Following Meltdown, Cameco Is Positioned For Long-Term Growth

This article was first published by Seeking Alpha on January 16, 2015

By Sarfaraz A. Khan

On Tuesday, Cameco Corp. (NYSE:CCJ), the leading U.S.-listed uranium miner, provided an update on the ramp-up of its Cigar Lake operations and gave production guidance for next year. In 2014, the company produced 0.34 million pounds of uranium concentrate (U3O8) from Cigar Lake in the first 10 months of operations. The output was within the company's guidance of between 0.2 and 0.6 million pounds. The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based company also said that production from the Canadian mine in the current year will come in at 6 to 8 million pounds. That is significantly better than Credit Suisse's estimate of 3.6 million pounds, as per a January report emailed to me from the bank's analyst Ralph Profiti. Cameco intends to gradually grow the mine's annual production to 18 million pounds by 2018.

Cameco Corp.: A Reliable Play On Uranium Recovery

This article was originally published by Seeking Alpha on September 17, 2014

By SarfarazA. Khan

Summary: The recent bullish trends in the uranium market are led by supply-side issues. The demand side is also looking interesting. Is It time to reconsider some well known uranium stocks, particularly Cameco and Denison Mines?

More than three years ago, the tsunami in Japan which led towards the Fukushima nuclear disaster triggered a collapse of the uranium prices, falling from a peak of $65 per pound in early 2011 to less than $30 per pound over the last four months ending August. However, since the end of last month, the commodity's prices, for October delivery, have recovered to more than $33 per pound.

Supply-side issues

The improvement in prices was largely due to supply-side issues. Due to the slump in prices, Uranium producers from all around the world started cutting back on their production. Moreover, the Ukraine conflict and the subsequent sanctions on Russia, which provides a significant portion of uranium enrichment services to companies all around the world, could also hit uranium supplies.

Finally, last month, Cameco Corp. (NYSE:CCJ), the largest U.S. listed uranium miner shut down its flagship McArthur River mine, the biggest in the world, due to a labor dispute which acted as a major catalyst behind the improvement in uranium prices. On Friday, the company signed a tentative agreement with the worker's union, ending the 17-day strike.

The industry could witness additional closures in the coming months due to the pricing pressure. Analysts at Macquarie have forecast a 6% drop in production from mines in the current year. Read full article at Seeking Alpha.

  

Unloved Uranium Miner Cameco Eyes Recovery After Nuclear Meltdown

This article was originally published by TheStreet, and also appeared on Yahoo! Finance, on September 9, 2014

By Sarfaraz A. Khan

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Cameco (CCJ_) is an unloved uranium stock that is down more than 9% this year to $18.83, but investors might want to keep a helmet light on this miner amid a rebound in uranium prices.

More than three years ago, an earthquake and tsunami in Japan triggered a nuclear crisis in that country with the meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The subsequent nuclear plant closures in Japan, as well as in other European countries, caused an oversupply of uranium in the international markets. As a result, the commodity's prices dropped by 57% from early-2011 to $28 per pound in May.