Capped raises near Ace shaft, Eldorado (Beaverlodge) operations, Saskatchewan, Canada

8”x20” palladium print from original in-camera negative

1/15 Limited Edition available.

Uranium was discovered on the shores of Lake Athabasca, northern Saskatchewan in 1935. Prospecting boomed in the area in 1948 and by 1953 the Beaverlodge Uranium Mining District had been established. This included Eldorado’s Beaverlodge operations (including the Fay-Ace-Verna et. al. mines and the Beaverlodge Mill), the Gunnar mine and mill, the Lorado Mine and mill, as well as several small, satellite mines which provided ore to the Beaverlodge and Lorado Mills.

The Beaverlodge operations closed in 1982, which was quickly followed by demolition and remediation between 1983 and 1985. The site has been in a state of post decommissioning monitoring since decommissioning was completed, managed by the Cameco Corporation on behalf of the Government of Canada. The properties that comprise Beaverlodge are in the process of transferring to the government of Saskatchewan’s Institutional Control Program (ICP), designed to ensure that the properties in the program are monitored and managed in perpetuity.

In this image, the raises have been capped with multi-tonne stainless steel covers, carefully cut to match the shape of the base rock and bolted down.