Cameco's McArthur River mine. (Cameco)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Economic Growth

Cameco & Ukraine uranium deal expected to have positive impact across Northern Saskatchewan

Feb 9, 2023 | 2:00 PM

Cameco will soon be providing uranium to Ukraine, a move the company believes will have a massive impact on Northern Saskatchewan’s economy.

They announced on Wednesday they’ve reached an agreement with Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear energy utility, to fuel the country’s nuclear power plants until 2035. The contract between the two is still being finalized.

Cameco CEO Tim Gitzel told paNOW they’ll be increasing production at their McArthur River/Key Lake and Cigar Lake/McLean Lake sites to mine and produce 36 million pounds of uranium per year, combined.

“We have sales for a lot of years, so it’s really good news for Northern Saskatchewan,” he said.

This year’s original plan for the McArthur River/Key Lake site was to mine and produce 15 million pounds. It was able to churn out around one million pounds in 2022 after it restarted in November after being shut down for several years.

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The Cigar Lake/McLean Lake site actually produced 18 million pounds last year but, before the Ukraine deal the plan was to reduce production to 13.5 million pounds.

Gitzel added there’s a good chance they may need to bring on new contracts with companies to help meet the new demand. If this does happen, the company plans to focus on groups and organizations that are already settled in Northern Saskatchewan.

“We’ll continue to do that,” he said. “There should be lots of work up north.”

When asked about jobs, Gitzel explained the focus right now is to fill positions that have already been created.

“Between Cameco and our long-term contractors, we have about 70 open positions.”

The two sites currently employ around 1,500 workers with over half being Indigenous. Gitzel noted just last year they hired 200 Indigenous people, a stat that the company is very proud of.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow