Our Strategy
We are a pure-play investment in the growing demand for nuclear energy. We are focused on providing nuclear fuel products and services across the fuel cycle to support the generation of clean, reliable, secure and affordable energy, and we are focused on taking advantage of the long-term growth we see coming in our industry. Our strategy is set within the context of what we believe is a transitioning market environment where:
- increasing populations,
- a growing focus on electrification and decarbonization, and
- concerns about energy security and affordability are expected to durably strengthen the long-term fundamentals for our industry.
Nuclear energy must be a central part of the solution to the world’s shift to a low-carbon, climate resilient economy. It is an option that can provide the power needed, not only reliably, but also safely and affordably, and in a way that will help avoid some of the worst consequences of climate change.
Our strategy is to capture full-cycle value by:
- remaining disciplined in our contracting activity, building a balanced portfolio in accordance with our contracting framework
- profitably producing from our tier-one assets and aligning our production decisions in all segments of our business with our contract portfolio and customer needs
- being financially disciplined to allow us to execute on our strategy, take advantage of strategic opportunities and to self-manage risk
- exploring other emerging and non-traditional opportunities within the fuel cycle, which align with our commitment to responsibly and sustainably manage our business, contribute to the mitigation of global climate change, and help to provide energy security and affordability.
We expect our strategy will allow us to increase long-term value, and we will execute it with an emphasis on safety, people and the environment.
You can read more about our strategy in our 2023 Q4 MD&A and our approach to ESG in our 2022 ESG report.
Uranium
Uranium production is central to our strategy, as it is the biggest value driver of the nuclear fuel cycle and our business. We have tier-one assets that are licensed, permitted, long-lived, and are proven reliable with capacity to expand. These tier-one assets are backed up by idle tier-two assets and what we think is the best exploration portfolio of mineral reserves and resources that in some cases can leverage our existing infrastructure. Currently, we believe that we have ample productive capacity with the ability to expand as the demand for nuclear energy and nuclear fuel grows.
We are focused on protecting and extending the value of our contract portfolio, on aligning our production decisions with our contract portfolio and market opportunities thereby optimizing the value of our lowest cost assets. We also prioritize maintaining a strong balance sheet, and on efficiently managing the company. We have undertaken a number of deliberate and disciplined actions, including a focus on operational effectiveness to allow us to operate our assets more efficiently and with more flexibility.
Fuel services
Our fuel services segment supports our strategy to capture full-cycle value by providing our customers with access to refining and conversion services for both heavy-water and light-water reactors, and CANDU fuel and reactor component manufacturing for heavy-water reactors.
As in our uranium segment, we are focused on securing new long-term contracts and on aligning our production decisions with our contract portfolio that will allow us to continue to profitably produce and consistently support the long-term needs of our customers.
In addition, we are pursuing non-traditional markets for our UO2 and fuel fabrication business and have been actively securing new contracts for reactor components to support refurbishment of Canadian reactors.
Westinghouse
Westinghouse, is a global provider of mission‐critical and specialized technologies, products and services for light-water reactors across most phases of the nuclear power sector. Our investment brings additional nuclear fuel cycle assets, that augment the core of our business, to offer more solutions to customers across the nuclear fuel cycle. Like Cameco, Westinghouse has nuclear assets that are strategic, proven, licensed and permitted, and that are in geopolitically attractive jurisdictions.
Global Laser Enrichment
We interested in the second largest value driver of the fuel cycle, enrichment, and have a 49% interest in Global Laser Enrichment LLC (GLE). GLE is the exclusive licensee of the proprietary SILEX laser enrichment technology, a third-generation uranium enrichment technology. We are the commercial lead for the GLE project with a 49% interest and starting in 2023, an option to attain a majority interest of up to 75% ownership.
Additionally, we have signed a number of non-binding arrangements to explore several areas of cooperation to advance the commercialization and deployment of small modular reactors in Canada and around the world.
Reserves and Resources
Our tier-one assets hold more than 485 million pounds of proven and probable uranium reserves, along with extensive resources.
Supply & Demand
From a demand and supply perspective, geopolitical events and the ongoing focus on the climate crisis are transforming our industry.
Caution about Forward-Looking Information
Please click here for additional information about the assumptions applied in making the forward-looking statements on this page and the factors that could cause results to differ materially.