Once dubbed the "uranium capital of the world," Elliot Lake has since diversified to a hub for advanced manufacturing, forest harvesting, mine reclamation expertise, retirement living, all-season tourism and remote work.

[4] The city was established as a planned community for the mining industry in 1955 after the discovery of uranium in the area, and named after the small lake on its northern edge.

[6] During the 1970s, federal plans for CANDU Reactors and Ontario Hydro's interest in atomic energy led the town, anticipating a population of 30,000, to expand again.

[13] The 2017 performance of Rio Algom Limited (a subsidiary of BHP), who own nine of the decommissioned mines, was described as "below expectations" by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

[14] Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission reported radium releases above limits at the Stanleigh effluent treatment plant, prompting engineering work plus increased site monitoring by the owners.

[14] In the years following the cessation of mining, the city looked elsewhere for its survival, finding some success promoting itself as a retirement community,[5] advanced manufacturing hub and tourist destination.

On February 21, 2019, part of the theatre roof of the Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre collapsed due to an abnormally heavy snow load.

Major employers in Elliot Lake include major mining services firms such as Komatsu, Weir, and Denison Environmental; specialty manufacturing organizations such as St. Regis Group, HiRail Leasing and Prestige Pulpits; numerous forestry businesses; a collection of professional services offices such as Cambridge Law LLP, KPMG and BrokerLink and an increasing number of technology organizations.

In January 2023, just weeks after being elected in the 2022 Algoma District municipal elections, mayor Chris Patrie was removed from office in a ruling that he had violated municipal conflict of interest rules by lobbying, in his prior term as a city councillor, to have the city's new recreation centre built near the Oakland Plaza, in which he is a part owner, instead of on the former Algo Centre Mall site.

[22] Situated on the Canadian Shield, the city is surrounded by dense forest, muskeg swamps, numerous lakes, winding rivers, and hills of Precambrian bedrock.

Local wildlife include moose, white-tailed deer, American black bear, beaver, loon, muskrat, otter, Canada goose, and lynx, to name but a few.

Since December 1990 the town has been home to the Elliot Lake Research Field Station, established by Laurentian University to investigate environmental radioactivity.

Acclaimed Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky has taken landscape pictures of uranium and nickel tailings during the mid-1990s, providing evidence of the after-effects to the ecosystem.

[29] Although the ministry has announced no firm plans to construct the proposed road, Elliot Lake City Council passed a motion in August 2015 calling for the project's revival.

In 1975, Canadian musician Stompin' Tom Connors recorded "Damn Good Song for a Miner," about the city of Elliot Lake and its mining culture in the 1960s.