Additional Information

Related Party Transactions

We buy significant amounts of goods and services for our Saskatchewan mining operations from northern Saskatchewan suppliers to support economic development in the region. One of these suppliers is Points Athabasca Contracting Ltd. (PACL). In 2012, we paid PACL $57 million for construction and contracting services (2011 – $63 million). These transactions were carried out in the normal course of business. A member of Cameco’s board of directors is the president of PACL.

Critical Accounting Estimates

Because of the nature of our business, we are required to make estimates that affect the amount of assets and liabilities, revenues and expenses, commitments and contingencies we report.

We base our estimates on our experience, our best judgment, guidelines established by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum and on assumptions we believe are reasonable. We believe the following critical accounting estimates reflect the more significant judgments used in the preparation of our financial statements.

Decommissioning and Reclamation

We are required to estimate the cost of decommissioning and reclamation for each operation, but we normally do not incur these costs until an asset is nearing the end of its useful life. Regulatory requirements and decommissioning methods could change during that time, making our actual costs different from our estimates. A significant change in these costs or in our mineral reserves could have a material impact on our net earnings and financial position.

Property, Plant and Equipment

We depreciate property, plant and equipment primarily using the unit of production method, where the carrying value is reduced as resources are depleted. A change in our mineral reserves would change our depreciation expenses, and such a change could have a material impact on amounts charged to earnings.

We assess the carrying values of property, plant and equipment and goodwill every year, or more often if necessary. If we determine that we cannot recover the carrying value of an asset or goodwill, we write off the unrecoverable amount against current earnings. We base our assessment of recoverability on assumptions and judgments we make about future prices, production costs, our requirements for sustaining capital and our ability to economically recover mineral reserves. A material change in any of these assumptions could have a significant impact on the potential impairment of these assets.

Taxes

When we are preparing our financial statements, we estimate taxes in each jurisdiction we operate in, taking into consideration different tax rates, non-deductible expenses, valuation of deferred tax assets, changes in tax laws and our expectations for future results.

We base our estimates of deferred income taxes on temporary differences between the assets and liabilities we report in our financial statements, and the assets and liabilities determined by the tax laws in the various countries we operate in. We record deferred income taxes in our financial statements based on our estimated future cash flows, which includes estimates of non-deductible expenses. If these estimates are not accurate, there could be a material impact on our net earnings and financial position.

Controls and Procedures

We have evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2012, as required by the rules of the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Canadian Securities Administrators.

Management, including our CEO and our CFO, supervised and participated in the evaluation, and concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective to provide a reasonable level of assurance that the information we are required to disclose in reports we file or submit under securities laws is recorded, processed, summarized and reported accurately, and within the time periods specified. It should be noted that, while the CEO and CFO believe that our disclosure controls and procedures provide a reasonable level of assurance that they are effective, they do not expect the disclosure controls and procedures or internal control over financial reporting to be capable of preventing all errors and fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived or operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met.

Management, including our CEO and our CFO, is responsible for establishing and maintaining internal control over financial reporting and conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on this evaluation, management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2012. We have not made any change to our internal control over financial reporting during the 2012 fiscal year that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

New standards and interpretations not yet adopted

A number of new standards, interpretations and amendments to existing standards are not yet effective for the year ended December 31, 2012, and have not been applied in preparing these consolidated financial statements. The following standards, amendments to and interpretations of existing standards have been published and are mandatory for our accounting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2013, unless otherwise noted.

Financial Instruments

In October 2010, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued IFRS 9, Financial Instruments (IFRS 9). This standard is part of a wider project to replace IAS 39, Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement (IAS 39). IFRS 9 replaces the current multiple classification and measurement models for financial assets and liabilities with a single model that has only two classification categories: amortized cost and fair value. The basis of classification depends on the entity’s business model and the contractual cash flow characteristics of the financial asset or liability. The guidance in IAS 39 on impairment of financial assets and hedge accounting continues to apply. IFRS 9 is effective for annual periods beginning on or after January 1, 2015, with early adoption permitted. We do not intend to early adopt IFRS 9. The extent of the impact of adoption of IFRS 9 has not yet been determined.

