TORONTO, Nov. 7, 2024
/PRNewswire/ - Denison Mines Corp. ('Denison' or the
'Company') (TSX: DML) (NYSE American: DNN) today filed its
Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and Management's
Discussion & Analysis ('MD&A') for the three and nine
months ended September 30, 2024. Both
documents will be available on the Company's website at
www.denisonmines.com, SEDAR+ (at www.sedarplus.ca) and EDGAR
(at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml). The highlights provided below are
derived from these documents and should be read in conjunction with
them. All amounts in this release are in Canadian dollars unless
otherwise stated. View PDF version
David Cates, President and CEO of
Denison commented, "Our third quarter report
includes an update on the positive progress of our engineering and
regulatory approval efforts for our planned Phoenix In-Situ
Recovery ('ISR') uranium mining operation. We continue to
rapidly advance detailed design engineering efforts and achieved
completion of 45% of total engineering by the end of the third
quarter. Long-lead procurement efforts continued to ramp up.
Currently, $21 million in milestone
payments or commitments have been made for items included in our
estimates of initial project capex, with several additional
procurement packages in progress.
On the regulatory side, we are pleased to report that
substantially all outstanding information requests ('IRs') from the
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission's ('CNSC') review of the Wheeler
River draft Environmental Impact Statement ('EIS') have been
resolved, and the Federal review process is nearing completion.
Given this positive progress with the Federal review, we have opted
to submit a final Provincial EIS to the Saskatchewan Ministry of
Environment to advance the process of obtaining formal approval
from the Province.
Beyond Wheeler River, we are pleased with the progress of the
SABRE program at the McClean North deposit, which remains on track
for production in 2025. Our team is also active on our portfolio of
other development and exploration projects, with study work
advancing on both the Midwest project and the Tthe Heldeth Túé
('THT') deposit, with the potential to result in updated or new
technical studies in the coming months.
Also notable is our recent transaction with Foremost Clean
Energy, which involves Denison optioning up to 70% of its
interests in a portfolio of 10 exploration properties. The
transaction was designed to amplify our exposure to future
discovery by encouraging exploration on – and retaining significant
ownership of - properties that would otherwise have received little
attention from Denison with our current focus on development and
mining-stage projects."
Q3 2024 MD&A Highlights
- Signing of Wheeler River Benefit Agreements with Kineepik
Métis Local #9 and the Village of
Pinehouse Lake
In July 2024,
Denison announced the signing of a Mutual Benefits Agreement
('MBA') with Kineepik Métis Local #9 ('KML'), and a Community
Benefit Agreement ('CBA') with the northern Village of Pinehouse Lake ('Pinehouse'), in support of the development and
operation of Denison's 95% owned Wheeler River Project.
The MBA acknowledges that the project is located
within KML's Land and Occupancy Area in northern Saskatchewan and provides KML's consent and
support to advance the project. Additionally, the MBA recognizes
that the development and operation of the project can support KML
in advancing its social and economic development aspirations while
mitigating the impacts on the local environment and KML members.
The MBA provides KML and its Métis members an important role in
environmental monitoring and commits to the sharing of benefits
from the successful operation of the project – including benefits
from community investment, business opportunities, employment and
training opportunities, and financial compensation.
The CBA acknowledges that Pinehouse is the closest residential community
to the project by road, which relies on much of the same regional
infrastructure that Denison will rely on as it advances the
project. Pinehouse has provided
its consent and support for the project, while Denison, on behalf
of the Wheeler River Joint Venture, is committed to helping
Pinehouse develop its own capacity
to take advantage of economic and other development opportunities
in connection with the advancement and operation of the
project.
- Continued Advancement of Phoenix Engineering and Federal
Regulatory Review of the Draft EIS
During the third quarter, the Company continued
to focus its efforts on the advancement of the Phoenix project towards a final investment
decision in support of its objective to achieve first production by
2027 / 2028, including:
-
- Phoenix engineering activities
are advancing within expected timelines to support a financial
investment decision ('FID') by mid-2025. Total engineering
completion at end of the third quarter was 45%, supported by
finalization of process design, piping and instrumentation diagrams
(P&ID's), hazard and operability studies ('HAZOPs'), as well as
the selection of major process equipment and electrical
distribution infrastructure.
- The review of the draft EIS continues to advance and Denison
has been in regular contact with CNSC staff to support the
conclusion of any remaining IRs. In September 2024, Denison received confirmation
that the majority of outstanding IRs have been resolved, which
suggests that the Federal review process is nearing completion.
- Option of Non-Core Exploration Projects to Foremost Clean
Energy Ltd.
In September 2024,
Denison executed an option agreement with Foremost Clean Energy Ltd
('Foremost'), which grants Foremost an option to acquire up to
70% of Denison's interests in 10 non-core uranium exploration
properties (collectively, the 'Foremost Transaction'). Pursuant to
the Foremost Transaction, Foremost would acquire such total
interests upon completion of a combination of direct payments to
Denison and funding of exploration expenditures with an aggregate
value of up to approximately $30 million. The Foremost
Transaction provides the following benefits to Denison:
-
- Collaboration with Foremost is expected to increase exploration
activity on a portfolio of non-core Denison properties with the
potential to increase the probability of discovery within Denison's
vast Athabasca Basin exploration
portfolio.
- In October 2024, Denison received
an upfront payment in Foremost common shares (representing a
~19.95% ownership interest in Foremost). If Foremost completes the
remaining two phases of the Foremost Transaction Denison will
receive further cash and/or common share milestone payments of
$4.5 million and Foremost will fund
$20 million in project exploration
expenditures.
