatic life water quality guideline(2) Regional natural background (min-max)(3)
Metals (µg/L)
Arsenic  3.35 0.95 0.18 0.31 10 5 0.05–8
Copper  0.48 0.14 0.19 0.17 (AO)<1000 2–4 0.1–15
Lead 0.07 < 0.03 0.05 0.17 10 1–7 0.05–20
Molybdenum 86.61 121.63 4.19 <1.5 _ 73 0.05–78
Nickel  9.65 2.63 0.32 0.14 _ 25–150 0.05–94
Selenium 2.8 0.70 < 0.11 < 0.11 50 1 0.05–3
Uranium 0.41 0.06 0.09 0.04 20 15 0.005–6
Zinc 1.08 < 0.12 3.06 < 0.12 (AO)<5000 30 0.25–50
Radionuclides (Bq/L)
Lead-210(4) < 1 < 1 < 1 < 1 0.2 - 0.002–0.07
Polonium-210 < 0.01 < 0.01 < 0.01 < 0.01 0.1 - 0.002–0.16
Radium-226  0.01 0.008 0.005 0.007 0.5 - 0.00005–0.1
Table 2-1: Uranium mines and mills – 2014 SCA performance ratings
Safety and control area Cigar Lake McArthur River Rabbit Lake Key Lake McClean Lake
Management system SA SA SA SA SA
Human performance management SA SA SA SA SA
Operating performance SA SA SA SA SA
Safety analysis SA SA SA SA SA
Physical design SA SA SA SA SA
Fitness for service SA SA SA SA SA
Radiation protection SA SA SA SA SA
Conventional health and safety SA SA SA SA SA
Environmental protection SA SA SA SA SA
Emergency management and fire protection SA SA SA SA SA
Waste management SA SA SA SA SA
Security SA SA SA SA SA
Safeguards and non-proliferation SA SA SA SA SA
Packaging and transport SA SA SA SA SA
Table 2-2: Uranium mines and mills – 2014 production data
Production data Cigar Lake McArthur River Rabbit Lake Key Lake McClean Lake
Mining – ore tonnage (tonnes/year) 3,318 108,394 328,126 Not applicable Not applicable
Mining – average ore grade mined (% U expressed as U3O8) 7.2 8.73 0.56 Not applicable Not applicable
Mining – U mined  (Mkg* U/year) 0.20 8.02 1.58 Not applicable Not applicable
Milling – mill ore feed (tonnes/year) Not applicable Not applicable 386,970 173,007 7,832
Milling – average mill feed grade (% U expressed as U3O8) Not applicable Not applicable 0.49 5.03 3.00
Milling – mill recovery (% of U) Not applicable Not applicable 97.3 99.4 97.5
Milling – U concentrate produced (Mkg U/year) Not applicable Not applicable 1.60 7.37 0.20
Authorized annual production (Mkg U/year) 9.25 8.1 4.25 9.6 5.0
Table 2-3: Annual average parameter concentration values in effluent released to the environment in 2014
Parameters MMER discharge limits Cigar Lake McArthur River Rabbit Lake Key Lake McClean Lake
Arsenic (mg/L*) 0.5 0.003 0.0013 0.0056 0.007 0.0005
Copper (mg/L) 0.3 0.0008 0.0011 0.0040 0.014 0.0048
Lead (mg/L) 0.2 0.0001 0.0001 0.0002 <0.01 0.0001
Nickel (mg/L) 0.5 0.0019 0.0014 0.0184 0.0049 0.0230
Zinc (mg/L) 0.5 0.0271 0.0019 0.0010 0.012 0.0022
TSS (mg/L) 15 1.3 1.0 2.0 1.8 1.0
pH 6.0–9.5 7.0 7.2 7.3 6.3 7.2
Table 2-4: Distribution of MMER effluent compliance by mining sector, 2013
Mining sector Number of mines Number of mines out of compliance with at least one parameter Number of mines out of compliance by parameter
Total suspended solids Arsenic Copper Lead Nickel Zinc Radium- 226 pH range
Uranium 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Base metal 44 9 1 0 1 0 2 1 2 2
Precious metal 51 8 6 1 2 0 0 0 0 1
Iron 9 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Table 2-5: A sector comparison of average effluent parameter concentrations, 2013
Parameters MMER limit Uranium Base metals Precious metals Iron
