Metis Nation-Saskatchewan and Denison Mines have signed Impact Benefit and Exploration agreements, bringing the Wheeler River Project one step closer to fruition.
The Wheeler River Project is a proposed uranium mining and processing project situated in northern Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin. Conversations about this project began in 2019.
The mine will operate through an in-situ recovery method, meaning uranium will be leached directly from ore in the ground. Up to 5400 tonnes of uranium concentrate is expected to be produced at the mine annually for up to 15 years via the two uranium deposits, Phoenix and Gryphon.
MN-S President Glen McCallum says production dollars for programming and increased employment are just a few of the benefits that MN-S and its members will receive through these agreements once the mine is operating.
“For me, it’s a great thing. It’s a big thing. We keep promoting economic development and education, and at the same time education our people on the ground to be able to capitalize on the opportunities that are available to them.”
Denison President David Cates says other companies and levels of government could learn something from this collaboration; a nod to the controversy over the proposed pipeline heading from Alberta to the B.C. coast through Indigenous territory.
“If we don’t understand the interests of an Indigenous nation, then how can we respectfully seek to operate in their traditional territory or ancestral lands or their homeland?” he explains. “We’ve done a lot of listening. It makes things, sometimes, very complicated, but it’s how we get to an authentic place where both parties…move forward with pride and united.”
However, not everyone is in favour. On the same day of the signing, Peter Ballentyne Cree Nation announced it will be taking court action against the provincial government for a lack of consultation and accommodation. When asked about this pushback, Cates sidestepped it.
“I think I’d rather speak to the real positive outcome we have today with the Metis Nation-Saskatchewan than to have this wonderful event clouded by some of the things that are just in the nayure of developing a mining project in Canada.”
In a news release, PBCN Chief Peter Beatty says “the Nation is ready for a long fight if that’s what it takes.”
The agreement was signed just a week prior to the scheduled Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearing regarding the project taking place in Saskatoon.
Cates says, if it goes well, this hearing is the last step before construction begins, which could come as soon as Q2 of 2026.
