Cameco remains positive despite year-end loss of $53 M

Cameco says it's positive about the future despite posting a year-end net loss.

On Wednesday, the uranium mining company posted a net loss of $53 million in its year-end financial statements.

However, the companysaid it was positive about the company's chances in the future.

"As we head into 2021, we remain positive about the long-term fundamentals for the uranium market," said Tim Gitzel, Cameco's president and CEO in the statement.

"Around the globe, we are seeing an increasing focus on electrification for various reasons. There are those that are installing baseload power, those who are looking for a reliable replacement to fossil fuel sources, and finally, there is new demand for things like the electrification of transportation."

The Saskatoon-based company said much of the losses can be attributed to the shutdown of the Cigar Lake mine in December. Cameco decided to close the mine over growing concerns over COVID-19and was the second time the mine was closed that year.

The company said it did not know when the mine would reopen, and its production plan for 2021 remained uncertain.

"A restart of the operation will be dependent on our ability to maintain safe and stable operating protocols along with a number of other factors, including how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the availability of the required workforce, how cases are trending in Saskatchewan, in particular in northern communities, and the views of the public health authorities," read the statement.

"While production is suspended, we expect to incur $8 million to $10 million per month in care and maintenance costs."

However, the company said it was encouraged by recent moves by the United States to re-join the Paris climate change agreement and maintaining the country's fleet of nuclear power plants.

"These are the fundamentals that give us growing confidence the uranium market will undergo a transition similar to the conversion and enrichment markets," said Gitzel.

It is why we remain committed to our vision of energizing a clean air world, which recognizes that we have an important role to play in enabling the vast reductions in greenhouse gas emissions required to achieve a resilient, net-zero carbon economy."

The company posted net earnings of $80 million in its fourth-quarter, crediting the return of cheaper production from Cigar Lake after the first COVID-19 production shutdown.