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The Dawn Lake project is an early-stage exploration project located near Waterbury Lake in northern Saskatchewan, Canada approximately 700 km north of Saskatoon. The Dawn Lake property is operated by Cameco Corporation in partnership with Orano Canada Inc. The project grounds cover an area approximately between the McClean Lake mill and Cigar Lake mine.
As of December 31, 2022, Cameco disclosed estimated indicated resources, exclusive of reserves, of 17.9 Mlbs at an average grade of 4.42% U3O8 and inferred resources of 1.0 Mlbs at an average grade of 1.02% U3O8, for the Tamarack project, which is located on the Dawn Lake project. This deposit is an unconformity-related deposit at approximately 175 to 200 m depth, located 10 km to the southwest of the McClean Lake mill.
| Mineral Resources – As of December 31, 2022 (100% Basis) | ||||||||
| Measured | Indicated | Inferred | ||||||
| Tonnes (‘000’s) |
Grade (% U3O8) |
Content (Lbs. U3O8) |
Tonnes (‘000’s) |
Grade (% U3O8) |
Content (Lbs. U3O8) |
Tonnes (‘000’s) |
Grade (% U3O8) |
Content (Lbs. U3O8) |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 183.8 | 4.42 | 17.9 | 45.6 | 1.02 | 1.0 |
Note that mineral resources:
- do not include amounts that have been identified as mineral reserves
- do not have demonstrated economic viability
- totals may not add due to rounding
The Dawn Lake project area also potentially covers the immediate strike extension of IsoEnergy Ltd.’s (“IsoEnergy”) Hurricane deposit. In a news release on July 18, 2022, IsoEnergy disclosed estimated Indicated Mineral Resources for the Hurricane deposit of 48.61 million lbs. of U3O8 based on 63,800 tonnes grading 34.5% U3O8 and Inferred Mineral Resources of 2.66 million lbs. of U3O8 based on 54,300 tonnes grading 2.2% U3O8. For further clarity, the royalty does not cover the Hurricane resources as outlined above, only the potential western extension of the mineralized zone on the adjacent Dawn Lake project claims.
Note on Technical Disclosure
Unless otherwise indicated, the scientific and technical information herein regarding Dawn Lake and Waterbury Lake / Cigar Lake has been derived from Cameco’s Management discussion and analysis for the quarter ended December 31, 2022, and Cameco's other public disclosures, copies of which are available under its profile on SEDAR. Historical uranium deposit information is outlined in the Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index (SMDI).
The Dawn Lake Royalty is a sliding scale 10% to 20% NPI on a 7.5% share of overall uranium production from the Dawn Lake project lands. The Dawn Lake Royalty does not apply to the entirety of the project lands. However, the Company believes that the Dawn Lake Royalty applies to substantially all areas of the project underlying the existing mine and areas underlying estimates of mineral reserve and mineral resource.
The sliding scale royalty percentage for the Dawn Lake Royalty is based upon historical production and recoverable reserves of the combined Waterbury/Cigar Lake and Dawn Lake project lands, with the royalty rate having already achieved the maximum of 20% as the Cigar Lake mine has achieved such production and reserve threshold. The sliding royalty percentage will decrease to 10% after the combined production on both Waterbury/Cigar Lake and Dawn Lake projects reach a production hurdle of 200 Mlbs of U3O8 (Cameco has reported a total of 123.0 Mlbs production as at December 31, 2022).
The royalty was acquired through the acquisition of Reserve Minerals LLC. URC now has complete ownership of the existing Dawn Lake royalty, which previously was only an option to acquire.
As a profit-based NPI interest, this royalty is calculated based upon generated revenue, with deductions for certain expenses and costs, which include cumulative expense accounts, including development costs. As such and given the significant amount of expenditures on the project, the Dawn Lake Royalty will only generate revenue to the holder after these cumulative expenses are exhausted.
The Dawn Lake project area also potentially covers the immediate strike extension of IsoEnergy Ltd.’s (“IsoEnergy”) Hurricane deposit. In a news release on July 18, 2022, IsoEnergy disclosed estimated Indicated Mineral Resources for the Hurricane deposit of 48.61 million lbs. of U3O8 based on 63,800 tonnes grading 34.5% U3O8 and Inferred Mineral Resources of 2.66 million lbs. of U3O8 based on 54,300 tonnes grading 2.2% U3O8. For further clarity, the royalty does not cover the Hurricane resources as outlined above, only the potential western extension of the mineralized zone on the adjacent Dawn Lake project claims.
The original joint venture established over the Dawn Lake area in 1976 was the Keefe-Henday joint venture between Canadian Kelvin Resources Ltd. and Asamera Oil Corporation Ltd. The Keefe Lake Joint Venture was later divided into three separate project areas, the Dawn Lake, McArthur River, and Waterbury Lake project areas.
In 1978, unconformity-associated uranium mineralization was intersected on the project which later became known as the 11, 11A, 11B and 14 Zones of the Dawn Lake deposits. Development drilling on the Dawn Lake deposits occurred between 1978 and 1982. The Dawn Lake deposits do not currently have any mineral resources assigned to them by Cameco. In addition to the resources outlined above, significant uranium mineralization has been discovered at the La Rocque Lake (29.9% U3O8 over 7 m in hole Q22-040), Natona Bay (5.56% U3O8 over 5.25 m in hole Q27B-030), and Thorburn Lake (3.2% U3O8 over 8.8 m in hole Q14A-026) areas. These historical deposits do not have resources assigned to them under the framework of NI-43-101.