The Huguenot Coal Project is located along the northeastern limb of a broad, northwest-plunging anticlinorium (the Belcourt Anticlinorium). Lower Cretaceous coal measures are located along the western and eastern margins of this structure, while Triassic and Jurassic strata occupy the central portions. The western extent of the anticlinorium is defined by a major, westerly-dipping thrust fault that emplaced Palaeozoic rocks upon the Lower Cretaceous strata. Eastward from the core of the Anticlinorium, the Cretaceous succession is continuous, the youngest strata being those of the Kaskapau Formation (Late Cretaceous). The Huguenot property is located within a narrow, northwesterly-trending band of tight to relatively open folds and associated northeasterly-verging thrust faults that have placed older units upon younger.

The Gates coal measures are repeated by two easterly-dipping and easterly-verging thrust faults, the Holtslander North and Holtslander South Thrusts. For descriptiven purposes, the three structural slices are referred to as the North, Middle, and South Blocks.

Mining sections have been defined either from discrete coal seams where all, or most, of the coal-bearing interval forms a single mining section, or as parts of a coal zone where one or more coal layers occurring in relatively close vertical proximity to one another, form separate mining sections. Thin, internal, rock bands, if present, are included in the mining sections but thicker rock bands (in this instance 0.31 m or more, as defined in GSC Paper 88-21) are omitted, even though, in practice, some would almost certainly be mined with coal in medium- to large-scale production scenarios. In the discussions presented below, the mining sections are taken to a minimum true thickness of 0.60m. Coal at Huguenot can form discrete coal seams of variable thickness, or form thin seams interbedded with coaly shale and carbonaceous shale to form coal zones which, in themselves, are mappable stratigraphic units. Some “zones” consist of only one mappable coal layer/ply where other zones may include multiple mappable coal layers.

North Block.
A total of ten coal seams and/or coal zones are present within the North Block. Seam/coal zone nomenclature used in this report follows that used by Denison across their former Belcourt property; in ascending order they are numbered 1 through 10. The main coal splits that form part of a coal zone are assigned the number of the zone plus a letter.

The letter 'A' indicates the lowermost coal split in a series; however, this is complicated in Coal Zone 6 by the presence of coal splits below Seam 6A. Consequently, this part of the zone is referred to as 6l.

All seams/coal zones with the exception of Seams 7 and 10 provide potentially mineable coal intervals. The main coal seams are Seams 1, 5, 6B, and 8; these are the thickest and most laterally continuous of the coal seams. Typically, the minor seams (i.e., 2A, 3B/3B Lower (3Bl), 3D, 4, 6l, 6A, 6C Lower (6Cl), 6D, and 9) meet seam thickness or coal to rock (C/R) ratio minimums only over portions of the blocks. Seams not considered to be potentially mineable, can still be traced geologically throughout the remainder of the block. Other coal seams/splits such as 3A, 8B and some splits above Seam 9 might locally exceed 0.60m in thickness but are not currently deemed to be persistent enough to present mineable targets.

The North Block sits structurally above the Holtslander North Thrust Fault. Gates Formation coal measures occupy the western limb of a broad synclinal structure called the Holtslander Synclinorium. In the west, the strata are near homoclinal with moderate (approximately 45°) north-northeasterly dips. To the east, the strike swings easterly such that dips are to the north. Dips are also steeper in the east, reaching approximately 50°. Dip values decrease at depth to between 30° and 35°, reflecting proximity to the axial zone of the syncline.

Middle Block.
A total of ten coal seams and/or coal zones are present within the Middle Block. All seams/coal zones with the exception of Seam 7 provide potentially mineable coal intervals. The main coal seams are Seams 1, 5, 6L, and 8; these are the thickest and most laterally continuous of the coal seams. Minor seams 2A, 3B, 4u, 6B and 9 meet seam thickness and C/R ratio minimums across the Middle Block, whereas seams 2D, 2EF, 2HI, 6D and 10 meet mining section criteria locally. Where these latter seams do not meet seam thickness or C/R ratio minimums, they can still be traced geologically. Coal seams in the Middle Block are progressively terminated towards the south by the Holtslander South Thrust Fault such that the lowermost seams only extend as far south as the central portion of the block. Only seams stratigraphically higher than Seam 6B are present at the southern end of the block.

The Middle Block sits structurally below the Holtslander North Thrust and above the Holtslander South Thrust. The coal measures occupy the western limb of a broad synclinal structure called the Holtslander Synclinorium. At the northern end of the Middle Block the strata dip northeasterly, between 45° and 55°. Dip values increase to between 50° and 85° towards the centre of the block, decreasing to between 30° and 65° at the southern end. A northerly-trending, open, upright, anticline-syncline pair is mapped along the eastern edge of the thrust slice. These structures are interpreted to affect the Holtslander South Thrust as well as the overlying coal measures.

