Cameco announced today that the Cigar Lake mine in northern Saskatchewan has temporarily suspended operations due to challenges at Orano’s McClean Lake mill. The McClean Lake facility is where Cigar Lake ore is processed.

Orano’s McClean Lake mill has encountered operational challenges with its sulfuric acid plant that caused it to shut down in order to repair the issue. Orano is currently working to bring the acid plant back online and is assessing options to obtain acid supply from an alternative source while it waits for replacement parts to complete the repair.

Cameco says it has limited ore storage capacity at Cigar Lake, so the company has temporarily suspended mining activities until sufficient acid is available to allow milling to resume at McClean Lake.

At this point the expectation is that the McClean Lake mill to return to operation in approximately two weeks and Cameco doesn’t expect the disruption to impact its 2026 production outlook for Cigar Lake.