NYSE:CCJ Cameco Q1 2025 Earnings Report $77.29 +0.92 (+1.21%) As of 01:37 PM Eastern This is a fair market value price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. ProfileEarnings HistoryForecast Cameco EPS ResultsActual EPS$0.11Consensus EPS $0.18Beat/MissMissed by -$0.07One Year Ago EPS$0.13Cameco Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$549.58 millionExpected Revenue$890.07 millionBeat/MissMissed by -$340.49 millionYoY Revenue Growth+24.40%Cameco Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2025Date5/1/2025TimeBefore Market OpensConference Call DateThursday, May 1, 2025Conference Call Time8:00AM ETConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (6-K)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by Cameco Q1 2025 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMay 1, 2025 ShareLink copied to clipboard.Key Takeaways Cameco delivered Q1 revenue up 24%, gross profit up 44%, adjusted net earnings up 52% and adjusted EBITDA up 5%, with average realized uranium price rising even as the spot price fell 30%. The Westinghouse segment posted a Q1 net loss but saw a 19% year-over-year increase in adjusted EBITDA and maintains a 2025 outlook of a $20 million–$70 million net loss with $355 million–$405 million in adjusted EBITDA. Uranium segment output was 6 million pounds in Q1 versus 5.8 million pounds last year and full-year 18 million pounds guidance remains, but JV Inkai deliveries are delayed to H2 amid sulfuric acid and supply-chain risks. Fuel services production rose 5% in Q1 with annual output on track for 27 million kgU and realized pricing improved as higher-priced contracts rolled on, supporting long-term contracting momentum. Despite potential tariffs and a new Section 232 probe on critical minerals, Cameco maintains supply discipline, has fully repaid its Westinghouse term loan, and preserves capital for strategic growth. AI Generated. May Contain Errors.Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallCameco Q1 202500:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xTranscript SectionsPresentationParticipantsPresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Cameco Corporation First Quarter twenty twenty five Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. Following the introductory remarks, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Operator00:00:34Webcast participants are asked to wait until the Q and A session before submitting their questions as the information they are looking for may be provided during the presentation. The Q and A session will conclude at 9AM Eastern Time. I would now like to turn the conference over to Cory Koss, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Cory KosVice-President of Investor Relations at Cameco00:00:58Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Cameco's first quarter conference call. I would like to acknowledge that we are speaking from our corporate office, is on Treaty 6 territory, the traditional territory of the Cree people and the homeland of the Metis. With us today are Tim Gitzel, President and CEO Grant Isaac, Executive VP and CFO Heidi Schachke, Senior VP and Deputy CFO and Rochelle Girard, Senior VP and Chief Corporate Officer. I will hand it over to Tim momentarily to briefly discuss the continued positive momentum across the nuclear energy market and our strong Q1 performance alongside a solid financial position. Cory KosVice-President of Investor Relations at Cameco00:01:37After, we will open it up to your questions. Today's call will be approximately one hour concluding at 9AM Eastern Time. As always, our goal is to be open and transparent with our communication. However, we do want to respect everyone's time and conclude the call on time. Therefore, should we not get to your questions during this call, or if you would like to get into detailed financial modeling questions about our quarterly results, we would be happy to respond to any follow-up inquiries. Cory KosVice-President of Investor Relations at Cameco00:02:03There are a few ways to contact us with additional questions. You can reach out to the contacts provided in our news release. You can submit a question through the send us a message link in the invest section of our website, or you can use the ask a question form at the bottom of the webcast screen and we'll be happy to follow-up after this call. If you join the conference call through our website event page, there are slides available, which will be displayed during the call. In addition, for your reference, our quarterly investor handout is available for download in a PDF on our website at cameco.com. Cory KosVice-President of Investor Relations at Cameco00:02:36Today's conference call is open to all members of the investment community, including the media. During the Q and A session, please limit yourself to two questions and then return to the queue. Note that this conference call will include forward looking information, which is based on a number of assumptions and actual results could differ materially. You should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from these forward looking statements and we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward looking statements we make today except as required by law. Cory KosVice-President of Investor Relations at Cameco00:03:07As required by securities laws, we also have to make you aware that during today's discussion, the company will make a number of references to non IFRS and other financial measures. Cameco believes these measures provide investors with useful perspective on underlying business trends and a full reconciliation of non IFRS financial measures is available at cameco.com/invest. Please refer to our most recent annual information form and MD and A for more information about the factors that could cause different results and the assumptions we have made. I will now turn it over to our President and CEO, Tim Gitzel. Tim? