Northern Saskatchewan is set to see some major changes in the future.
The region, which has an abundance of natural resources, especially uranium, which is becoming a hot commodity as much of the world is looking to nuclear power to reduce carbon emissions. The area is currently home to a number of uranium mines including Cameco’s McArthur River/Key Lake and Cigar Lake. There are also a number of mines currently in development including NexGen Energy’s Rook I Project.
The potential growth in the mining sector means there an increase demand for a range of services including aviation and drilling.
Athabasca Basin Development Limited Partnership, with its head offices in Saskatoon Sask is a company which will be playing a crucial role providing many services to the mines when they become operational along with helping with development work.
The company, which is owned by Black Lake Denesuline First Nation, Fond-du-Lac Denesuline First Nation, Hatchet Lake Denesuline First Nation and the northern communities of Stony Rapids, Wollaston Lake, Uranium City and Camsell Portage, has ownership in a number of companies which provide services to companies working in Saskatchewan’s north. These companies include an airline, a drilling company and a number of construction companies.
The company’s chief executive Geoff Gay said their companies are used to making adjustments in response to changes in the mining sector.
“Our companies are used to the up and down cyclical nature of the resource industry.”
From 2014-20, there was a large contraction in the resources sector which forced Athabasca Basin Development to reduce the size of its businesses due the slow down of operations at many mine sites. However starting in 2021 Gay explained the sector started to turn around as commodity prices, specifically uranium started to increase which led to a strong recovery for the company and their businesses.
“With the commodity price starting to increase, not only are we recovering from COVID, but we’re going at a much more robust pace than we were from 2015 to 2020.”
With the uranium industry being in a good position Gay said a number of Athabasca companies are in a position where they are looking to ramp up in preparation to meet what will be a growing demand for services.
While the increase in demand is a positive Gay acknowledged there are challenges which come with the growth.
“It does put a strain on management teams and the employees as there’s more demands.”
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