Stakeholder Engagement
Cameco strives to proactively engage stakeholders in a variety of ways and respond to questions and concerns in a timely, transparent and culturally appropriate manner.
There are six key groups of stakeholders we engage regularly. We tailor our activities to the group we’re working with and adjust our approach based on the feedback we receive.
Communities
Local communities are a key stakeholder group everywhere we operate.
We build and maintain public support for our operations through our relationships with local residents and are sensitive to the needs, concerns and priorities of communities and individuals affected by or living close to our operations. We strive to provide meaningful employment and economic benefits to these communities.
Cameco commissions public opinion surveys every year in a number of jurisdictions where we operate. This keeps us in touch with local opinions about our industry, our performance and our reputation.
While our approach to community engagement varies by region, all of our operations have ongoing community engagement activities.
Principles for effective engagement with northerners
In 2007, Cameco consulted with northern leaders and developed a set of principles to use when engaging northern communities. They form the foundation for all engagement and communications work we do in the region.
Six principles for engagement with northerners:
- open channels
- make it simple
- build capacity for understanding
- hear the Elders
- include youth
- speak and hear our language
Our diverse engagement activities in northern Saskatchewan are focused on the needs and interests of communities in the Northern Administration District (NAD) – an area that makes up nearly half of the province, although it includes less than 5% of the population. 85% of the people who live here are either First Nations or Métis.
Because all of our Canadian mining operations are located in northern Saskatchewan, we maintain an office in La Ronge that houses Cameco’s Northern Affairs staff. We have satellite offices in the communities of Patuanak/English River, Pinehouse, Black Lake, Fond du Lac and Wollaston Lake. Each office employs a permanent resident of the community who acts as a direct liaison between Cameco and the host community.
Cameco also maintains close relationships with the Athabasca Working Group and members of the Northern Saskatchewan Environmental Quality Committee, and conducts an annual tour of communities in the northern administration district. This tour provides a forum for direct information sharing and two-way dialogue with community members. Ongoing site and project-specific engagement activities also play a key part in our engagement with northern communities.
Cameco has signed three agreements with northern communities that outline specific engagement practices. You can read about these agreements in the Aboriginal peoples engagement section of this report.
Cameco conducts formal engagement activities in the Blind River area, including regular engagement with the local chief of the Mississauga First Nation, the Mayor of Blind River and other community leaders. Engagement consists of ongoing meetings, telephone conversations, presentations and quarterly reports. We also participate in community events and charitable initiatives.
Blind River signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mississauga First Nation in 2010, formalizing their agreement to continue to work together co-operatively and respectfully.
We interact with the local community in Port Hope through community forums and ongoing dialogue with municipal leaders. Cameco began holding forums in 2006, to share information and provide an opportunity for people to discuss our operations and raise concerns. We hold several forums each year, featuring topics selected with input from the public. Community members are also kept informed through press releases, open houses, website information and consultations related to our permits and licences.
Inkai holds community meetings and public hearings in the village of Taikonur, where they discuss construction plans, environmental monitoring and other activities at the operation. Residents can request additional information and register concerns or complaints at our office in Almaty.
Much of our engagement in Wyoming and Nebraska is focused on grassroots community activities, like fundraising, volunteering and increasing awareness and understanding of the importance of good water management. Recent examples include funding a diabetes and cardiovascular health program directed to Native Americans and other populations at risk, and contributing to a permanent water protection and conservation demonstration area at the State Fairgrounds. Most of our managers and employees are residents of the small communities near our operations and are able to identify key community needs for support, particularly for youth and the elderly. We invite schools and other groups to participate in site tours to help educate residents about the safety of our operations and the small footprint of in situ recovery mining.
In Australia, we follow the Cameco five-pillar CSR strategy for engaging community members impacted by our activities in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
To date, this includes:
- a social impact study
- workshops and visits to over 30 communities
- face-to-face cultural visits
- regular visits by our community liaison and environmental and corporate responsibility managers
- a comprehensive Uranium 101 educational program, rolled out to communities near Kintyre in the local Martu language
- regularly-scheduled heritage, consultation and negotiation meetings
- presentations on indigenous issues at conferences throughout Australia
- cultural awareness presentations for all staff and contractors.
We also sponsor Indigenous programs and events, including health initiatives, school clinics and expos, sporting and cultural events and conferences, and continue to work on building local business capacity with indigenous groups.
Kintyre
Cameco signed a landmark Mining Development and Indigenous Land Use Agreement with the Western Desert Lands Aboriginal Corporation (WDLAC) and local indigenous Traditional Owners, the Martu, in 2012. This agreement was the result of a comprehensive stakeholder engagement, consultation and negotiation process that included a trip to Canada by Martu and WDLAC representatives, who visited our northern Saskatchewan mine sites and met with First Nations communities.
Yeelirrie
Since purchasing the Yeelirrie project in the Northern Goldfields of Western Australia in 2012, we’ve begun engaging local communities, including a local indigenous claim group, Tjiwarl, through the Central Desert Native Title Service.
Northern Territory
Cameco continues to explore and drill in Arnhem Land, a remote part of the Northern Territory where we have been actively engaged in exploration for approximately 15 years. Cameco engages with traditional owners through the Northern Land Council. We sponsor indigenous programs and events, including health initiatives, school clinics and expositions, sporting and cultural events and conferences. In 2012, for example, we provided volunteers and prizes and sponsored a group of young indigenous dancers to attend the Gunbalanya Open Day in Oenpelli. In 2013, we sponsored eight students from remote areas of the Northern Territory to attend the Conoco Phillips Science Experience at Charles Darwin University.
Exploration Sites
Cameco’s exploration department has ongoing activities in northern Saskatchewan, Nunavut and the Northern Territory in Australia.