Arsenic (mg/L) 0.5 0.004 0.007 0.030 0.0009
Copper (mg/L) 0.3 0.003 0.015 0.038 0.006
Lead (mg/L) 0.2 0.0002 0.004 0.002 0.001
Nickel (mg/L) 0.5 0.023 0.063 0.023 0.062
Zinc (mg/L) 0.5 0.006 0.042 0.017 0.036
TSS (mg/L) 15 1.1 3.2 4.4 6.3
Radium-226 (Bq/L)* 0.37 0.023 0.028 0.009 0.007
pH low ≥6.0 6.8 7.6 7.5 7.2
pH high ≤9.5 7.2 8.0 7.8 7.5
Table 2-6: A sector comparison of pass/fail results of rainbow trout acute-lethality tests in 2013
  MMER limit Uranium Base metals Precious metals Iron
Rainbow trout
acute-lethality test 		Pass 34 344 446 171
Fail 0 4 29 0
Table 2-7: Percentage of each metal mining sector passing all rainbow trout acute-lethality tests, 2009–2013
Metal mining sector 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Uranium 100 100 100 100 100
Base metals 80 90 85 98 93
Precious metals 96 96 96 94 86
Iron 67 80 83 100 100
Table 2-8: Average selenium concentration in treated effluent by metal mining sector, last half of 2012 and all of 2013
Metal mining sector Selenium concentration (mg/L)*
Uranium 0.003
Base metals 0.005
Precious metals 0.005
Iron 0.001
Table 2-9: Total number of FTE workers, number of LTIs, severity rate and frequency rate, 2014
Total number of FTE workers and LTI statistics Cigar Lake McArthur River Rabbit Lake Key Lake McClean Lake
Total number of FTE workers1 833 692 669 499 739
Number of LTIs2 0 0 1 0 3
Severity rate3 0 0 11.4 0 4.3
Frequency rate4 0 0 0.15 0 0.4
Table 2-10: Safety statistics of mining sectors in Saskatchewan in 2014
  Mining sector Number of LTIs Frequency rate (200,000 person-hours) Severity rate (200,000 person-hours)
Potash (underground) 7 0.1 123.3
Solution (potash) 1 0.2 2.8
Minerals (sodium sulphate, sodium chloride) 1 0.8 69.0
Hardrock (gold, diamond) 5 0.3 13.4
Coal (strip mining) 10 2.0 15.3
Uranium 4 0.1 3.1
Table 3-1: Cigar Lake operation – mining production data, 2010–2014
Mining 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Ore tonnage (tonnes/year) No mining No mining No mining 234 3,318
Average ore grade mined (% U3O8) No mining No mining No mining 1.40 7.2
U mined (Mkg* U/year) No mining No mining No mining 0.04 0.20
Authorized annual production (Mkg U/year) No mining No mining No mining 9.25 9.25
Table 3-2: Cigar Lake operation – concentrations of metal and radionuclides in air, 2010–2014
Parameter Reference annual air quality levels (1) 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
As (µg/m3) 0.06 (2) 0.00057 0.00038 0.00025 0.00025 0.00025
Mo (µg/m3) 23 (2) 0.00023 0.00021 0.00028 0.00021 0.0001
Ni (µg/m3) 0.04 (2) 0.00165 0.00124 0.00101 0.00104 0.00067
Pb (µg/m3) 0.10 (2) 0.0017 0.0018 0.0016 0.0007 0.0013
Se (µg/m3) 1.9 (2) 0.00010 0.00005 0.00004 0.00003 0.00003
Pb210 (Bq/m3) 0.021 (3) 0.000745 0.000333 0.000338 0.000268 0.00025
Po210 (Bq/m3) 0.028 (3) 0.000178 0.000106 0.000106 0.000074 0.000086
Ra226 (Bq/m3) 0.013 (3) 0.000006 0.000014 0.000005 0.000004 0.000008
Th230 (Bq/m3) 0.0085 (3) 0.000007 0.000008 0.000026 0.000011 0.00001
U (µg/m3) 0.06 (2) 0.00019 0.00012 0.00009 0.00007 0.00008
Table 3-3: Cigar Lake operation – total number of full-time equivalent (FTE) workers and LTIs, severity rate and frequency rate, 2010–2014
Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Total number of FTE workers1 649 971 1,277 1,570 833
