{"id":5793,"date":"2018-04-17T15:36:47","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T19:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/business.financialpost.com\/?p=1576622"},"modified":"2018-04-17T15:36:47","modified_gmt":"2018-04-17T19:36:47","slug":"how-u-s-russia-tensions-could-revive-canadas-struggling-uranium-mines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2018\/04\/17\/how-u-s-russia-tensions-could-revive-canadas-struggling-uranium-mines\/","title":{"rendered":"How U.S.-Russia tensions could revive Canada\u2019s struggling uranium mines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just months after Saskatoon-based Cameco Corp. laid off hundreds of workers and shuttered the largest high-grade uranium mine in Canada, the market for the radioactive metal used in nuclear power generation is suddenly in flux, as tensions between the U.S. and Russia flare.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week, in response to new U.S. sanctions, Russian lawmakers proposed measures that would halt enriched uranium exports to the U.S. \u2014 a move other countries could follow \u2014 which analysts believe could reset the supply and demand picture. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact of the matter is it could potentially be quite explosive,\u201d said Rob Chang, a former analyst with Cantor Fitzgerald, who now sits on the board of <\/span>Fission Uranium Corp., an exploration company.<\/span><\/p>\n

Uranium prices have declined by more than 70 per cent since a tsunami destroyed the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011 and led Japan to take all its nuclear reactors offline. That contributed to an oversupply and depressed prices to the point that, at many mines, it costs more to produce uranium than to buy it on the spot market, which has largely put a pause on exploration and mining in Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n

In January, Cameco laid off 845 workers and suspended operations at its McArthur River mining and Key Lake mill in northern Saskatchewan, for an estimated 10 months, at a cost of as much as $7.5 million. <\/span><\/p>\n

At the time, Cameco chief executive Tim Gitzel blamed \u201cthe continued state of oversupply … and no expectation of change on the immediate horizon.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Gitzel was not available for comment, but company spokesman Gord Struthers said it\u2019s too early to say whether U.S.-Russia tensions will affect its operations. The company would not restart operations at McArthur without some change in uranium spot prices, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely, we will need to see some reaction in the market,\u201d said Struthers.<\/span><\/p>\n