- In addition to becoming Foremost's largest shareholder, Denison
retains direct interests in the optioned exploration properties and
also secures certain strategic pre-emptive rights to participate in
future exploration success from the optioned properties.
About Denison
Denison Mines Corp. was formed under the laws of Ontario and is a reporting issuer in all
Canadian provinces and territories. Denison's common shares are
listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (the 'TSX') under the symbol
'DML' and on the NYSE American exchange under the symbol 'DNN'.
Denison is a uranium mining, exploration and development
company with interests focused in the Athabasca Basin region of northern
Saskatchewan, Canada. The
Company has an effective 95% interest in its flagship Wheeler River
Uranium Project, which is the largest undeveloped uranium project
in the infrastructure rich eastern portion of the Athabasca Basin region of northern
Saskatchewan. In mid-2023, the
Phoenix FS was completed for the Phoenix deposit as an ISR mining operation,
and an update to the previously prepared 2018 Pre-Feasibility Study
('PFS') was completed for Wheeler River's Gryphon deposit as a
conventional underground mining operation. Based on the respective
studies, both deposits have the potential to be competitive with
the lowest cost uranium mining operations in the world. Permitting
efforts for the planned Phoenix ISR operation commenced in 2019 and
have advanced significantly, with licensing in progress and a draft
Environmental Impact Study ('EIS') submitted for regulatory and
public review in October 2022.
Denison's interests in Saskatchewan also include a 22.5% ownership
interest in the McClean Lake Joint Venture ('MLJV'), which includes
unmined uranium deposits (planned for extraction via the MLJV's
SABRE mining method starting in 2025) and the McClean Lake uranium
mill (currently utilizing a portion of its licensed capacity to
process the ore from the Cigar Lake mine under a toll milling
agreement), plus a 25.17% interest in the Midwest Joint Venture
('MWJV')'s Midwest Main and Midwest A deposits, and a 69.44%
interest in the Tthe Heldeth Túé ('THT') and
Huskie deposits on the Waterbury Lake Property ('Waterbury'). The
Midwest Main, Midwest A, THT and Huskie deposits are located within
20 kilometres of the McClean Lake mill. Taken together, the
Company has direct ownership interests in properties covering
~384,000 hectares in the Athabasca
Basin region.
Additionally, through its 50% ownership of JCU (Canada) Exploration Company, Limited ('JCU'),
Denison holds interests in various uranium project joint ventures
in Canada, including the
Millennium project (JCU, 30.099%), the Kiggavik project (JCU,
33.8118%) and Christie Lake (JCU,
34.4508%).
Technical Disclosure and Qualified Person
The technical information contained in this press release has
been reviewed and approved by Chad
Sorba, P.Geo., Denison's Vice President Technical Services
& Project Evaluation, and Andy
Yackulic, P.Geo., Denison's Vice President Exploration, who
are both Qualified Persons in accordance with the requirements of
NI 43-101.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING
STATEMENTS
Certain information contained in this press release constitutes
'forward-looking information', within the meaning of the applicable
United States and Canadian
legislation concerning the business, operations and financial
performance and condition of Denison. Generally, these
forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of
forward-looking terminology such as 'plans', 'expects', 'budget',
'scheduled', 'estimates', 'forecasts', 'intends', 'anticipates', or
'believes', or the negatives and/or variations of such words and
phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results 'may',
'could', 'would', 'might' or 'will be taken', 'occur', 'be
achieved' or 'has the potential to'.
In particular, this press release contains forward-looking
information pertaining to the following: projections with respect
to exploration, development and expansion plans and objectives,
including the scope, objectives and interpretations of FS, PFS and
the Wheeler River technical de-risking process for the proposed ISR
operation for the Phoenix deposit;
expectations with respect to the EA, EIS and licensing and
permitting for proposed operations at Wheeler River; anticipated
benefits of the transaction with Foremost; expectations regarding
the restart of mining operations at McClean Lake; expectations
regarding the assessment of the amenability of ISR for THT and
advancement of technical studies for the Midwest deposit;
expectations regarding the performance of the uranium market and
global sentiment regarding nuclear energy; expectations regarding
Denison's joint venture ownership interests; and expectations
regarding the objectives and continuity of its agreements with
third parties. Statements relating to 'mineral reserves' or
'mineral resources' are deemed to be forward-looking information,
as they involve the implied assessment, based on certain estimates
and assumptions that the mineral reserves and mineral resources
described can be profitably produced in the future.
Forward looking statements are based on the opinions and
estimates of management as of the date such statements are made,
and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity,
performance or achievements of Denison to be materially different
from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
For example, the results and underlying assumptions and
interpretations of the FS and PFS may not be maintained after
further testing or be representative of actual conditions within
the applicable deposits. In addition, Denison may decide or
otherwise be required to discontinue testing, evaluation,
engineering, and development work if it is unable to maintain or
otherwise secure the necessary approvals or resources (such as
testing facilities, capital funding, etc.). Denison believes that
the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are
reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations
will prove to be accurate and results may differ materially from
those anticipated in this forward-looking information. For a
discussion in respect of risks and other factors that could
influence forward-looking events, please refer to the factors
discussed in the Company's Annual Information Form dated
March 28, 2024 under the heading
'Risk Factors'. These factors are not, and should not be, construed
as being exhaustive.
Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information
contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this
cautionary statement. Any forward-looking information and the
assumptions made with respect thereto speaks only as of the date of
this press release. Denison does not undertake any obligation to
publicly update or revise any forward-looking information after the
date of this press release to conform such information to actual
results or to changes in Denison's expectations except as otherwise
required by applicable legislation.
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SOURCE Denison Mines Corp.