Denison Mines Corp. (DNN) and Orano Canada Inc., who co-own the McClean Lake Joint Venture, said Thursday that uranium mining has begun at the project using the joint venture's patented Surface Access Borehole Resource Extraction method.

Orano Canada owns a 77.5% stake and is the operator of the McClean Lake Joint Venture. Denison owns the remaining 22.5% interest.

Mining of the McClean North uranium deposit commenced in June, with about 250 tonnes of high-grade ore estimated to have been recovered from the first mining cavity, the companies said.

Orano Canada has backfilled the first cavity, advanced the rig to the planned second mining cavity, and commenced processing of the recovered ore at the McClean Lake mill, they added.