McClean Lake mill / Uranium
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A world-class mine located in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada, approximately 660km north of Saskatoon. The McClean Lake mill is located 69km north-east of the mine site by road.
Producing
Uranium
Orano
Canada
Royalty rate and type
Tolling revenue
Balance sheet classification
Loan and royalty financial instrument
In 2017, Ecora Resources provided Denison Mines Inc (‘Denison’) with a C$40.8m, 13-year loan bearing interest at a rate of 10% per annum. The interest payments are payable from the cash flows received by Denison from the toll revenue generated from its 22.5% interest in the McClean Lake mill. In any period where the cash flow from the toll revenue exceeds the interest payment, the balance is received by Ecora Resources as a repayment of principal. In any period where the cash flows are less than the interest, the interest will capitalise and be repaid out of cash flows in the following period. Any amounts outstanding at maturity are due and payable regardless of the cash generated from the toll. As the income from the toll revenue is based on a C$/lb of throughput, it is not sensitive to movements in the uranium price. As such, the Group’s cash flows will not alter with uranium price fluctuations. The risk to the Group’s cash flow is instead from any shutdown of the mine or the mill.
In addition to the loan, the Group also entered into a financial transaction with Denison to purchase the entire share of its toll receipts received from Cigar Lake for C$2.7m. This allows for potential mine life extension at Cigar Lake.
The nuclear industry has an important role to play in the provision of clean energy with demand set to increase as energy security and transition to low carbon electricity accelerates. Cigar Lake is one of the leading uranium mines in the world and this investment provides us with indirect exposure to the Cigar Lake mine.
The McClean Lake uranium mill is one of the world’s largest uranium processing facilities. It is currently processing ore from the Cigar Lake mine under the Cigar toll milling arrangement between the McClean Lake Joint Venture and the Cigar Lake Joint Venture. The site consists of the mill, a tailings management facility, administration offices and building, camp facilities, back-up power supply, water treatment plants and a host of other minor facilities. The site is connected to the provincial power grid and provincial highways.
Production from the Cigar Lake mine totalled 15.0Mlbs (2022: 18.2Mlbs) with productivity impacted due to mining being initiated from a new zone in the ore body. Toll milling receipts from the McClean Lake mill totalled $4.1m in the year (2022: $5.0m). These toll milling receipts are applied against the Group’s interest bearing loan receivable from Denison Mines, initially against any outstanding interest and then principal.
Guidance for production from Cigar Lake 2024 is back up at the licensed capacity of 18Mlbs of uranium. Cameco has also announced that it has started the workstream necessary to extend the estimated mine life to 2036.
Key facts
$4.1m
Portfolio contribution from the McClean Lake mill totalled $4.1m in 2023
15.1Mlbs
Production volumes totalled 15.1Mlbs in 2023
ISO 14001
McClean Lake maintains its certification in ISO 14001 standard for environmental management and OHSAS 18001 standard for occupational health and safety management