Following a production guidance cut from Cameco this month, the Canadian uranium producer’s top executive says the reduction will be short-lived. 

“Our reduction is small and temporary,” Tim Gitzel, president and chief executive officer of Cameco, said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg on Tuesday. 

“In the meantime, we've got capacity to ramp up considerably.” 

Gitzel added that Cameco will increase production, provided it has the business to do so.

The Saskatoon-based mining company announced in its press release this month that it had lowered its 2023 production guidance at both its Cigar Lake mine and McArthur River-Key Lake operations in Saskatchewan.

At the Cigar Lake mine, the release said Cameco lowered production guidance from 18 million pounds of uranium concentrate to 16.3 million pounds. Production at the McArthur River-Key Lake operations is now expected to total 14 million pounds during the year, down from the previous 15-million pound estimate, the release said. 

NUCLEAR AND NET ZERO

As many nations push toward net zero, Gitzel noted that the global sentiment toward nuclear energy is gaining – and that has positive implications for his company.

“With the move to decarbonization, electrification, the race to net zero, and now energy security…there is lots of room for nuclear energy. Countries around the world [are] looking to expand, extend (and) build new SMRs (small module reactors) everywhere,” he said. 

 “It’s really positive for nuclear right now.”