Denison Mines has struck a deal to acquire initial interests in Skyharbour Resources’ Russell Lake uranium project in Saskatchewan, expanding its exploration footprint next to its flagship Wheeler River property. The agreement creates four joint ventures and gives Denison the option to raise its ownership over time.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with David Cates, CEO of Denison Mines, about how the transaction fits into the company’s long-term pipeline strategy as it nears key permitting milestones for its Phoenix project.
Key Takeaways
- Denison is acquiring initial stakes across four joint ventures carved out of Skyharbour’s Russell Lake property beside Wheeler River.
- The structure lets Denison lift its ownership to as much as 70 per cent in two of the joint ventures through exploration spending.
- Russell Lake’s size and geology prompted the split into four JVs to give each target area focused exploration attention.
- The acquisition supports Denison’s long-term strategy as it approaches federal and provincial permits for its Phoenix in-situ recovery project.
- Cates says global sentiment for nuclear energy is the strongest in decades, while uranium supply remains constrained after years of low prices.
Read the full transcript below:
ROGER: Well, Denison Mines announced an acquisition of Skyharbour Resources this week for its uranium project in Russell Lake, Sask. It’s adjacent to Denison’s flagship Wheeler River project. Here to talk more about the acquisition and its long-term plans is David Cates, CEO of Denison Mines. David, thanks very much for joining us.
DAVID: My pleasure to be on.
ROGER: How does this fit in with your plans?
DAVID: Well, look, our company is laser focused on our development project, the Phoenix project, on our Wheeler River property, and we’re very close to being permitted federally and provincially. And expect to be making an investment decision at the beginning of 2026, which will make us one of Canada’s newest mines, and certainly the newest uranium mine in over a decade. But with that on the horizon, you know, our job is to look beyond the short term and into the long term. And so we do have a focus on our other development assets and exploration for the long run. And so this transaction with Skyharbour is a really unique partnership. We’ve been invested in Skyharbour for many years, and what we’re doing in this transaction is we’re purchasing an interest in a number of newly created joint ventures with Skyharbour that will come out of the Russell Lake property that Skyharbour just recently consolidated full ownership in from Rio Tinto. And now we’ll have four different joint ventures with Skyharbour, where we’re purchasing an initial interest in these different joint ventures, and then have an option to deploy a significant amount of exploration spending on, particularly, two of them to be able to increase our interest up to 70 per cent on those two claims. So the notable part here is that Russell Lake and the joint ventures that are falling out of this project are adjacent to our flagship Wheeler River property, where we are on the cusp again of having our permits in hand to execute on the Phoenix project.
ROGER: And with those four different parts and four different per cent, why the different ownership percentages for each one?
DAVID: Yeah, great question. You know, Russell Lake is a very large land package that Skyharbour has invested in over the last few years. It’s exceptionally large, and by splitting it up into four different JVs, we really believe that we can maximize the attention that the projects and the targets need. You’ll have Skyharbour operating on multiple of these joint ventures, we’ll be participating, and then you’ll have Denison operating on, particularly, the Wheeler North joint venture. And so it’s really a matter of putting both teams to work and maximizing our joint exposure to discovery. You know, these uranium deposits in Saskatchewan are incredibly rich, but because of that, they’re also very difficult to find. High grades come with small footprints. And so we really do like the idea of maximizing the attention that each part of this really large land package requires and deserves.
ROGER: And just looking at the bigger picture, at the moment, how is the uranium sector looking right now? It must be fairly optimistic for you.
DAVID: Well, I’ve been in this industry now approaching 20 years, and we’ve obviously seen ups and some prolonged downs. I can tell you that right now, the sentiment is as positive as I’ve ever seen. You don’t have to look very far to see excellent positive news developments for nuclear energy deployment globally. It’s not just about clean energy or the energy transition. It’s often about energy sovereignty — taking reliance off nations that are maybe not your preferred partners. And so we do see an incredibly positive story brewing on the demand side. And, of course, in economics, we also have to think about the supply side, and going through that very long and difficult period of time that we had with very low prices, where we saw the best mines in the world have to shut down over the last decade. You know, I can tell you that supply is also in a vulnerable place, and many projects that have tried to restart have struggled, and there are very few excellent, top-tier projects in the pipeline. We, of course, promote our Phoenix project because it does have the potential to be one of the lowest-cost uranium mines in the world, but it is an outlier. The majority of new supply — much of which will be required to balance the market in the long run — is in jurisdictions where grades are low, costs are high and risk is high. And so, you know, the ability for supply to meet that demand that’s growing is actually going to be quite challenging.
ROGER: Okay, David, thank you very much for joining us today. We appreciate it.
DAVID: Thank you.
ROGER: David Cates is the CEO of Denison Mines.
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the Nov. 18, 2025 interview with David Cates are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