Northern Saskatchewan
In northern Saskatchewan, Cameco engages with First Nation and Métis community members and municipalities that have interests related to our exploration activities. For example, in 2013, we held a meeting in Hatchet Lake Denesuline Nation to discuss local land and resource users’ concerns about the potential impacts of ice drilling on fish in Waterbury Lake. First Nation leadership, elders and local land and resource users attended and Cameco representatives provided an overview of our ice drilling program, with a focus on the procedures we use to protect the environment.
During our engagements, we provide maps of the exploration area and simultaneous translation to ensure all community members can participate in our discussions.
Nunavut
In Nunavut, engagement includes similar community meetings, where Cameco representatives meet with local stakeholder groups, including hunter and trapper organizations, hamlet councils, Inuit associations, and Elder groups. These one-on-one interactions are an ideal way to visit with community members and address concerns in a more personalized setting.
Cameco also organizes small tours, where local stakeholders are flown out to our camp and drilling sites to get a firsthand look at our activities. For some elders who have participated, it’s the first time they’ve visited their traditional homeland since childhood.
For more information on engagement activities in the Northern Territory see the above section on engagement in Australia.
Customers
Cameco sells uranium and fuel services (as uranium concentrates, UO2, UF6, conversion services or fuel fabrication) to nuclear utilities in Belgium, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan and the US.
In addition to commercial considerations, customers care about the quality and safety of our products, our business practices, and our environmental performance, including safe product handling and transportation procedures.
We work with customers to closely monitor the needs of all nuclear utilities in our markets and to help them plan for future requirements.
Marketing representatives communicate with customers regularly through face-to-face meetings, telephone calls, emails, and at industry conferences. We also open our facilities to customers to perform quality and environmental audits, complete detailed customer surveys and share company information with customers as needed to support their own sustainability reporting needs to stakeholders within their companies as well as within the communities in which they operate.
Employees
Internal communication plays an important role in ensuring our geographically, professionally and culturally diverse workforce all feel like part of the Cameco family. We use a number of tools to keep our employees informed, engaged, and familiar with our objectives:
Face-to-face communications
- Annual CEO site tours give employees a chance to interact with Tim Gitzel in a casual setting.
- Site managers also meet regularly with employees at town halls and safety meetings.
- Leadership teams tour work areas at our various sites regularly to connect with employees informally and deliver messages face-to-face. The leadership team works together to identify key topics or issues to communicate during these sessions and our internal communications team equips them with discussion points and other supporting materials.
Electronic communications
- Cameco employees use our Sharepoint portal, Ushare, to view company news, videos and updates, as well as benefits and other HR information, our CEO blog and quick reference material. Ushare is also the access point for our employee and manager self-service system. Introduced in 2011, this web-based platform is designed to improve access to information and make it easier to collaborate with others across the company.
- In addition to Ushare, our Port Hope, Cigar Lake and corporate office locations also have electronic message boards, where employees can find news and announcements about upcoming events.
- Employees with access to email receive Cameco Today weekly e-news updates that include quick links to information hosted on Ushare.
Gathering feedback
- Cameco’s annual engagement survey gives employees an opportunity to give feedback about their experience at Cameco. Survey results are grouped by team and shared with team leads, who meet with their groups to discuss the results and develop plans to address their key issues and concerns.
Governments and Regulators
Our relationships with government officials and regulatory agencies are critical to our business, and influence all stages of project development. Strong relationships with our regulators at the local, national and international level are equally important because they each make decisions that directly affect our business.
Cameco engages elected officials to ensure we understand local issues and requirements, and to explain our business operations. Our approach is to listen, to learn and to inform. This shared understanding and open dialogue allows us to maintain public support for our operations in all jurisdictions.
Regulators continuously engage Cameco representatives as part of ongoing operations and new projects. We report on operational activities and the results of our environmental monitoring and safety programs to regulators at regular, prescribed intervals, and we also participate in public licensing and environmental assessment processes. We make a concerted effort to meet or exceed their expectations.
Government and regulator interests include compliance with the law and with the terms of our licensing requirements, public health and safety, economic and social development, and local community involvement. They are looking to Cameco to be a respectful, co-operative partner and a responsible corporate citizen.
Investors and Analysts
Investors hold shares in our company and we maintain an open dialogue with them to ensure we are providing the information and level of transparency they require to make their investment decisions. In addition to commercial considerations, some institutional investors may have a special interest in our sustainable development practices and performance, especially as they relate to socially responsible investment criteria for particular funds.
Financial analysts provide information to the investment community and therefore, have an ability to influence the market’s perception of Cameco.
Investors and financial analysts care about the risks and opportunities that could affect our financial performance and how these things may affect shareholder returns. Our risk profile, current and expected future financial performance, and the level of public support for our activities are important to investors.
Every 12 to 18 months we carry out an investor perception study to understand investment community sentiment toward Cameco, gain insights into preferred investor relations practices, and determine where the investment community would like to see our communications improve. Through the study, investors have the opportunity to provide input with respect to level of reporting in the areas of corporate governance and sustainable development, including corporate social responsibility, if they so desire.
Media
The media are a key stakeholder group because they have an obligation to provide fair, unbiased reporting about our activities and performance. Their work influences perceptions of our company and our operations.
As a public company, we have an obligation to communicate on a timely basis and to provide complete, accurate and balanced disclosure of information. Representatives of the media value transparency in our communications and timely access to credible and knowledgeable spokespeople for Cameco.
We engage members of the media through news releases and other communications posted on our corporate website, as well through requests for information or interviews. Our external communications department has primary responsibility for engaging with media representatives, but the media also interact with our senior executives and members of our board.