NDP calls for construction of road connecting northern mine sites

The two mines sites are relatively close, but there is no road connecting them. (Image Credit: Google Maps)

NDP calls for construction of road connecting northern mine sites The Saskatchewan NDP is calling for the federal government to support the construction of a new road in the North to connect the Cigar Lake and McArthur River uranium mines. A letter sent to Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson from three NDP MLAs, including Cumberland MLA Jordan McPhail, states that connecting the two mines together, with an all-season road, would improve economic activity, as well as public safety for industry and northern residents by creating an alternative route when fires or floods cause road closures.

“For more than a decade, the proposal to build an all-season road between the Cigar Lake and McArthur River uranium mines has been studied and debated, but neither the federal government nor the provincial government has stepped up to get this important project finished,” the letter notes. “These two vital uranium facilities in Northern Saskatchewan are less than 50 kilometres apart as the crow flies, but driving between them requires travelling more than 1,000 kilometres on existing roads.”