The McClean Lake mine is a uranium mine and milling operation located west of Wollaston Lake, about 700 kilometres north of Saskatoon, in the Athabasca Basin region of Saskatchewan, Canada.
Upon depletion, the JEB pit was converted to a Tailings Management Facility (TMF).
There they form a consolidated mass of much lower permeability than the surrounding sandstone.
By these means the water quality in adjacent Fox and Pat Lakes is expected to be maintained within Saskatchewan Surface Water Quality Objectives over the long term (10,000 years).
This expectation has to be confirmed by monitoring subject to oversight by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).