Uranium City

This place is on private property. Listing for informational purposes only. Please do not visit without express permission from the land owner. In 1949 athabascaite was discovered by S. Kaiman while he was researching radioactive materials around Lake Athabasca near Uranium City. In 1952, the provincial government decided to establish a town to service the mines in the Beaverlodge uranium area developed by Eldorado Mining and Refining, a federal crown corporation. In 1954 the local newspaper, The Uranium Times, noted that 52 mines were operating and 12 open-pit mines were next to Beaverlodge Lake. Initially, most of the residences in Uranium City were simply tents. Some of the mines operating in the area included the Gunnar Mine and the Lorado Mine. Two options were considered for towns in the region: small towns near the mine site or larger more centralized communities with adequate services. Not wanting to replicate some of the problems associated with small mining towns at the time in Northern Ontario, the government pushed for the second option and modelled Uranium City after the community of Arvida, Quebec.  The population of Uranium City started to grow significantly only once Eldorado Resources made a deliberate initiative in 1960 to see staff housed in Uranium City instead of the Eldorado campsite. Uranium City was a thriving town until 1982, with its population approaching the 5,000 threshold required to achieve city status in the province. The closure of the mines on 30 June 1982 led to economic collapse, with most residents of the town leaving. It was later designated as a northern settlement with about 300 people remaining. The local hospital closed in the spring of 2003. The current population is 201, including a number of Métis and First Nations people