Gunnar Mine and Mill Site

Interested in bidding on Gunnar work? Visit SRC's Purchasing and Procurement webpage for more information about our competitive bid opportunities.

TAKE NOTICE that in accordance with The Builder's Lien Act and the SUPPLY OF CONSTRUCTION FOR TAILINGS COVERS - GUNNAR MINE SITE PROJECT AGREEMENT contract, early release of the holdback is intended to be made 40 clear days after the date of posting this Notice (October 19, 2017). For full details please see the Early Release of Holdback Notice.  

The Gunnar Tailings Design Report and related appendices, as well as the Gunnar Other Site Aspects Preliminary Design Report, are available to download. Click here to download the report and the appendices. If you have any question about the report, please contact us.

Watch an overview of the August 2016 community leaders tour of Gunnar. Also, check out A Visit to the Gunnar Mine, which was filmed during the June 2015 site tour.

Location

The former Gunnar Mine site is located on the north shore of Lake Athabasca, approximately 25 kilometres southwest of Uranium City. 

General Description

The mine operated from 1955-1963 and officially closed in 1964 with little to no decommissioning. During operation, the Gunnar Site consisted of:

  • An open pit mine (over 100 m deep, 250 m x 300 m in size)
  • An underground mine (600 m deep)
  • A uranium mill (capacity of 2000 tonnes/day)
  • Two acid plants
  • Uranium processing buildings
  • A community (including a number of residential, public, administrative and technical buildings)
  • Approximately 4.4 million tonnes of tailings
  • Approximately 2.2 to 2.7 million tonnes of waste rock
When the mine closed a narrow trench was blasted in the rock between the pit and Lake Athabasca to flood the pit and the underground workings. In 1966, the channel was filled with waste rock as a barrier between the pit and the lake.
 
abandoned mine site in northern saskatchewan

Gunnar Mine Site post-demolition, 2015

debris piles and headframe in remote lake area against sunset

View of the Gunnar Mine Site during summer 2011. The buildings and headframe have since been removed due to safety concerns.

demolition of a mine headframe

The Gunnar Mine Site headframe was safely taken down on August 4, 2011.

headframe tipped over

Following the headframe drop, SRC worked with the contractor to ensure the area was cleaned and secured.

rough dirt hill surrounded by orange safety fence

The Gunnar Mine Site school after demolition and cleanup. 

low concrete building with broken windows

The Gunnar Mine Site school before demolition.

water sampling device

An SRC employee takes water samples from the Gunnar Mine pit to check for contaminants.

trained demolition workers remove asbestos

Asbestos is safely removed from building demolition debris and sealed in plastic bags by trained demolition workers.

dirt pile with orange safety fence

Residence building site after demolition. Debris has been cleaned up and the area fenced because of asbestos concerns.

dilapidated building

Residence building before demolition. Many buildings have been removed because of safety concerns.

Demolition activities to-date have included:

  • Extensive asbestos abatement of buildings
  • Demolition of more than 80 buildings and structures
  • Cleaning up site debris
  • Constructing a barrier around the open pit
  • Removing physical, chemical, radiological and biological hazards
  • Completing asbestos abatement and demolishing remaining buildings, facilities and structures
Remaining clean up work for the building demolition phase includes:
 
  • Disposing demolition debris
  • Installing an appropriate cover on the exposed mill tailings
  • Re-vegetating and conducting water treatment, as required
  • Monitoring during and after remediation
The remediation activities required to address the entire site will be completed upon final approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment project.
 
Contact us to learn more about the Gunnar Mine site clean up.