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:03:41Well, thank you, Corey, and hello everyone. We appreciate you joining us on our call today. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying spring or autumn depending on where you're listening from. Here in Canada, the snow is gone, it's spring and we just wrapped up a federal election earlier this week. I'd like to personally congratulate Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberal Party. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:04:04We're excited to begin working with the newly elected Canadian government and look forward to Prime Minister Carney's strong leadership in navigating the current uncertain environment of global tariffs, evolving fiscal policy and complex geopolitics. Our hope is that we can work together to advance the development of the nuclear fuel cycle and expand the use of nuclear energy in Canada and abroad. As a country, Canada is blessed with a rich uranium resource base that makes this country a key player in the global nuclear fuel supply chain. But like Cameco, when it comes to nuclear energy, Canada is much more than just mining. Beyond our resources, we have a long deep history in the nuclear sector. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:04:54So when combined with our advanced technology and generational nuclear expertise, a supportive and collaborative government will be key in helping put Canada on the map as a nuclear industry leader in support of global energy, national and climate security objectives. As we get started, I first want to encourage stakeholders to focus on our long term want strategy and the long term industry outlook discussions in our disclosure beyond the near term geopolitical and trade policy distractions. That said, there is no doubt that those distractions have created new and unexpected risks that must be carefully monitored and diligently managed. It is extremely difficult to operate the world's nuclear fleet if the movement of uranium fuel is restricted because those who need it most tend to have the least. At the outset of the quarter in January, the U. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:05:50S. Threatened to impose a 10% tariff on Canadian energy products. But amid the flurry of tariff changes, retaliatory tariffs and ongoing negotiations, energy products that are compliant with the Canada, United States, Mexico free trade agreement are currently exempt. That means for the time being there are no tariffs on our natural uranium, UF6 and enriched uranium products preserving the flow of nuclear fuel imports into The U. S. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:06:21Market. But regardless of the current exemption, we know that a lot can change overnight. For example, in April, the U. S. Launched a new Section two thirty two investigation to address the risks of reliance on foreign sources of processed critical minerals. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:06:39Notably, the executive order outlined uranium in the definition of critical minerals, directing agencies to assess the national security risks stemming from U. S. Dependence on foreign imports. We went through a similar Section two thirty two investigation covering steel, aluminum and uranium under the previous Trump administration and at that time uranium was spared. However, we take nothing for granted that was a different time in a different trade environment. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:07:10Following that first investigation in 2019, we proactively took steps to minimize potential future impacts such as adjusting and clarifying our contract terms and positioning material well ahead of expected deliveries. Those preemptive actions helped us prepare for the more recent threat of tariffs on Canadian nuclear fuel products and we will continue to adapt accordingly and mitigate such risks in the future. I'm sure there will be more to come this year as negotiations continue and policy evolve, but two things are certain. There's no substitute for uranium in a nuclear fuel bundle and there's no elasticity to the demand for nuclear fuel. You need it to run your reactors and power your economy regardless of tariffs or higher costs. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:08:02Looking at the future picture for nuclear beyond the near term noise, it continues to be more positive than we've ever seen. You've heard us consistently express a positive long term demand outlook quarter after quarter for a few years now. So I won't spend much time reiterating the strong industry tailwinds. I would say it's now a regular occurrence to see news and announcements of significant positive industry developments with nations reaffirming commitments to nuclear, extending reactor lives and saving those that were to be shuttered and planning new reactors. We've recently seen the World Bank announced plans to lift its decades old ban on funding nuclear projects. