David Cates, President and CEO of Denison commented
, "
Confronted with the varied challenges of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Denison's resilient teams excelled in 2020 and early 2021 – accomplishing a significant de-risking of our flagship Wheeler River project and the Company's balance sheet.
At Wheeler River, our technical team achieved a key milestone, receiving an independent confirmation of 'Proof of Concept' for the application of the In-Situ Recovery ('ISR') mining method at the high-grade Phoenix deposit. We also completed an important trade-off study leading to the adoption of a freeze 'wall' design for containment of the ISR operation at Phoenix – a decision that is expected to be favourable from an environmental standpoint, reduce technical complexity and operational risks, allow for a phased mining approach with lower up-front capital costs, and strengthen project sustainability. With the Environmental Assessment process fully resumed and a $21.8 million budget (Denison's share $19.4 million) approved and funded for evaluation and environmental assessment work at Wheeler River in 2021, the entire team is now focused on advancing Phoenix through the regulatory and community consultation process to support a future Feasibility Study ("FS"), with the objective of pairing Phoenix, the world's highest grade undeveloped uranium deposit, with ISR mining, the world's lowest cost uranium mining method.