Resource World Magazine

A P R I L / M A Y 2 0 2 0 www.resourceworld.com 41 URANIUM countries to decommission their nuclear reactors and switch to other fuels. That prompted major producers like Cameco Corp. [CCO-TSX; CCJ-NYSE] and Kazakh state-owned KazAtomProm, to shut down production and announce indefinite layoffs as long-term contracts that pay huge premiums to the current spot price expire. Cameco has suspended their Cigar Lake Mine until April 23 when the company will determine whether to re- start operations. "Things have to change," said Dasler, during an interview with Resource World Magazine. "With new nuclear power plants coming on board we are going to need another 200 million pounds per year of production." With an eye to the expected growth in demand, CanAlaska is among a handful of companies that are working to develop uranium discoveries in Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin, an area best known as the world's leading source of high-grade uranium and contributor of 20% of the world's supply. CanAlaska's flagship property is the West McArthur Project, which lies on the eastern side of the Athabasca Basin, adja - cent to Cameco's McArthur River mine. "We started off as operator with 70% of the project and we are slowly dilut - ing Cameco's 30% interest because they haven't contributed to exploration pro- gram's last summer or this winter," said Dasler. "Cameco has pulled back on a lot of its exploration spending, but they are still our partner," he said. Cameco and Orano Canada Inc. (formerly Areva Canada Inc.) own the adjacent Fox Lake deposit (68.1 million pounds grading 7.99% U 3 O 8 ) which is immediately to the east. "[Cameco's] mill at Key Lake will be running out of ore because the McArthur River uranium mine has only has about 15 years of life," said Dasler. "We have the haulage road to the Key Lake mill, which will be looking for ore in about 15 years which will be good timing for us." What follows is a list of other companies that are currently engaged in the explora - tion and development of uranium projects. ALX Resources Corp. [AL-TSXV; ALXEF-OTC; 6LLN-FSE], previously ALX Uranium Corp., recently changed its name to ALX Resources Corp. to better describe the nature of ALX's portfolio of exploration properties that consist of various mineral commodities, including nickel-copper- cobalt, uranium and gold. ALX has the option to earn a 51% participating interest in the Close Lake uranium project located in the eastern Athabasca area of northern Saskatchewan. Orano Canada, as opera - tor, holds a 74% stake in the joint venture with Cameco holding a 14.9% stake and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Ltd. holding the remaining 10.6%. Azarga Uranium Corp. [AZZ-TSX; PWURF-OTC; P8AA-FSE] is position- ing itself to be America's next uranium developer. In keeping with that plan, the company has been working to gain the approvals it needs to commence construc- tion at its flagship Dewey Burdock Project in South Dakota, using low-cost in-situ recovery methods. Dewey Burdock received its Nuclear Regulatory Commission license in April 2014, and its revised draft Class 111 and Class V Underground Injection Control permits from the Environmental Protection Agency in August, 2019. The company also owns the Gas Hills, and Juniper Ridge projects in Wyoming, the Centennial Project in Colorado, the Aladdin deposit in Wyoming, and five exploration projects in the United States. Azincourt Energy Corp. [AAZ-TSXV; AZURF-OTC] recently launched a Phase One drilling program at its East Preston uranium project in the western Athabasca Basin. The company is currently earn - ing a 70% interest in the 25,000-hectare eastern portion of the Preston project as part of a joint venture agreement with Skyharbour Resources Ltd. [SYH-TSXV; SYHBF-OTCQB] and Clean Commodities Corp. [CLE-TSXV]. East Preston is near the southern edge of the western Athabasca Basin, where targets are in a near surface environment without Athabasca sand - stone cover. Therefore, they are relatively shallow targets but can have great depth extent when discovered. Overall, the Preston Project is one of the largest tenure land positions in the Paterson Lake region and is strategically located near NexGen Energy Ltd.'s high- grade Arrow deposit, Fission Uranium's Russian floating nuclear power plant in service A Russian floating nuclear power plant is now generating electricity in the remote Arctic region of Chukotka in the country's Far East region. The vessel has two nuclear fission ship reactors (35MW each) that will generate power for some 100,000 homes. The reactors have been successfully used in the past to power Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers. The vessel, which is a barge named the Akademik Lomonosov, cost US $232 million to build in the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg by state company Rosatom subsidiary OKBM Afrikanov, a nuclear engineering firm, and took 10 years to complete. The floating power plant will be able to operate for three to five years without refuelling and could have a life cycle for up to 40 years and is manned by a crew of about 70 workers. The new power generator, 450 feet long and 30 feet tall, is replacing a coal-fired power plant and an aging nuclear power plant. Rosatom would like to build at least seven floating nuclear power plants. In addition, Argentina, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Algeria, Namibia and Cape Verde have expressed interest in acquir- ing their own floating nuclear plants. Craig Parry, CEO of IsoEnergy, during the 2019 Summer Analyst Tour at the company's Larocque East uranium property in the Eastern Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan. Photo courtesy IsoEnergy Ltd.

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