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:08:49And we've had more announcements of reactor operating licenses being extended in The U. S. Pushing some reactor lives to eighty years. This week, 10 new builds were approved in China, marking the fourth consecutive year that China has approved at least 10 new reactors. Just yesterday, Poland signed an agreement with Westinghouse, Bechtel and Polish utility PJ launching the next phase of preparatory and engineering work for its three unit AP1000 project, the first commercial nuclear plant in the country. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:09:26Those are just a few of the headlines that support our unwavering view that full cycle demand is durable and stronger than ever. The world remains focused on energy security, national security, climate security and sustainability all in the context of growing clean energy demand. But as we keep emphasizing the risk to supply are far greater than the risks to demand. Despite the long term uranium price remaining near its highest level in over a decade, the industry is still not seeing the level of long term utility contracting necessary to support both brownfield expansion plans and the significant investment in new projects that will be required to meet growing future demand. And to meet the total fuel requirements of the world reactors between now and 02/1945, the world's utilities still have a lot of uranium to buy. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:10:25In fact, percent of their needs through 02/1945 remain uncovered. That's about GBP three point two billion that remains to be contracted and for roughly one third or about GBP 1,300,000,000.0, the source of annual primary production is not yet known. With each passing quarter that long term contracting remains below replacement rate, the uncovered requirements line continues to steepen. Long term contracts must be in place to support mining economics and underpin ongoing investments in supply. But with the continued uncertainty driven by global trade policies and unclear market access, fuel buyers have remained focused on adapting procurement plans under the threat of tariffs and securing downstream conversion and enrichment services before buying the natural uranium. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:11:21Looking ahead, we believe a move upstream to focus on security of uranium supply is inevitable and unavoidable. Shifting to briefly highlight Cameco's first quarter. As always, normal quarterly variability in customer deliveries impacted our results. However, under our strategy, which remains consistent and centered on operational, marketing and financial discipline, we delivered strong results. We saw notable improvements across all key financial metrics with revenue up 24%, gross profit up 44%, adjusted net earnings up 52% and adjusted EBITDA up 5%. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:12:05And with our first quarter average realized price increasing year over year at a time when the average uranium spot price fell 30%, it remains clear that value creation in our industry requires a long term contracting strategy and we are clearly well positioned. As expected, our Westinghouse segment reported a net loss in the first quarter of twenty twenty five due to the normal quarterly variations in customer requirements and the ongoing amortization of the intangible assets related to the acquisition. We continue to expect an annual net loss of US20 million dollars to US70 million dollars for Westinghouse in 2025. We focus on adjusted EBITDA as a key performance measure for Westinghouse as it adjusts for non operational or non cash items like amortization costs. In the first quarter of this year, we saw a 19% improvement in Westinghouse's adjusted EBITDA compared to the first quarter of last year. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:13:09Beyond Q1, Westinghouse's first half results are expected to be weaker with stronger performance and higher cash flows expected in the fourth quarter. For the year, our share of adjusted EBITDA is still expected to be between $355,000,000 and $4.00 $5,000,000 And needless to say, with all of the growth opportunities that have materialized post acquisition, we continue to be pleased with the performance and excited about the potential of our investment. Our operational performance across all segments continues to improve and our outlook for the year remains strong and consistent with our expectations. In our uranium segment, our share of production from our two Northern Saskatchewan operations was 6,000,000 pounds in the first quarter of twenty twenty five, slightly higher than the 5,800,000 pounds in Q1 last year. We continue to expect 18,000,000 pounds of production on a 100% basis at each of our McArthur River Key Lake and our Cigar Lake operations. