U.S. probe has no immediate effect on deals: Cameco

Cameco Corp. says it’s too early to speculate on what effects an American investigation into the national security implications of uranium imports will have on its operations, most of which are located in northern Saskatchewan.

In a news release issued Wednesday afternoon, the Saskatoonbased uranium miner said the U.S. probe will take up to 270 days, after which U.S. President Donald Trump has 90 days to decide what actions will be taken.

“We will need to see what the investigation finds, if any trade action is recommended, and what specific remedies might be pursued before the potential impact, positive or negative, can be determined,” Cameco CEO Tim Gitzel said in a statement.

In the meantime, the company said there will be “no immediate impact” on its existing uranium sales contracts.

As well, its deliveries to U.S. customers are expected to continue as usual.

“Cameco will be following developments on this file very closely, the company said in the release. “We intend to provide input to the (U.S. Department of Commerce) as its investigation moves forward,” it continued.

The U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday said that its investigation will cover the entire uranium sector, from mining to enrichment as well as defence and industrial consumption, and it will consult the Department of Defence.

Cameco sold about 30 per cent of the uranium it produced last year to American electrical utilities — which operate about 20 per cent of all nuclear reactors worldwide — making the U.S. its biggest customer by volume.

“If the issue in question is the overreliance of the United States on uranium supplied by state-controlled enterprises from countries not aligned with American policy interests, this clearly does not apply to Canada or Cameco,” Gitzel said.

That statement was echoed by the United Steelworkers, which represents workers in the uranium mining and processing sectors, including at some of Cameco’s mines and mills in northern Saskatchewan.

“It is abundantly clear that Canadian uranium exports do not present a national security threat to the United States,” Ken Neumann,

Canadian director of the USW, said in a statement.

“As a fair-trading nation with the U.S., Canada must be exempted from this investigation, or any potential tariffs or quotas on Canadian uranium,” Neumann added.

Two U.S. uranium producers earlier this year asked the Commerce Department to investigate under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act, the same provision the president used to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Those tariffs created deep concern at Evraz North America PLC, which operates a major steel plant north of Regina, and led the federal government to adopt a host of retaliatory actions against the U.S.

“American uranium producers who petitioned the Trump administration to launch the … investigation have specified that their concern is unfair trade practices by overseas producers — not Canada,” USW director for Western Canada Stephen Hunt said in a statement.

Cameco has spent the last several years struggling in the face of weak global demand for uranium.

To save money amid the downtown, the company has closed one mine in northern Saskatchewan, temporarily shuttered another mine and mill in the province, and slashed its corporate workforce in Saskatoon.

Two years ago, Cameco also put its U.S. uranium production facilities in “care and maintenance” mode.

Gitzel was not available for an interview Wednesday, a company spokesman said.