Cameco Extends Production Suspension at Cigar Lake Mine and Withdraws Outlook - Seite 2

“Despite the current uncertainties as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we expect our business to be resilient,” Gitzel said. “With many governments and communities declaring states of emergency in their jurisdictions, our utility customers’ nuclear power plants are part of the critical infrastructure needed to guarantee the availability of 24-hour electricity to run hospitals, care facilities and essential services. So our customers are going to need uranium. As a reliable, independent, commercial supplier, we will continue to work with them to help meet their delivery needs.

“However, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted global uranium production, adding to the supply curtailments that have occurred in the industry for many years. As such, we believe the risk to uranium supply is greater than the risk to uranium demand, creating a renewed focus on ensuring availability of long-term supply. Over time, we expect this renewed focus on security of supply will provide the market signals producers need, and will help offset any near-term costs we may incur as a result of the current disruptions to our business.”

Our balance sheet remains strong, and we believe we are well positioned to self-manage risk. Thanks to the disciplined execution of our strategy on all three fronts – operational, marketing and financial – we expect to have the financial capacity to manage the disruptions to our operations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. At December 31, 2019 we had $1.2 billion in cash and $1 billion in long-term debt with maturities in 2022, 2024 and 2042. In addition, we have a $1 billion undrawn credit facility. We expect our cash balances and operating cash flows to meet our capital requirements during 2020, and therefore, we do not anticipate drawing on our credit facility.

The Cigar Lake operation is owned by Cameco (50.025%), Orano Canada Inc. (37.1%), Idemitsu Canada Resources Ltd. (7.875%) and TEPCO Resources Inc. (5.0%) and is operated by Cameco.

Profile

Cameco is one of the largest global providers of the uranium fuel needed to energize a clean-air world. Our competitive position is based on our controlling ownership of the world’s largest high-grade reserves and low-cost operations. Utilities around the world rely on our nuclear fuel products to generate power in safe, reliable, carbon-free nuclear reactors. Our shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges. Our head office is in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.