Uranium mining in the Elliot Lake area
[4] The opening of the mines and the workers they attracted led to the creation of the planned town of Elliot Lake.
US demand slumped in the early 1960s, but the increasing use of nuclear power for electricity-generation, in Canada and abroad, prompted some mines back into action.
The Elliot Lake area now has ten decommissioned mines and 102 million tons of uranium tailings.
[6] Towards the end of the Wisconsin glaciation period, ice flowed approximately south (predominantly at 190°) across the area know known as Elliot Lake.
[6] Microscopic grains of uranium occur in ores of uraninite, brannerite and monazite amongst pyritic sheets of quartz-pebble rock.
[6] The area is the traditional territory of the Serpent River First Nation and also part of the Huron Robinson Treaty land.
[4] A lack of an exact location and the absence of radioactivity detectors resulted in failures of surveyors or prospectors to repeat his find.
[4] In 1948, Karl Gunterman, financed by Aime Breton, with a Geiger counter discovered radioactive conglomerate near Lauzon Lake in Long Township, Ontario.
[9] 1957 saw bustling activity as contractors blasted paths through rock to make roads, sinking shafts and building uranium processing mills.
According to the University of Waterloo's Earth Sciences Museum, "Never before in the history of Canada has so much money been spent so quickly in one place.
"[9] Throughout the 1950s, the people of the Anishinaabek First Nation of the Serpent River were systematically excluded from all decisions about resource extraction in their area.
[6] From 1959 to 1960, Elliot Lake organized town was created and other mines were constructed to meet the growing US demand for uranium.
In November 1959, the US announced its plans to stop stockpiling uranium[9] and to cease procurement after 1962,[7] resulting in the closure of five mines in 1960.
[12] When the United States Atomic Energy Commission declared in 1959 that it would no longer stockpile uranium, and not renew procurement contracts beyond 1963, seven of the remaining nine mines closed.
[12] The mine closure resulted in the population of Elliot Lake town dropping from about 24,877[10] to 6,000 residents, having an immediate negative impact on the local economy.
[10] Twelve Mt of ore remains on the shared tailing management area with Nordic Mine under vegetative cover.
[4] Diamond drilling started in 1954, which found ore. Two shafts were sunk and a processing plant with 3,800 tons per day was constructed.
[4] The property was first staked in 1953 and purchased by Miliken Lake Uranium Mines Ltd in 1954, before being sold to Rio Tinto in 1956.
[4] It was first staked in 1953 by prospectors working for two companies: Technical Mine Consultants and Preston East Dome.
[4] Pronto Mine is located in Long Township, 11 miles east of Blind River, close to Ontario Highway 17 and the Canadian Pacific Railway.
A 864 feet deep shaft was started in 1954 and finished in 1955 and a processing mill with 3,000 tons per day capacity was built on site.
[12] In August 1993, a power failures resulted in a 2 million liter spill of contaminated water from the mine into McCabe Lake.
In 1995 and 1996 the new owners found uranium via diamond drilling and creating a processing plant with a 3,300 tons per day capacity.
[19] Terry Jacobs, an elder of the Serpent River First Nation, told Anishinabek News in 2022 that pollution from the mines reduced the number of animals in the area.
[20] 102 million tonnes of tailings remain on eights decommissioned mines coving an area of 920 hectares.
[2] (Decimal) (Megatonnes) (Hectares) 1979–1990 1968–1990 1983–1996 *Combined total for Nordic and Buckles **Unknown or unclear According to a 2012 study published in Nature, there is a "positive exposure-response between silica and lung cancer".
[23] Uranium mining around Elliot Lake produced silica-laden dust at a free silica rate of 60–70%.
[24]: 36 By the early 1970s, miners were unionized via the United Steelworkers and were growing increasingly concerned about the prevalence of cancers and poor support for sick workers by mine owners.
[26]The same year, the Ontario Workmen's Compensation Board studied 15,094 people who worked in the uranium mines around Elliot Lake and Bancroft for at least one month, between 1955 and 1974.
[24] : 79 Factoring in predicted lung cancer rate for men in Ontario, led to the conclusion that by 1974 there were 36 more deaths than expected attributable to both Elliot Lake and Bancroft mines,[24]: 80 with the additional risk appearing to be twice as high for Bancroft miners compared to Elliot Lake miners.
