Denison Mines is a uranium exploration and development company, with projects focused in the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan, Canada. Its flagship project is the Wheeler River Project. This project marks the first time in situ recovery will be used at a Canadian uranium mining site. This type of mining involves injection of a liquid mining solution to obtain the uranium ore, which means the mining process and infrastructure does not involve conventional tailings, waste rock piles, open pits or major earthworks. Prior to solution mining, a freeze wall is installed around the mining area to create an impermeable barrier to protect the surrounding groundwater resources.
EDI began providing support to Denison on the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Wheeler River project in 2019. This support involved several different teams from across our regions. EDI team members in our Prairies region helped establish the methodology for completing this environmental assessment, including the approach taken for the cumulative effects assessment. They also provided technical support for the assessment of potential environmental effects on the terrestrial environment (e.g., soils, vegetation, wildlife) and helped draft the EIS section on the potential effects of the environment on the project. The GIS team created many of the maps for the EIS and Executive Summary. The Writing Support team completed copy editing, formatting, compilation and file management associated with multiple versions of the EIS, which involves nearly 10,000 pages between the main report and associated appendices.