Number of LTIs2 0 1 0 4 0
Severity rate3 0.0 1.6 0.0 5.6 0
Frequency rate4 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.3 0
Table 4-1: McArthur River operation – mining production data, 2010–2014
Mining 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Ore tonnage (tonnes/year) 78,003 80,162 115,107 104,132 108,394
Average ore grade mined (% U3O8) 11.25 11.17 7.78 8.83 8.73
U mined (Mkg* U/year) 7.44 7.59 7.60 7.80 8.02
Authorized annual production (Mkg U/year) 8.1 8.1 8.1 8.1 8.1
Table 4-2: McArthur River operation – concentrations of metal and radionuclides in air, 2010–2014
Parameter Reference annual air quality levels (1) 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
As (µg/m3) 0.06 (2) 0.0002 0.0003 0.0003 0.0001 0.0001
Cu (µg/m3) 9.6 (2) 0.0075 0.0097 0.0119 0.0067 0.00835
Ni (µg/m3) 0.04 (2) 0.0009 0.0016 0.0012 0.0007 0.00085
Pb (µg/m3) 0.10 (2) 0.0020 0.0015 0.0018 0.0014 0.0012
Se (µg/m3) 1.9 (2) 0.00006 0.00006 0.00005 0.00003 0.0004
Zn (µg/m3) 23 (2) 0.0136 0.0247 0.7721 0.01065 0.01225
Pb210 (Bq/m3) 0.021 (3) 0.00036 0.00043 0.00045 0.00034 0.00032
Po210 (Bq/m3) 0.028 (3) 0.00015 0.00013 0.00012 0.0001 0.000095
Ra226 (Bq/m3) 0.013 (3) 0.00007 0.00003 0.00004 0.00001 0.000025
Th230 (Bq/m3) 0.0085 (3) 0.00005 0.00002 0.00001 0.00001 0.00001
U (µg/m3) 0.06 (2) 0.0040 0.0021 0.0012 0.0005 0.0005
Table 4-3: McArthur River operation – total number of full-time equivalent (FTE) workers and LTIs, severity rate and frequency rate, 2010–2014
Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Total number of FTE workers1 835 966 1,017 914 692
Number of LTIs2 1 3 2 0 0
Severity rate3 45.1 14.4 8.0 0 0
Frequency rate4 0.1 0.3 0.2 0 0
Table 5-1: Mining production data – Rabbit Lake operation, 2010–2014
Mining 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Ore tonnage (tonnes/year) 199,026 197,397 225,282 255,154* 328,126
Average ore grade mined (% U3O8) 0.89 0.91 0.84 0.59* 0.56
U mined (Mkg** U/year) 1.49 1.51 1.62 1.28 1.57
Table 5-2: Milling production data – Rabbit Lake operation, 2010–2014
Milling 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Mill ore feed (tonnes/year) 234,076 209,040 260,299 334,976 386,970
Average annual mill feed grade (% U3O8) 0.78 0.83 0.71 0.54 0.49
Percent uranium recovery 96.8 96.8 96.8 97.2 97.3
U concentrate produced (Mkg* U/year) 1.46 1.46 1.48 1.59 1.60
Authorized annual production (Mkg U/year) 4.25 4.25 4.25 4.25 4.25
Table 5-3: Rabbit Lake operation – concentrations of metal and radionuclides in air, 2010–2014
Parameter Reference annual air quality levels (1) 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
As (µg/m3) 0.06 (2) 0.000533 0.000483 0.000233 0.000175 0.000217
Ni (µg/m3) 0.04 (2) 0.000850 0.000800 0.000033 0.000007 0.000138
Pb210 (Bq/m3) 0.021 (3) 0.000012 0.000017 0.000012 0.000010 0.000013
Ra226 (Bq/m3) 0.013 (3) 0.000004 0.000002 0.000000 0.000002 0.0000024
Th230 (Bq/m3) 0.0085 (3) 0.000039 0.000003 0.000001 0.000001 0.0000026
U (µg/m3) 0.06 (2) 0.001800 0.001500 0.000917 0.001033 0.001960
Table 6-1: Key Lake operation – milling production data, 2010–2014
Milling 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Mill ore feed (tonnes/year) 196,180 189,821 193,511 184,099 173,007
Average annual mill feed grade (% U3O8) 4.68 4.85 4.61 5.03 5.03
