Cameco achieved record annual uranium production of 28.4 million pounds in 2015 – four percent higher than estimated, the company said in its annual report. Cameco also saw record quarterly production of 9.6 million pounds in the fourth quarter – 17 percent higher than in 2014, largely due to production from its Cigar Lake uranium mine, where estimated production was exceeded. Cameco spent $2m Canadian dollars ($1.5m, €1.3m) on four brownfield exploration projects, $4m on projects under evaluation in Australia, and $2m at Inkai in Kazakhstan and its US operations. The company said it spent about $32m on regional exploration programmes, mostly in Saskatchewan and Australia. Adjusted net earnings fell to $344m in 2015 from $412m in 2014. However, significant weakness in the Canadian dollar in 2015 resulted in record annual consolidated revenue of $2.8bn, and record annual revenue from the company’s uranium segment of $1.9bn based on sales of 32.4m pounds at a record Canadian dollar average realised price of $57.58 per pound. Cameco says it is one of the world’s largest uranium producers accounting for about 18 prcent of global production from its mines in Canada, the US and Kazakhstan. It has about 410 million pounds of “proven and probable” reserves. Details online: http://bit.ly/1RO6Rs5
