no rebound in uranium price for 12-18 months

Cameco CEO Sees No Rebound in Uranium Price for 12-18 Months
By Christopher Donville - May 30, 2014

Cameco Corp. (CCO), Canada’s largest uranium miner, said it doesn’t expect a recovery in prices for the raw material in nuclear-reactor fuel for at least a year.

“The next 12 to 18 months, we think, will be tough,” Cameco Chief Executive Officer Tim Gitzel said today in a telephone interview.

Uranium prices slumped following delays in restarting Japan’s fleet of nuclear reactors in the wake of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi power station.

“We’re really just keeping our heads down, making sure we’re managing our costs through this difficult period so we’re ready when the market turns in our favor,” Gitzel said.

Saskatoon-based Cameco this month asked the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to postpone a hearing in June to end the regulator’s environmental assessment for the company’s proposed Millennium uranium mine project, citing “poor economic conditions in world uranium markets.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Donville in Vancouver at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at [email protected] Robin Saponar