Percentage of uranium recovery 98.4 98.7 98.9 99.3 99.4
U concentrate produced (Mkg* U/year) 7.66 7.69 7.52 7.75 7.37
Authorized annual production (Mkg U/year) 7.85 7.85 7.85 7.85 9.60
Table 6-2: Key Lake operation – concentrations of metal and radionuclides in air, 2010–2014
Parameter Reference annual air quality levels (1) 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
As (µg/m3) 0.06 (2) 0.00150 0.00222 0.00266 0.00166 0.00444
Ni (µg/m3) 0.04 (2) 0.00092 0.00186 0.00222 0.00118 0.00340
Pb210 (Bq/m3) 0.021 (3) 0.00048 0.00038 0.00034 0.00032 0.00044
Ra226 (Bq/m3) 0.013 (3) 0.00010 0.00010 0.00010 0.00010 0.00022
Th230 (Bq/m3) 0.0085 (3) 0.00010 0.00014 0.00028 0.00010 0.00022
U (µg/m3) 0.06 (2) 0.0046 0.01286 0.0074 0.00646 0.00794
Table 6-3: Key Lake operation – total number of full-time equivalent (FTE) workers and LTIs, severity rate and frequency rate, 2010–2014
Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Total number of FTE workers1 786 886 736 679 499
Number of LTIs2 3 3 1 0 0
Severity rate3 26.0 13.1 21.6 8.5 0
Frequency rate4 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.0 0
Table 7-1: McClean Lake operation – mining production data, 2010–2014
Mining1 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Ore tonnage (tonnes/year) 360 No mining 1,022 No mining No mining
Average ore grade mined (% U3O8) 3.96 No mining 4.76 No mining No mining
U mined (Mkg* U/year) 0.02 No mining 0.04 No mining No mining
Table 7-2: McClean Lake operation – milling production data, 2010–2014
Milling 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Mill ore feed (tonnes/year) 97,167* No milling1 No milling1 No milling1 7,832
Average annual mill feed grade (% U3O8) 0.80 No milling1 No milling1 No milling1 3.00
Percentage of uranium recovery 95.7 No milling1 No milling1 No milling1 97.5
Uranium concentrate produced (Mkg** U) 0.67* No milling1 No milling1 No milling1 0.200
Authorized annual production (Mkg U/year) 3.08 3.08 5.00 5.00 5.00
Table 7-3: McClean Lake operation – concentrations of metal and radionuclides in air, 2010–2014
Parameter Reference annual air quality levels (1) 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
As (µg/m3) 0.06 (2) 0.001343 0.000565 0.000350 0.000226 0.000420
Cu (µg/m3) 9.6 (2) 0.000036 0.000025 0.016789 0.036192 0.013888
Mo (µg/m3) 23 (2) 0.000000 0.000000 0.000061 0.000657 0.000721
Ni (µg/m3) 0.04 (2) 0.000001 0.000000 0.000259 0.000258 0.000420
Pb (µg/m3) 0.10 (2) 0.000001 0.000001 0.000453 0.000422 0.000501
Zn (µg/m3) 23 (2) 0.000008 0.000002 0.006790 0.005896 0.005939
Pb210 (Bq/m3) 0.021 (3) 0.000521 0.000588 0.000388 0.000763 0.000277
Po210 (Bq/m3) 0.028 (3) 0.000185 0.000194 0.000130 0.000159 0.000088
Ra226 (Bq/m3) 0.013 (3) 0.000008 0.000010 0.000008 0.000013 0.000010
Th230 (Bq/m3) 0.0085 (3) 0.000006 0.000003 0.000004 0.000000 0.000005
U (µg/m3) 0.06 (2) 0.003183 0.000657 0.000444 0.000328 0.000576
Table 7-4: McClean Lake operation – total number of full-time equivalent (FTE) workers, LTIs, severity rate and frequency rate, 2010–2014
Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Total number of FTE workers1 225 163 249 348 739
Number of LTIs2 1 0 1 0 3
Severity rate3 13.3 0.0 1.2 0.0 4.3
Frequency rate4 0.4 0.0 0.4 0.0 0.4

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