Consolidated Financial Statements

In May 2011, the IASB issued IFRS 10, Consolidated Financial Statements (IFRS 10). This standard establishes principles for the presentation and preparation of consolidated financial statements when an entity controls one or more other entities. IFRS 10 defines the principle of control and establishes control as the basis for determining which entities are consolidated in the consolidated financial statements. We performed a review of our investees and determined that adoption of this standard will not have a material impact on our financial statements.

Joint Arrangements

In May 2011, the IASB issued IFRS 11, Joint Arrangements (IFRS 11). This standard establishes principles for financial reporting by parties to a joint arrangement. IFRS 11 requires a party to assess the rights and obligations arising from an arrangement in determining whether an arrangement is either a joint venture or a joint operation. Joint ventures are to be accounted for using the equity method while joint operations will continue to be accounted for using proportionate consolidation. We performed a review of all arrangements and determined that our interest in BPLP constitutes a joint venture. As a result we will no longer recognize our proportionate share of the revenue, expenses, assets, liabilities and cash flows of BPLP. Instead, we will recognize our share of net assets and earnings on a single line in the consolidated statements of financial position and consolidated statements of earnings, with partner distributions being recognized in the consolidated statements of cash flows.

Disclosure of Interests in Other Entities

In May 2011, the IASB issued IFRS 12, Disclosure of Interests in Other Entities (IFRS 12). This standard applies to entities that have an interest in a subsidiary, a joint arrangement, an associate or an unconsolidated structured entity. IFRS 12 integrates and makes consistent the disclosure requirements for a reporting entity’s interest in other entities and presents those requirements in a single standard. The adoption of IFRS 12 is expected to increase the current level of disclosure of interests in other entities.

Fair Value Measurement

In May 2011, the IASB issued IFRS 13, Fair Value Measurement (IFRS 13). This standard provides additional guidance where IFRS requires fair value to be used. IFRS 13 defines fair value, sets out in a single standard a framework for measuring fair value and establishes the required disclosures about fair value measurements. We do not expect the adoption of IFRS 13 to have a material impact on the financial statements.

Employee Benefits

In June 2011, the IASB issued an amended version of IAS 19, Employee Benefits (IAS 19). This amendment eliminates the ‘corridor method’ of accounting for defined benefit plans. Revised IAS 19 also accelerates the recognition of past service costs and requires a net interest approach. In addition, it streamlines the presentation of changes in assets and liabilities arising from defined benefit plans, and enhances the disclosure requirements. We intend to retrospectively adopt the amendments in our financial statements. It is expected that the use of the net interest approach, which is the use of the discount rate as opposed to the expected long-term rate of return on plan assets, will have the greatest impact on the financial results. While this change will not materially impact our plans, it is expected to increase our share of the BPLP employee benefit costs for 2013 by approximately $24 million (2012 – $17 million). The difference between the actual return on plan assets and the discount rate will be recognized in other comprehensive income.

Presentation of Other Comprehensive Income (OCI)

In June 2011, the IASB issued an amended version of IAS 1, Presentation of Financial Statements (IAS 1). This amendment is effective for annual periods beginning on or after July 1, 2012 and requires companies preparing financial statements in accordance with IFRS to group together items within OCI that may be reclassified to earnings. Revised IAS 1 also reaffirms existing requirements that items in OCI and earnings should be presented as either a single statement or two consecutive statements. The adoption of these amendments to IAS 1 will not have a material impact on the financial statements.

Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities

In December 2011, the IASB issued amendments to IAS 32, Financial Instruments: Presentation (IAS 32) and IFRS 7, Financial Instruments: Disclosures (IFRS 7). The amendments are effective for periods beginning on or after January 1, 2013 for IFRS 7 and January 1, 2014 for IAS 32 and are to be applied retrospectively. These amendments clarify matters regarding offsetting financial assets and financial liabilities as well as related disclosure requirements. We intend to adopt the amendments to IFRS 7 in our financial statements for the annual period beginning on January 1, 2013, and the amendments to IAS 32 in our financial statements for the annual period beginning January 1, 2014 and do not expect the amendments to have a material impact on the financial statements.