Interested in bidding on Gunnar work? Visit SRC's Purchasing and Procurement webpage for more information about our competitive bid opportunities.
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.
Overview
The former Gunnar Mine site is located on the north shore of Lake Athabasca, approximately 25 kilometres southwest of Uranium City.
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.
Gunnar Mine Site post-demolition, 2015
View of the Gunnar Mine Site during summer 2011. The buildings and headframe have since been removed due to safety concerns.
The Gunnar Mine Site headframe was safely taken down on August 4, 2011.
Following the headframe drop, SRC worked with the contractor to ensure the area was cleaned and secured.
The Gunnar Mine Site school after demolition and cleanup.
The Gunnar Mine Site school before demolition.
An SRC employee takes water samples from the Gunnar Mine pit to check for contaminants.
Asbestos is safely removed from building demolition debris and sealed in plastic bags by trained demolition workers.
Residence building site after demolition. Debris has been cleaned up and the area fenced because of asbestos concerns.
Residence building before demolition. Many buildings have been removed because of safety concerns.
Gunnar Tailings
SRC achieved significant progress on the tailings cover construction during the 2019 field season, including Gunnar Main Tailings, Gunnar Central Tailings and Catchment 3. All construction materials, equipment and fuel necessary for upcoming remediation activities were successfully delivered to the Gunnar Site over the winter road in March 2020.
In addition to project operation activities, SRC also had successful community meetings with northern communities, including Fond du Lac, Black Lake and Stony Rapids. SRC is grateful for the support of the local communities for Project CLEANS, and we look forward to continuing to work together in the future.
Gunnar Other Site Aspects
In November 2019, QMPoints successfully completed most of the on-site scope planned for the year, such as the legacy waste sweeps, excavation and treatment of the pH-impacted material, demolition of a large crusher and preparation of Landfill A and B foundations. SRK Consulting provided the quality assurance and quality control services, as well as a geo-mechanical inspection of the Landfill B footprint (as per regulators' request).
All construction materials, equipment and fuel necessary for upcoming remediation activities were successfully delivered to the Gunnar Site over the winter road in March 2020.
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
Contact us to learn more about the Gunnar Mine site clean up.