South Block.
Of the 10 coal seams and/or coal zones present within the South Block all seams/coal zones except 3, 7 and 10 provide potentially mineable coal intervals. The thickest and most laterally continuous of the coal seams are Seams 1,2Z, 4, 5, and 6L; Seams 6B, 6D, 8 and 9 are present in the southern half of the block. The distribution of the Gates coal measures within the South Block is largely determined by the presence and attitude of the Holtslander South Thrust Fault. Surface traces of the stratigraphically higher coal seams (above 6L) are progressively terminated towards the north by this thrust fault; this fault also forms the northern limit of the coal seam traces and of the South Block as defined herein.

The South Block forms the lowest structural unit. Most of the coal seams are contained within steep, easterly-dipping beds (60° and 75°) which steepen towards the south (70° and 85°); they are often overturned along their up-dip sections (to provide very steep, southwesterly dips). These strata form the eastern limb of an asymmetric anticline, the fold axis of which almost defines the western limit of the coal measures. This anticline may represent the eastern side of a large northerly-trending, box fold.

The deposit is therefore considered to be of moderate geology type for the North and Middle Blocks and complex geology type for the South Block. There are sufficient quantities of nearsurface resources that may support surface mining in all three blocks. In addition, the dip and structure of the North Block may allow some seams to be amenable to underground longwall mining techniques. The surface mine is started first due to the relative ease of establishing the mine and producing coal in significant volumes within one year of start-up. It continues to operate for fourteen years until the economic pit limits are reached. The underground mine begins operation in year 3 and reaches full production in year 5 and continues to operate until year 31.

Parameters used to develop the surface minable areas include:

• Minimum seam true thickness of 0.8m
• Minimum interburden or parting true thickness of 0.3m
• Maximum (incremental) strip ratio (cut-off ratio) of 14 to 1 (average strip ratio of 8.6 to 1)
• Minimum oxidized coal zone of 5m depth on outcrop
• Overall pit slopes of 45°
• Roof and floor dilution of 15cm
• Mining recovery of 95%.

The selected open pit mining method is a conventional truck and shovel operation utilized.

The use of smaller excavators for coal mining with separate truck fleets achieves a balance between selectively mining smaller seams while trying to maintain low unit costs. Given the life of the surface operation and the production level, it is expected that surface mine operations would be carried out by an owner-operated fleet of mining equipment. None of the major equipment is expected to be replaced over this relatively short mine life.

Waste Mining.
In order to meet production requirements, the waste mining fleet sizes are proposed as follows:

For the combined North / Middle (north) pit area:
• Loading: 4 x Hydraulic shovel (Hitachi 5600 or equivalent)
• Haulage: 18 x 222 tonne capacity rear-dump trucks (Komatsu 830 or equivalent)
• Drilling: 3 x Rotary blasthole drills 10-inch (254mm) hole diameter, 11 m depth.

For the combined South / Middle (south) pit area:
• Loading: 2 x Hydraulic excavators (Hitachi 3600 or equivalent)
• Haulage: 10 x 136 tonne capacity rear-dump trucks (Cat 785 or equivalent).
• Drilling: 2 x Rotary blasthole drills 10-inch (254mm) hole diameter, 11 m depth.

Coal Mining.
The proposed coal mining fleet sizes for the combined North / Middle (north) pit area are as follows:
• Loading: 1 x Front-end loader (WA 1200 or equivalent)
• Haulage: 5 x 222 tonne capacity rear-dump trucks (Komatsu 830 or equivalent).

The proposed coal mining fleet sizes for the combined South / Middle (south) pit area are as follows:
• Loading: 3 x 7m3 hydraulic backhoes (CAT 390 backhoe or equivalent)
• Haulage: 3 x 136 tonne capacity rear-dump trucks (Cat 785 or equivalent).

The exact size and configuration of the support equipment fleet would be determined in a pre-feasibility-level study. Cost estimates included in this study are based on a typical regional spread of support equipment for an operation of this size. It is expected that the fleet would include units of the following type:

• 6 x Track-type dozers (CAT D10 equivalent)
• 3 x Motor graders (CAT 16M or equivalent)
• 1 x Front-end loaders (CAT 988 to 992 or equivalent)
• 1 x Water truck for road dust control (12,000 gallon)
• Various maintenance vehicles: lube truck, heavy forklifts, tow truck, flat deck truck.

It is assumed that support vehicles required for loading blastholes would be provided by the blasting contractor.

