On April 2, 2007, the Governments of Canada and Saskatchewan publicly announced an agreement to cost-share the clean-up of 37 abandoned uranium mine and mill sites, most located in the Uranium City area. Saskatchewan Industry and Resources retained SRC to manage the remediation work required for this project.

The mine sites related to this project were mined by private companies during the 1950s and 1960s. At the time, there was insufficient legislation to force the companies to clean-up their mine sites. Since then, the sites have been deemed “abandoned mines”—mines for which the owner cannot be found or for which the owner is financially unable or unwilling to carry out the clean-up (Ref: National Orphaned and Abandoned Mines Initiative).

SRC has been involved in preliminary work related to these abandoned mine sites since June 2004. This work included site assessment and prioritization work at the affected sites. SRC held a public meeting on March 13, 2007 in Uranium City to consult with key stakeholders that included community members and First Nations leaders.

In July 2008, the Lorado mill facility was added to Project CLEANS bringing the project total to $47.9 million.

A Project Review Committee (PRC) with representatives from Black Lake, Camsell Portage, Fond du Lac, Hatchet Lake, Stony Rapids, Uranium City and the Prince Albert Grand Council (Athabasca Vice-Chief) has been formed to provide advice to the project team and assist with communication to northern communities. The PRC guidelines were ratified in July, 2008 and the first meeting took place in Stony Rapids in September, 2008.

Project Cleans Fact Sheet