The Unique Ways the Saskatchewan
Research Council is Closing Abandoned
Mine Openings in Northern Saskatchewan
Strewn across the Athabasca Basin
in northern Saskatchewan are 37
abandoned uranium mine sites,
which are remnants of the uranium boom
during the Cold War era. These sites are
part of the Saskatchewan Research Council
(SRC)’s multi-year remediation project,
called Project CLEANS, which includes the
Gunnar Mine Site, the Lorado Mill Site and
35 mine and exploration sites known as
Satellite Sites.
When many of these Satellite Sites were
abandoned in the 1950s and ‘60s, openings
to mine workings were left without proper
closures and pose a risk to public safety.
With the mines’ private owners long
defunct, the responsibility for remediation
shifts to the provincial government. But
the challenge of closing the mine openings
remains.
The Satellite Sites are in remote areas
where construction resources are scarce,
SASKATCHEWAN RESEARCH COUNCIL
environmental conditions are tough and
the window of opportunity for building is
limited to a short field season during the
summer. While few people are likely to
wander into these abandoned sites by accident,
local people, hunters and geologists
are known to visit the sites, so the openings
must be closed to protect public safety.
Mine openings in Saskatchewan have
typically been closed with reinforced concrete
bulkheads as this was the accepted
By Andy Goodson and David Sanscartier, Saskatchewan Research Council
PHOTOS: SRC
Stainless steel cap covers
an opening at ABC Mine
thinkbigmagazine.ca | Quarter 4 2019 | Think BIG 41
/thinkbigmagazine.ca