Name of the Project
Wheeler River uranium project.

Location
The project is located in northern Saskatchewan, Canada.

Client
The project is a joint venture between Denison (63.3% and operator), Cameco (26.7%), and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company (10%).

Denison is increasing its ownership in the project to up to 90% under two recently announced agreements with Cameco.

Project Description
The Wheeler River project is the largest undeveloped uranium project in the eastern portion of the Athabasca basin.

A prefeasibility study on the Wheeler River project has evaluated the potential economic merit of co-developing the Phoenix and Gryphon deposits.

The Phoenix high-grade deposit has been designed as an in situ recovery (ISR) mining operation, with associated processing to a finished product occurring at a plant to be built on site at Wheeler River. The Gryphon deposit has been designed as an underground mining operation, using a conventional long-hole mining approach with processing of mine production at the McClean Lake mill.

The Phoenix ISR and Gryphon underground operations together have probable mineral reserves of 109.4-million pounds of uranium (U₃O₈) – Phoenix 59.7-million pounds of U₃O₈ from 141 000 t at 19.1% U₃O₈, while Gryphon has 49.7-million pounds U₃O₈ from 1.26-million tonnes at 1.8% U₃O₈.

The project has a mine life estimated at about 14 years, with average yearly production estimated at 7.8-million pounds of U₃O₈.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Wheeler River has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $1.31-billion and an internal rate return of 38.7%, with a payback of about 24 months.

Value
Initial capital costs are estimated at $322.5-million.

Duration
Preproduction activities are estimated to begin in 2021, assuming receipt of required regulatory approvals, with first production from the Phoenix deposit expected in 2024.

Initial construction at Gryphon is expected to start by 2026, with first production expected to be achieved in 2030.

Latest Developments
Denison will submit a project description to initiate the formal regulatory process through the federal and provincial regulatory agencies.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Denison Mines, tel +1416 979 1991 or fax +1416 979 5893.