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:14:15We also continue to evaluate the optimal mix of production, inventory and purchases to retain the flexibility to deliver long term value. The first source of supply is our Tier one primary production, which always has a home under a long term contract before it is pulled out of the ground. Next source is our purchase material and our inventory, including our share of production purchased from JV Inkai. Following the unexpected suspension of production for most of January, JV Inkai updated its plans to adjust for the suspension and is targeting 8,300,000 pounds of uranium for 2025, of which our purchase allocation is 3,700,000 pounds The team is still working on a delivery schedule based on the new production plan, but we do not expect to receive any deliveries from JV Inkay until at least the second half of twenty twenty five. And with ongoing acid and other supply chain challenges, the updated 2025 production target is certainly not without risk. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:15:25In the fuel services segment, production also started the year strong, up 5% over the first quarter of last year. Our annual production expectation for fuel services remains between 27,000,000 kgu of combined products for the year. In the uranium market, long term contracting activity is expected to continue to gain momentum. The long term price increased from US68 dollars per pound in January 2024, holding now around US80 dollars per pound for several quarters. Our marketing team continues to be very busy with a large and growing pipeline of business under discussion that is expected to further grow our long term portfolio. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:16:10As contracting picks up, we continue to be selective in committing our uranium inventory and UF6 conversion capacity in order to maintain a contract book that preserves exposure to the rising prices while maintaining downside protection. Maintaining financial balance and balanced liquidity to execute on our strategy remains a priority. Our balance sheet is strong and we continue to expect strong cash flow generation in 2025. Thanks to our risk managed financial discipline and strong cash position in January 2025, we made the final repayment of US200 million dollars to fully repay the US600 million dollars term loan we used to finance the acquisition of Westinghouse. As previously disclosed, we received our first cash distribution from Westinghouse, our share being US49 million dollars of the US100 million dollars distribution paid in February. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:17:13And in April, following the end of the first quarter, we received a cash dividend of US87 million dollars net of withholdings from JV Inkai based on its 2024 financial performance. So from a financial perspective, we continue to be in excellent shape. We've remained diligent in managing the capital resources and tools required to deliver on our strategy, maintaining a strong balance sheet guided by our investment grade rating. Amid the intensifying geopolitical challenges and complex international trade relationships, it's more important than ever to procure nuclear fuel from responsible, reliable, experienced and sustainable suppliers like Cameco, fuel that supports a future energy supply that is secure, reliable and carbon free. We believe Cameco's premier Tier one fuel cycle assets complemented by our investments across the reactor life cycle puts us in a unique position to power a secure energy future. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:18:19So I thank everyone on the line and on the webcast for your interest today and we will now take your questions. Operator00:18:33We will now begin the question and answer session. In the interest of time, we ask that you limit your questions to Webcast participants are welcome to submit questions through the box at the bottom of the webcast frame. The Cameco Investor Relations team will follow-up with you by email after the call. The first question today comes from Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank. Please go ahead. Orest WowkodawManaging Director, Senior Research Analyst, Metals and Mining at Scotiobank00:19:40Hi, good morning. Obviously, the balance sheet is in great shape here with paying down the remaining term loan debt on the Westinghouse acquisition. I'm just wondering, given the forecast or the outlook moving forward in terms of solid free cash flow and no real material uses of cash that we're aware of, can you really talk about what the priorities are for capital allocation moving forward here? And I'm wondering whether increasing capital returns returns to shareholders either be dividends or could we see a buyback coming from Chemical? It really seems like you're in a strong financial position moving forward. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:20:20Orest, thanks for the question. We've got the CFO and Deputy CFO here. So Grant, why don't you start? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:20:26Yes, happy to do that and maybe a bit of a tag team if necessary. Orest, thanks, and thanks to everybody for joining. We're always excited to talk about Cameco and its really critical role in this nuclear fuel cycle and reactor cycle. There is no doubt that our strategy is playing out. We've simply delivered on what we said we would deliver on. