Gulf Minerals Canada Limited : Gulf Minerals Canada Limited (GMCL) was a minerals exploration and development company incorporated under the federal Charter in 1970. In 1973, GMCL was converted to a public company. The company was wholly owned by Gulf Oil Corporation of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States until 1982, when a Canadian Crown corporation, Eldorado Nuclear Limited, acquired GMCL.
GMCL's major assets - uranium mining and milling facilities at Rabbit Lake, uranium reserves and exploration acreage - were located in Northern Saskatchewan.
The Rabbit Lake complex, which began production of yellowcake in 1975, was owned by GMCL (45.9%), Gulf Canada Limited (5.1%) and Uranerz Canada Limited (49%). The Rabbit Lake complex featured a mill and support facilities including, in 1981, a mixed camp capable of housing 350 employees with an all-weather air strip nearby. The waste management (tailings disposal) area of the Rabbit Lake operation was located approximately 3 km south of the mill.
The history of the Rabbit Lake complex dates back to at least 1968 when Gulf, holding the mineral exploration permits to more than 3.5 million acres in the Wollaston Lake Region of Saskatchewan, encountered ore-grade uranium mineralization at Rabbit Lake. Development drilling proceeded in 1969-1970, and engineering feasibility and marketing studies followed in 1970-1971. Site excavation and preliminary construction (in joint venture) began in 1972, with mill construction and mine development in the years that followed. The all-season road was completed in 1974 by GMCL and the Saskatchewan government. Gross annual U308 production via the Rabbit Lake mine and mill was approximately 5 million pounds in the years leading to 1980, then 3 million pounds in the following years.
As of 1981, GMCL declared eight uranium deposits in the area covered by its exploration permits centred around the Rabbit Lake mine: Collins Bay A, B and D (proven), and Eagle Point, Eagle South, Raven, Horseshoe, and West Bear (probable). Of that area, 158 000 acres were in joint venture. An additional 520 000 acres, mostly in the Northwest Territories, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and New Brunswick, were also joint ventured.
GMCL's headquarters were in Toronto. GMCL also maintained offices and a warehouse (trans-shipment terminal) in Saskatoon's western industrial area. GMCL's exploration department leased separate offices in Saskatoon. GMCL also had a permanent exploration camp located on Collins Bay about 11 km from the Rabbit Lake complex that could house three dozen individuals. GMCL had 434 employees in 1981.
[This administrative history draws heavily, often verbatim, from the 1982 "Opportunity Package - Gulf Minerals Canada Limited" RG134 1995-96/021 Box 13 File "EdF Data."]
