The story
The Canadian Mining and Energy Corporation was formed in 1988 by the merger and privatization of two Crown corporations: the federally owned Eldorado Nuclear Limited (known previously as Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited) and Saskatchewan-based Saskatchewan Mining Development Corporation (SMDC). The name was later shortened to "Cameco Corporation".
The new company was initially owned 62% by the provincial government and 38% by the federal government. The initial public offering (IPO) for 20% of the company was conducted in July, 1991. Government ownership of the company decreased over the next eleven years, with full privatization occurring in February, 2002.
In 1996, Cameco acquired Power Resources Inc., the largest uranium producer in the United States. This was followed in 1998 by the acquisition of Canadian-based Uranerz Exploration and Mining Limited and Uranerz U.S.A., Inc.
In 2008, Cameco purchased a 24% stake in Global Laser Enrichment (GLE), the exclusive licensee of the proprietary Separation of Isotopes by Laser Excitation (SILEX) technology developed by SILEX Systems Limited. GLE is developing this third-generation uranium enrichment technology. In 2021, Cameco and SILEX purchased GE-Hitachi's 76% stake in GLE, leaving Cameco with 49% of the company.
In 2011, Cameco signed an agreement with Talvivaara Mining Company whereby Cameco would pay US$60 million to construct a uranium extraction circuit at the Talvivaara nickel-zinc mine in Sotkamo, Finland. Talvivaara would then pay back the initial construction costs in the form of uranium concentrate; once the initial costs were paid Cameco would continue to purchase the uranium concentrate at a pricing formula based on market price on the day of delivery.
In 2012, it acquired a nuclear fuel intermediary, Nukem Energy.
In 2016, Cameco suspended operations at its Rabbit Lake mine, due to low uranium prices. In 2017, it suspended operations for at least 10 months at its McArthur River mine and Key Lake mill, converting that to an indefinite shutdown in 2018 involving the layoff of about 700 staff.
In October 2022, Cameco along with Brookfield Renewable Partners announced the acquisition of Westinghouse Electric Company in a US$7.9 billion deal including debt. Cameco will own a 49% interest in the company as part of the deal.
Read the full text
The acquisition was completed in November 2023.
From Wikipedia’s article on Cameco, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.9