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:20:47And you're seeing that in the financial results and you're seeing that in the outlook. But I would remind folks that we remain in supply discipline as Cameco for a very specific reason and that is we have yet to see the uranium segment hit replacement rate or above replacement rate contracting. So while in supply discipline, that always reminds us that we must remain financially conservative because you have to design a strategy that's got the right mining plan, the right milling plan, the right marketing plan and it has to be backed up by a balance sheet that allows you the patience. The patience that utilities can show has to be matched on the supply side. So with that backdrop, we remain very conservative in our focus. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:21:36We are seeing strong cash flow, strong earnings build. But while we're in supply discipline, we always want to make sure we can self manage the risk of, say, a prolonged delay in the contracting cycle so that there are no awkward lurches to the capital markets because we mistimed it, for example. That would be an inappropriate thing for us to do. As we look ahead, what are the things that we might spend capital on? Well, no doubt that our position in a recovering nuclear fuel cycle is an important one. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:22:09We have opportunities through our Cameco asset base on the uranium side. We have opportunities on the conversion side, obviously opportunities in enrichment. And then, of course, through Westinghouse, we have opportunities for further investments. But we have to be very careful with making those decisions because there is some uncertainty that we're trying to navigate. I would just point to, for example, making sure we have clarity and certainty over the role of Russia forward in the nuclear fuel cycle because we've all seen what's happened in the past. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:22:43So we have not abandoned our conservative financial discipline yet. As we go forward, we will look for appropriate risk adjusted growth opportunities. After that, we would then be looking at maybe it's appropriate to return capital to our owners, maybe that's appropriate through enhancing our dividend growth strategy, which we have out there right now. Maybe it's appropriate through shrinking the outstanding denominator of our shares through a share buyback. But I would just say that the strategy is paying off, but it's paying off in a market that hasn't yet fully come with its demand. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:23:23We remain in supply discipline and that's what's driving our conservatism. We will obviously keep this group up to date on any plans on capital allocation, but I just wanted to provide that strategic backdrop. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:23:36And Orest, it's certainly something our board has at the top of their agenda every meeting as well. So we're looking at it closely. Orest WowkodawManaging Director, Senior Research Analyst, Metals and Mining at Scotiobank00:23:43Thank you. And as a follow-up, if I could, can you speak to what the implications are for Westinghouse with respect to the recent IP legal settlement with Korea? And what could that mean to that five year outlook for Westinghouse if there are material builds outside of Korea that is done by that organization? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:24:06Yes. Thank you, Orest. At the time of acquiring Westinghouse, there was an outstanding intellectual property dispute between the Koreans and between Westinghouse over the use of what is essentially Westinghouse technology in the Korean reactors. There was a very important government to government agreement that was signed between The U. S. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:24:28And the Korean government. And following that was a commercial agreement between Westinghouse and the Koreans. There's a confidentiality agreement wrapped around that for the moment, but let me just step back and say what it effectively means. It means that Westinghouse and the Koreans have gone from potentially being competitors in markets for gigawatt scale new build to be important collaborators, reflecting in fact what is the shared contribution each makes to a new build program. And so as markets where Westinghouse may not have been competitive, for example, where utilities or states were looking for a fixed price turnkey solution, which of course everybody knows, you've heard us say Westinghouse is not in the market offering fixed price on a turnkey reactor, those were markets that the Koreans were very competitive in. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:25:32But now instead of being excluded from those markets, Westinghouse has an opportunity to participate in the scope of those new builds. And so if you want to think about it from an energy systems point of view, remember that's a segment that we valued at zero at the time of acquisition. For Westinghouse and AP1000s, we've since seen positive announcements in Poland, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Ukraine. And now there are markets where Westinghouse was not successful like the Czech Republic, Czechia, where Westinghouse will now participate. So it actually just grows the scope of the energy systems business. