Cameco cuts uranium forecast for McArthur River mine
Cameco Corp. [CCO-TSX, CCJ-NYSE] has released an update regarding its 2025 uranium production plans. The company said delays in transitioning its McArthur River mine in Saskatchewan to new mining areas are expected to defer the extraction of pounds planned for 2025 and therefore impact this year’s production forecasts.
Production from the McArthur River/Key Lake operation is now anticipated to be between 14 million and 15 million pounds of uranium concentrates (U308) (100% basis: 9.8 million to 10.5 million pounds Cameco’s share) in 2025, down from a previous forecast of 18 million pounds of U308 (100% basis: 12.6 million pounds Cameco’s share).
However, the company said the strong performance of its Cigar Lake mine, also in Saskatchewan, provides an opportunity to partially offset the deferred McArthur River production.
At the Cigar Lake mine, the company continues to expect to produce 18 million pounds U308 (100% basis; 9.8 million pounds Cameco’s share) this year. However, Cameco said the performance to date at Cigar Lake has been strong, creating an opportunity to potentially offset 1.0 million pounds (100% basis) of the shortfall at the McArthur River/Key Lake operation.
“We believe our balanced and disciplined strategy and embedded risk management, which includes diversified production assets and access to multiple sources of supply, position us well to effectively mitigate the impact of these types of disruptions, meet our delivery commitments, and continue to deliver long-term value,” the company said in a press release.
Cameco shares eased 1.47% or $1.59 to $106.55 and trade in a 52-week range of $110.85 and $48.71.
Cameco is one of the largest global providers of the uranium fuel needed to energize a clean air world. The company’s competitive position is based on its controlling ownership of the world’s largest high-grade uranium reserves and low/cost operations.
The company has interests in tier-one mining and milling operations that have licensed capacity to produce more than 30 million pounds (its share) of uranium concentrates annually, backed by more than 469 million pounds of proven and probable mineral reserves.
The company’s assets in the Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan include two of the highest-grade mines in the world – Cigar Lake and McArthur River/Key Lake. Cameco also has interests in operations located in Kazakhstan and the United States.
“At the beginning of 2025, we highlighted several potential risks to the McArthur River mine’s production schedule that could impact the timing of packaged production from the Key Lake mill and our consolidated production outlook for 2025,” the company said. “The risks included development delays and the expected timing of ground freezing as the mine transitioned to two new mining areas, as well as access to adequate skilled labour, and the timing of commissioning of new customized equipment,” it said.
“We have determined that we are unable to fully mitigate the expected impact of the delayed development and slower than anticipated ground freezing in the first half of 2025.”