Water

We understand that water it is a vital natural resource and our goal is to use the least amount possible for our activities. When we use water in our processes, we treat it using the best practical technology before releasing it back to the environment. We are continuously improving our water treatment program.
Cameco treats its mine water through the use of conventional water treatment plants or a combination of conventional water treatment and reverse-osmosis technology (a process that pushes water through a membrane, trapping contaminants and allowing purified water to flow through).
We release water to the environment in locations where there will be least disturbance to the environment. We sample and test water at the end of the release pipe, on the surface and in the ground to ensure we comply or go beyond regulatory requirements. Results are reported to the regulators and to the public on a regular basis.
We track the amount of water we withdraw by source, and we monitor the volume and quality of water we discharge to the environment.
Our goals are to:
- minimize the amount of water we consume
- keep clean water away from impacted areas
- ensure the water we do impact is treated and released to the environment in a way that will not harm aquatic ecosystems, plants, fish and animals, and humans.
Only 10% of the water we withdraw is used in our processes – the rest is returned to the environment.
We continually look for ways to improve process water management, in part through developing and testing newer water treatment technologies and looking for ways to optimize our treatment circuits.
In recent years, these efforts have helped us reduce concentrations of molybdenum and selenium in water released to the environment from our mining and milling operations in Saskatchewan.
You can read more about this in our case studies.