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:26:11It's very exciting, but ultimately there are some steps that we have to still go through with the agreement before we can say more. But when we can, we're going to be very excited. It's an agreement definitely to the mutual benefit of Westinghouse and the Koreans. Orest WowkodawManaging Director, Senior Research Analyst, Metals and Mining at Scotiobank00:26:28And just finally, how quickly could it impact Westinghouse performance? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:26:37The trigger, if you will, for impacting Westinghouse performance is when the announcement of a new build or a vendor selection in the new build gets to the point where a final investment decision is made by the country that's considering it. And as we've been talking about from the Poland example, once a reactor is chosen, you still go through a series of front end engineering and design work, to design the reactor, but to engineer the reactor in a novel location, that's all part of leading towards that final investment decision, which is usually which usually coincides with an EPC contract. So if you look at the markets where the Koreans have been successful in bidding their reactor offering, Czechia is a market that is well ahead, with respect to going down that process. It is a nuclear market. They're very familiar with operating, building nuclear reactors. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:27:42So really, the trigger becomes when a final investment decision is made and an EPC contract is signed. Now those are incredibly hard to predict and I'm not going to try to predict them, but that process let me just say is well underway in The Czech Republic. Orest WowkodawManaging Director, Senior Research Analyst, Metals and Mining at Scotiobank00:28:00Thank you. Thanks Grant. Thanks Tim. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:28:03Thanks Orest. Operator00:28:06The next question comes from Ralph Profiti with Stifel. Please go ahead. Ralph ProfitiManaging Director & Senior Equity Research Analyst at Stifel Financial Corp00:28:14Thanks operator and good morning everyone. Tim, I wanted to come back to your comments about fuel buyer procurement emphasis upstream versus downstream. And from your comments, it doesn't seem like we are in a phase of normal buying prioritization. Just wondering what the industry markers you're looking for that will mark more of a transition. How far are we away from that type of market? Ralph ProfitiManaging Director & Senior Equity Research Analyst at Stifel Financial Corp00:28:39And what are the indications that we can look to see that changing? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:28:45Ralph, thanks for the question. I think you also heard me say that between now and 02/1945, I think there's over GBP 3,000,000,000 un procured, GBP 3,200,000,000.0 and over 1,000,000,000 of those, not sure where they're coming from yet, what source is going to provide those. So we're not seeing the panic yet. You've heard Grant probably many, many times say fuel buyers start at the back end and they worry about their fuel bundles and then work backwards from there. Where's your enrichment coming from? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:29:17You've seen enormous pressure on the enrichment space in the last couple of years, especially since the Russian move into Ukraine conversion, same thing, enormous pressure. There is no reason why that's not going to come to the uranium space. It just hasn't got there yet. And so we're being patient. We were saying, I think to our Board yesterday that you can run, but you can't hide. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:29:42I mean, people need uranium to make this whole thing work. And so you can defer and wait and hope for better times, but they have to come to the market. We have not yet seen replacement rate contracting really in the last ten years. And so there's a deficit out there that's going to have to be filled. As Grant said in his comments, we're patient. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:30:03We make sure our production is patient, our marketing is patient. We have a very strong financial position that we're ready and we can wait it out, but it's coming, we're sure of that. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:30:14Tim, if I could, I'll jump in and Ralph, there's always a risk trying to call a turning point, but let me go ahead and try to do it anyway. At the recent WNFC Conference in Montreal, our Vice President of Global Marketing, Lisa Aiken was on a panel and she made a couple of observations that I think are really important. And if I can point you to a slide and point everybody to a slide, it's Slide six in Tim's comments or Slide 16 in the investor handout for Q1 of twenty twenty five. And what I what it feels like is starting to happen in the long term contracting market for uranium is the challenge that's depicted in that slide is really starting to impress upon fuel buyers. So if you look at the left hand panel, the shaded area is good. