Inkai

Production on a 100% basis was 1.8 million pounds for the quarter and 3.6 million pounds for the first six months of the year, compared to 2.3 million pounds and 4.2 million pounds in the same periods last year.

Based on an adjustment to the production purchase entitlement under the 2016 JV Inkai restructuring agreement, we are entitled to purchase 4.2 million pounds, or 50% of JV Inkai’s updated planned 2022 production of 8.3 million pounds, assuming no production disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions or other causes.

Due to equity accounting, our share of production is shown as a purchase at a discount to the spot price and included in inventory at this value at the time of delivery. Our share of the profits earned by JV Inkai on the sale of its production is included in “share of earnings from equity-accounted investee” on our consolidated statement of earnings.

Presently, JV Inkai continues to experience a number of operational issues as well as inflationary pressure on production materials and reagents, which could pose a risk to JV Inkai’s 2022 production volume, impacting its costs.

The geopolitical situation continues to cause transportation risks in the region. We continue to work with Inkai and our joint venture partner, KAP, to secure an alternate shipping route that doesn’t rely on Russian rail lines or ports. In the meantime, we continue to delay deliveries of our share of Inkai production destined for our Blind River refinery. Year-to-date we have taken no deliveries from our share of Inkai’s 2022 production. While the work on enabling shipping via the Trans-Caspian route continues, we have no confirmed date for when the first shipment with our share of Inkai’s production will proceed via that route. Should JV Inkai be unable to execute its sales transactions due to its inability to ship our share of its 2022 production, our 2022 equity earnings and our dividend may be impacted, depending on how and when the issue is resolved.

In the event that it takes longer than anticipated to secure an alternate shipping route, we could experience further delays in our expected Inkai deliveries this year. To mitigate this risk, we have inventory, long-term purchase agreements and loan arrangements in place we can draw on.

Excess cash, net of working capital requirements, will be distributed to the partners as dividends. In April, we received a dividend payment from JV Inkai totaling $83 million (US). Our share of dividends follows our production purchase entitlements as described above.