Surface mining commences with pre-production in Year -1, and averages 3.2Mtpa (ranging from 1.5 to 4.3Mtpa) of clean coal during surface mining 'steady-state' production (Years 1 through 12). Two surface pits are developed and mined concurrently. The North / Middle (north) pit provides the majority of surface production (averages approximately 2.5Mtpa of clean coal) from Year -1 through Year 12. For Years 1 through 14, a second pit, the South / Middle (south) pit, provides approximately 0.7Mtpa of clean coal.

Production from the longwall operation commences in Year 3 and averages 1.8Mtpa (ranging from 1.4 to 2.6Mtpa) of clean coal during underground mining 'steady-state' production (Years 5 through 31).

Production of clean coal from the combined surface and underground mining operations averages approximately 3Mtpa, and ranges from 1.4 to 5.9Mtpa. The variance in coal production is driven by several factors, primarily the sequence in which coal seams of varying thickness are encountered by the longwall operation, and constraints on the equipment.

Longwall is the preferred method for the North Block of the Huguenot property for the following reasons:

• Large mineable resource base.

• Areal extent of the North Block (1,580m wide and 3,700m long) and shape is well suited for ease of conceptual layout. It is envisioned that main development entries could be developed from the outcrop or slope along the western or eastern side with long panels running diagonal along the strike (slightly up-dip).

• The vast majority of the resource is contained in areas where the average dip is just over 19° (35%) with the steepest dips located along the southern boundary at greater than 25° (47%), which is manageable for grade-specified longwall equipment.

• Coal thickness of the target seams would provide good productivity. However, rear caving methods would have to be utilized to safely recover the full thickness of Seam 5 and Seam 1. The expected life of today's longwall face supports exceed 60,000 movement cycles. One set of longwall face supports are projected to complete the longwall mining in the North Block. Longwall equipment should be designed to work in the 2 to 4m range with maximum expected mining heights of 3.5m.

The average dip of 19° in the North Block allows for orientation adjustments for conveyor belt coal haulage and the use of track mounted mining equipment at apparent dips less than 15°. Room and pillar main development with angled crosscuts for ventilation, haulage, and access are possible utilizing continuous miners or roadheaders. The utilization of longwall mining is also possible at productive rates in areas with slope gradients less than 25°.

Annual production per RH unit is projected between 80,000 to 110,000 tonnes ROM. Longwall productivity rates are based on panel length and number of longwall moves per year. Average annual production is based on 44 weeks (308 days) per year with the remaining weeks for longwall moves. Seam thickness or mining height limits ranging from 2.5 to 3.5m would be expected to produce 6,000 to 9,700 tonnes per day (tpd) or 2.35 to 3.8Mt ROM annually. The potential top coal-caving recovery of 1.5 to 4m of head coal could add an additional 1,000 to 3,000tpd or 0.4 to 1.2Mt ROM annually.

Development would be accomplished with continuous miner or RH unit equipment utilizing, shuttle cars/coal haulers or conveyor bridge equipment, mobile roof bolters, feeder breakers and face scoops. Where a place-change system is difficult, an extendable conveyance system along with alternative support systems will be required. Road openings are designed to have a maximum width of 6.1m and a maximum height of 3.0m. Development equipment should be sized to operate at a minimum height of 2.5m. The longwall face equipment is projected to utilize a double drum shearer designed to operate in a cutting range from 2.0 to 4.0m. The face haulage system is a chain/flight conveyor oriented to move material down gradient. An up-gradient system can be considered at the expense of panel width and increased horsepower requirements. Once the face conveyor aspect exceeds 25°, up-gradient haulage becomes less efficient. A face support system with optional rear caving capability provides a second chain conveyor to be installed in Seam 5 and possibly Seam 1.

Handling and processing of coal typically occurs within the confines of the Coal Handling and Preparation Plant. The plant has two components; the Coal Handling Plant (CHP) as well as the Coal Preparation Plant (CPP). The CHP receives raw coal from the mines, sizes it and feeds it to a stockpile or to the washery, or CPP. Clean coal is then typically conveyed and loaded for transportation to port, while refuse from the washing process is loaded for transportation to disposal facilities.

The CPP will be required to process an estimated maximum of 8Mtpa of ROM coal to produce 6Mtpa of clean coal.

Stantec has estimated average yields of 70% for surface mined coal and 76% for underground mined coal, washing the various coal seams to an approximate 9% ash as received basis (arb). In general, a CPP uses heavy media cyclone, spiral concentrators and froth flotation methods to remove ash from the coal in order to reduce the ash to a target level.

After washing, clean coal is stored and covered to ensure that weather doesn't increase the moisture content until shipment as well as to mitigate blowing coal dust. The washing process is optimized to enhance mechanical dewatering of the coal.