Denison Mines (NYSEAMERICAN: DNN) began full construction at its Phoenix uranium project in northern Saskatchewan, installing the first perimeter freeze wall after finishing site preparation and putting Canada on track for its first commercial in-situ recovery uranium mine. The company is targeting first production for mid-2028.
ISR mining sends a chemical solution down wells into the ore body, dissolving uranium underground before drawing the resulting solution back up for processing. It already accounts for more than half of global uranium output, but no one has used it at commercial scale in the Athabasca Basin before, where underground mining has been the standard for decades. The freeze wall that crews are now building will isolate the first mining area and contain the solution as it works through the deposit.
Proven and probable reserves total 56.7 million lb of U3O8 within 219,000 tonnes of ore grading 11.7%, far above the global average for uranium deposits, which typically runs below 1%. At peak, the mine could produce about 9 million lb of uranium oxide a year over a roughly 10-year plan, on a project Denison values at around US$500 million.
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A concrete plant is up and running on site, aggregate is coming out of a nearby quarry, and crews are working on an airstrip and the power network, after SaskPower connected Phoenix with a new 138-kilovolt line. About 90% of the engineering work is done, and 95% of the design packages have already gone out for construction.
Permitting began in 2019; Saskatchewan approved the project’s environmental assessment in July 2025; the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission approved the federal assessment and construction licence in February 2026; and early works started that March.
Read: Denison Sees Capital Cost Estimates At Phoenix Rise By 43% Versus 2023 Feasibility Study
Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation filed for judicial review last November, arguing the province only began consulting after finishing its environmental assessment, then gave the Nation just six weeks to respond.
Read: First Nation Moves To Quash Wheeler River Uranium Approval
PBCN withdrew its application in early July and formally consented to the project after further talks with Denison, clearing a legal and reputational risk just weeks before the freeze wall went in.
CEO David Cates described Phoenix as Canada’s first new large-scale uranium mine since Cigar Lake. More than 30 countries are aiming to triple nuclear capacity by 2050, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
