Cameco Resources to close Cheyenne office due to weak uranium...

Cameco Resources to close Cheyenne office due to weak uranium market

Company will move headquarters to Casper
6 hours ago • By BENJAMIN STORROW Star-Tribune staff writer

Cameco Corp., the world's largest uranium company, is closing its Cheyenne office and laying off two employees there due to low uranium prices.

The Canada-based company's American operations have been headquartered in Cheyenne since 2010, when it moved its offices from Colorado to Wyoming.

The company said it plans to move its American headquarters to Casper, with 13 of the Cheyenne office's 15 employees moving north up Interstate 25. The move will increase the company's total staff in Casper to 32. Two employees will lose their jobs as part of the move.

The Cheyenne office will close Sept. 30.

The change does not affect Cameco's Smith Ranch-Highland and North Butte mines in Wyoming or the Crow Butte mine in Nebraska.

"We regret having to close the Cheyenne office but are pleased to be keeping our headquarters in Wyoming and to be expanding our presence in Casper, which is closer to our operations," Cameco spokesman Ken Vaughn said in an email.

"The consolidation is a response to the depressed uranium market that will allow us to control costs, to focus on operations and to be ready for future growth when the market improves."

Spot prices on U308, the low-grade uranium used in nuclear power plants, reached an eight-year low this month, dipping below $30 per pound.

The weak market is a result of a U308 surplus, prompted in large part by the shuttering of the Japanese nuclear fleet in 2011 after the Fukushima disaster.

Cameco is not the only Wyoming uranium producer to be battered by the weak market. Uranium One announced recently that it was laying off eight employees and that it had reduced production estimates at its Willow Creek mine.

Ur-Energy and Uranerz, two Wyoming-based companies, have also reduced production estimates, though neither has announced layoffs.