| Ticker | Name | Research | View | What he said | At |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DNN | Denison Mines | QT · SA · STK · FA | Positive | His own company. Phoenix ISR is in full-scale construction (licence Feb, FID end-Feb, night shift since July) and "generally on track"; ~2-year build to first production in 2H-2028 at ~6M lb/yr — "one of the largest uranium mines operating in the world" and "leading the pack" of new projects. Capex ~$600M post-FID (~$700M all-in), funded by a convertible bond and physical-uranium sales, so "the risk of significant equity dilution… is quite low"; Griffin follows on Phoenix cash flow. | 5:00 |
| Uranium | Uranium (U3O8 — commodity) | — | Positive | Denison bought 2.5M lb in 2021 at "just under $30 US per pound"; 1.1M lb left at end-Q2, of which 350k lb is sold fixed at ~$95 — "a price higher than where we've seen the market trading in recent months" — 250k lb floating market-related and ~500k lb uncommitted for the next 1–2 years. Utilities are "very interested," which is why he can afford to contract slowly. | 16:47 |
| SYH.V | Skyharbour Resources (SYH: TSXV; SYHBF: OTC) | QT · SA · STK | Positive | One of three Denison-backed explorers with "really exciting stories" (Denison is a shareholder, so a sponsor's view). The long-standing neighbour just east of Wheeler River: Denison raised its stake and helped it consolidate, then split, the "enormous" Russell Lake property into four JVs — Denison earning in at Wheeler North while Skyharbour works the rest. | 11:28 |
| COSA | Cosa Resources (COSA: TSXV) | STK | Positive | A home for Denison's non-core ground, run by "a number of ex-Denison folks" who were also at IsoEnergy for the Hurricane discovery, and "they've had some good success." Denison owns 19% and sits on the board; Cosa works Murphy Lake North and a DRA at the Darby property, where Denison also holds direct project interests. | 12:38 |
| FMST | Foremost Clean Energy (FMST: Nasdaq; FAT: CSE) | QT · SA · STK · FA | Positive | "Really unique story": holds an option on 10 Denison properties, has already vested 51% and can reach 70% (Denison stays a minority owner); Denison owns just under 20% of the company. Its Nasdaq listing is the untapped angle — an Athabasca-focused explorer "with Denison sponsorship also US listed," with "so much potential for cross promotion with the US shareholder base." | 12:59 |
| NXE | NexGen Energy | QT · SA · STK · FA | Neutral | Named alongside Denison as the other Athabasca uranium developer now in construction — and so competing for the same scarce Saskatchewan labour pool. No view offered on the company. | 3:22 |
| CCJ | Cameco | QT · SA · STK · FA | Neutral | "Active in the region" — one of the operators drawing on a province of ~1.5M people for skilled workers; Cigar Lake is the benchmark for Phoenix as "the first new large scale uranium mine in the region since." | 3:46 |
| BHP | BHP Group | QT · SA · STK · FA | Neutral | Its Jansen potash project is the first example he gives of the Saskatchewan resource build-out that keeps the provincial labour market tight — a reference, not a view. | 3:46 |
| EGO | Eldorado Gold | QT · SA · STK · FA | Neutral | "Eldorado's got the Foran copper project in the region" (captioned "Al Dorado's… the former for copper") — the McIlvenna Bay copper mine it acquired with Foran Mining, cited as another Saskatchewan project competing for labour. | 3:46 |
| Orano | Orano (French state-owned — private) | — | Neutral | Listed with Cameco as a uranium operator active in northern Saskatchewan, part of the tight regional labour picture. | 3:46 |
| ISOU | IsoEnergy (ISO: TSX) | QT · SA · STK · FA | Neutral | Cited only as the pedigree of Cosa's team — several "were at ISO when they made the Hurricane discovery." No view on IsoEnergy itself. | 12:19 |
"View" is David Cates' stance in this conversation (Positive / Neutral / Negative), not a price rating — and as Denison's CEO (and a shareholder in Skyharbour, Cosa and Foremost) it is a sponsor's view, not an independent one. Foran Mining is not tabled separately: Eldorado Gold now owns it. Research: QT Qualtrim · SA Seeking Alpha · STK Stock Analysis.
A jargon-free summary of the thesis behind each pick — what it actually is and why he holds that view. (Plain-language companion to the table above; renders on each ticker's consolidated page.)
Denison is building a uranium mine called Phoenix in northern Saskatchewan. It uses "in-situ recovery": instead of digging a pit or tunnels and crushing rock in a mill, the company drills wells, pumps a solution underground that dissolves the uranium, pumps it back up and pulls the uranium out in a small plant. That is quicker and cheaper to build, so Phoenix should start producing in the second half of 2028 — earlier than almost any other large new uranium mine — and make about 6 million pounds a year for 10 years.
The CEO's pitch is that the hard parts are done: it is licensed, the build decision was made in February, and full construction has been under way since July. The roughly $600–700 million cost is covered by a convertible bond (a loan that can turn into shares) and by selling uranium Denison bought cheaply in 2021, so he does not expect to issue lots of new shares. A second mine, Griffin, is meant to be paid for from Phoenix's profits, stretching the site's life to 15–16 years. Keep in mind this is the company's own boss speaking.
In 2021, when uranium was cheap, Denison bought 2.5 million pounds of it at under $30 a pound as a store of value it could sell later to pay for building its mine. It is now doing exactly that: part of what remains is already sold for around $95 a pound — more than three times the purchase price and, he notes, above where the market has traded lately.
His read on the market is that the power companies who buy uranium are keen, so a producer does not need to rush. Offering too much future output at once tends to push prices down even before it is sold, so Denison is selling slowly and mostly on contracts tied to whatever the market price is at delivery, rather than locking in today's price.
Skyharbour is a small uranium explorer whose land sits right next to Denison's. Denison owns shares in it and has worked with it to combine a huge block of land (Russell Lake) and then split it into four joint ventures, each partner running some pieces. Denison spends its own money on the piece nearest its mine (Wheeler North) and earns a bigger ownership share by doing so; Skyharbour explores the others. It is a way for Denison to get more ground drilled without distracting its own team — and Cates, as a shareholder, is naturally upbeat about it.
Cosa is a small uranium explorer run by several former Denison people, some of whom were involved in IsoEnergy's high-grade Hurricane discovery. Denison gave it land Denison was not going to explore itself, took back a 19% shareholding and a board seat, and keeps a direct stake in some of the projects. If Cosa finds something, Denison benefits twice — through its shares and its project interests — without spending its own exploration budget.
Foremost has the right to earn up to 70% of ten Denison exploration properties by spending money on them (it has already earned 51%). Denison owns just under 20% of Foremost. What makes it unusual, in Cates' view, is that Foremost trades on the Nasdaq, so American investors who already follow Denison could buy a Denison-backed Athabasca explorer directly — something he thinks has not yet been exploited.
Summary & timestamps derived from the public YouTube video (transcript in transcript.html) for personal study. Not investment advice. © Jimmy Connor / Denison Mines for source material.