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:31:05Just think of that as if you see a shaded area, that's good. That's the wedge of uncovered requirements. That's the wedge of demand that Tim was referring to. It now goes out to 2,045 and it now equals 3,200,000,000 pounds of uranium that needs to be procured over the next twenty years. That's 70% of the requirements over the next twenty years that have not yet been bought. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:31:29And you look to the panel on the right hand side and you say, well, how worried should we be? You see after a decade of underinvestment due to low prices and a decade of harvesting inventories and secondary supplies, you see a primary supply stack that's falling over the same period. You see a secondary supply stack that's falling. You layer in some known proposed production, the kind of stuff that's been hyped for many, many years, well, let's assume it's going to come into the market, and even under the base case demand, you see that red wedge there of 1,300,000,000 pounds of uranium, we're not sure where it's coming from. And I would just echo the comments that Lisa made on the panel, until we see stronger demand in the market, until we see utilities calling for that, the investment simply won't be made to fill that red wedge. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:32:29That feels really good to an incumbent uranium producer who has yet to run at full capacity, who hasn't even got its Tier one assets at full capacity, let alone contemplating restarting our Tier 2s. This is why we're patient. This is why we're still in supply discipline because this is an incredibly strong setup. Ralph ProfitiManaging Director & Senior Equity Research Analyst at Stifel Financial Corp00:32:53Understood. Well said. Thanks very much. And if I could just ask a follow-up on your recent meetings in with the Kazakhs. And we've got some production visibility now for 2025 at Inkay. Ralph ProfitiManaging Director & Senior Equity Research Analyst at Stifel Financial Corp00:33:06Just wondering what your meetings over the last several weeks and months since the production shutdown have yielded in terms of commitment going forward, your feeling on being able to meet those long term production targets, your comfort around the long term viability of chemicals, Kazakhstan business? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:33:25Yes, Ralph, it's Tim. We have met with them several times here in Canada, PDAC and in other places, we've had teams go over, I'll be heading over there in a couple of weeks for the foreign investors council meeting with the President. I'd say things are back on track thereafter those twenty three days in January that we weren't sure what exactly was happening. They got the licensing back in place, restarted operations. We're targeting £8,300,000 now production for the year, 3.7 our share. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:33:58I think we've got just under a million pounds sitting there that will be coming over sometime this year as well. And so I'd say our relations are back on track. We obviously have a great respect for the Kazatomprom team, Mr. Yusupov who runs the places is a good leader and a good friend of ours. And so I'd say, mean, there's always the risk. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:34:20The acid risk hasn't gone away, supply chain risk hasn't gone away, but our relations with them have stabilized and we're on a good track. Ralph ProfitiManaging Director & Senior Equity Research Analyst at Stifel Financial Corp00:34:30And from a sulfuric acid availability and procurement, what does that outlook look like? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:34:37I'm going to ask Corey Koss, who's our Kazakh expert, the latest on sulfuric acid. Cory KosVice-President of Investor Relations at Cameco00:34:42Hey, Ralph. Yes, we haven't seen any indication that an agreement has been signed to actually go ahead and build a plant, but they've remained on that line that I think 2027 is when they expect to have the plant in place. But again, haven't seen construction start and haven't seen agreements signed. So no solution is in place yet. Ralph ProfitiManaging Director & Senior Equity Research Analyst at Stifel Financial Corp00:35:05Okay. Thanks. Important answers. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:35:09Thank you, Ralph. Thanks, Ralph. Operator00:35:13The next question comes from Alexander Pierce with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Alexander PierceEquity Research Analyst at BMO Capital Markets00:35:20Good morning all. I have a follow-up question on Inkai. So Tim, you mentioned that you weren't expecting to get deliveries until I think you said at least H2 this year. Is it fair to say that you think the deliveries are more likely to be weighted in the back end of the year, I. E. Alexander PierceEquity Research Analyst at BMO Capital Markets00:35:37Kind of Q4? And could you see a situation where actually there's any more delay to those deliveries? