Name of the Project
Wheeler River uranium project.

Location
The project is located in northern Saskatchewan, Canada.

Project Owner/s
The project is a joint venture (JV) between Denison (90%) and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company (10%).

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

A prefeasibility study (PFS) on the 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 longhole mining approach, with mine production processed at the McClean Lake mill.

The Phoenix ISR and Gryphon underground operations have combined probable mineral reserves of 109.4-million pounds of uranium from 1.39-million tonnes, comprising 59.7-million pounds of uranium from 141 000 t at 19.1% uranium for Phoenix and 49.7-million pounds of uranium from 1.26-million tonnes at 1.8% uranium for Gryphon.

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

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

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

Phoenix has a pretax NPV, at an 8% discount rate, of $930.4-million and an IRR 43.3%.

Gryphon has a pretax NPV, at an 8% discount rate, of $560.6-million and an IRR of return of 23.2%.

Capital Expenditure
Initial capital costs are estimated at $322.5-million.

Planned Start/End Date
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 Mines is continuing to advance its ISR field test programme at the Wheeler River project, reporting that it has installed two commercial-scale wells at the Phoenix deposit.

These are the first large-diameter commercial-scale wells designed for ISR mining in the Athabasca basin.

Each well included the drilling of a large-diameter vertical borehole (about 12 inches in diameter) about 400 m from the surface to intersect the Phoenix orebody, and the installation of well materials designed to meet expected environmental and regulatory standards for eventual ISR mining.

Penetrators Canada, developers and operators of the MaxPERF drilling tool, successfully deployed the tool within the first commercial-scale well and completed 28 lateral drill holes within a variety of ore types associated with the Phoenix deposit.

MaxPERF will be deployed at the second commercial-scale well for the remainder of the 2019 ISR field test programme.

Based on the successful completion of the wells, and following the successful deployment of the MaxPERF drilling tool, long-duration hydrogeological tests will be completed during the remainder of the 2019 ISR field test.

These tests are expected to be undertaken in both wells to allow for the simulation of fluid flow within Test Area 1 and 2 of Phoenix, under conditions similar to an envisioned commercial production environment.

The commercial-scale wells form part of the second stage of ISR field testing at the Phoenix deposit. It follows positive results from initial field tests, which have confirmed hydraulic connectivity within a significant portion of the ore zone tested.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Denison Mines, tel +1416 979 1991, fax +1416 979 5893 or email info@denisonmines.com.