Proposals threaten uranium mines

New radiation exposure limits proposed by the Atomic Energy Control Board (AECB) threaten to close some of Canada’s existing underground uranium mines and prevent the development of new ones, says Tim Meadley, president of Uranium Saskatchewan.

The board’s proposals are based on international recommendations to reduce the maximum allowable radiation exposure for uranium miners from 50 millisiverts per year to 100 millisiverts over five years.

But the AECB has gone one step further. It has taken the proposed international limits and converted them to an annual limit of 20 millisiverts, a more restrictive measure considering that most uranium miners work for less than five years.

“The present underground mines would find it extremely difficult to meet the requirements,” Meadley said.

Although the proposals have yet to be approved by various government departments and the federal cabinet, the new limits should be in effect within one year, said Hugh Spence, a spokesman for the board. “If everything goes smoothly, they’re looking at sometime next spring,” Spence told The Northern Miner.

Last year, Canada shipped $868-million worth of uranium. Although the high-cost mines in Elliot Lake, Ont., are likely to close over the next few years despite the new limits, some of the promising development projects in Saskatchewan are also at risk. Because they are relatively high-grade, the Saskatchewan deposits tend to emit higher radiation levels.

But Cameco (TSE), Saskatchewan’s major player, says new non-entry mining methods of underground mining, which rely on remote-controlled mining equipment, will ensure that the company can operate within the new regulations.

“While we acknowledge this will mean increased costs, these requirements have been accounted for as far as is reasonably possible in our preliminary projections of future mine development costs,” said Cameco in a prepared release. “Because of the quality of these deposits, these mines will remain viable.”

Cameco is the major owner of McArther River and Cigar Lake, the two largest, high-grade development projects in Saskatchewan. All of the company’s current operations use open pit methods, which do not pose the exposure risks of underground operations.

But Meadley points out that the non-entry technology has never been used before and is bound to present unforeseen problems.

Cameco will have a chance to test the new method when it completes development of its underground test mine at the Eagle Point deposit sometime next year.

Another alternative would be to shorten shifts so that miners are exposed to less radiation on a daily basis. But this would lead to lower productivity, since mining companies would not be allowed to hire extra workers to fill in for lost time.