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:35:47Yes, I don't have any specific information. We know it's probably second half of the year is what we said. And so Alex, I really don't have any more specific timing on that yet. And as soon as we do, we'll let everybody know, but we're confident it will come in the second part of the year. Alexander PierceEquity Research Analyst at BMO Capital Markets00:36:04Okay. Thanks, Tim. And then maybe I can ask just a question on McArthur River. So can I just ask where you stand with some of the studies you're doing there for potential production upside? I know there's no mention of it in the MD and A this time. Alexander PierceEquity Research Analyst at BMO Capital Markets00:36:19Are you still looking at the potential upside with up towards the license capacity levels? Thanks. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:36:27Yes. Thanks, Alex. No decision to expand there. We're in supply discipline as Grant has said many, many times. We've said we're not moving until our contract book calls for it. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:36:40And so no decision to produce anything more than 18,000,000 pounds at the McArthur River Key Lake. I think Key Lake is down at the moment, we're on the shutdown, stood the mine down to the mill down to do our annual maintenance on it this month. So you'll see a little bit less production there, but no change, 18,000,000 at MacArthur. We continue to evaluate how to reduce risk and debottleneck the site. In the event that at some point we want to increase our production, we could go to 25,000,000 pounds, I think everyone knows that. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:37:20Those are the best 7,000,000 pounds extra pounds probably on the planet, but today no decision to make any moves on that. Alexander PierceEquity Research Analyst at BMO Capital Markets00:37:30Okay. Thanks, Tim. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:37:32Thank you. Operator00:37:37The next question comes from Lawson Winder with Bank of America. Please go ahead. Lawson WinderAnalyst at Bank of America00:37:45Thank you very much operator and good morning Tim and Grant. Thank you very much for the update today. There was an interesting comment in your MD and A, just noting that prices from fixed price contracts had increased. Could you provide any color in terms of the direction of travel relative to the current $80 per pound long term price indicator? And would you describe the situation as one where the balance sheet shifting more towards fixed price contracting? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:38:15Grant? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:38:17Yes. There's a lot to unpack in that question, Lawson. Let me just step back and talk about it from a market point of view. When you look at the interest in long term contracting, there would be some utilities that do have a preference for market related. There would be some utilities that have a strong preference for fixed. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:38:40And then that preference tends to shift with where you are in the cycle. For those utilities that are looking at our Slide six that shows there's GBP 1,300,000,000.0 of uranium, we don't know where it's coming from against the GBP 3,200,000,000.0 that needs to be bought. That's a pretty shocking, risk that's been transferred to fuel buyers. We will see an interest in trying to fix the price because that would be driven by a fuel buyer who understands prices probably have to go up and have to go up significantly in order to incent supply to come to the market. So market related because suppose we're in a market where they've agreed to fix the price but the price happens to be below, they just don't want to take that kind of risk. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:39:32You don't want to be taken out behind the woodshed for trying to call a price around volatility. So really it is specific to where you are in the cycle and then specific to the value at risk metrics of the utilities themselves. For Cameco, we said in Q4 and we'll continue to say today, we just remain disciplined in this kind of market. We want market related exposure that is a requirement for us if we're going to commit long term pounds. And we want market related exposure at floors and ceilings that reflect the structural gap ahead, not the softening of the spot market that we saw over the first quarter of this year. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:40:19We don't believe that that has anything to do with what the appropriate price is under a long term contract that starts delivery a couple of years out and then delivers into this window of the structural deficit. So we continue to be very disciplined and we want market related and we want market related at escalated floors and ceilings that work for us. And for those utilities that are aligned with the need to secure those pounds, we're still able to have productive conversations. For those utilities that want to drag those floors and ceilings down because of the current because of the spot softness that they saw in the first quarter, I would note we've seen some recent strengthening, the bid and ask is just too big for us to have a fruitful conversation. So we are again, I'm going to use the term turning point. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:41:06It feels like there is a growing awareness that it is time to start contracting. We're starting to see some momentum around some RFPs and momentum around on market RFPs is always joined with increased momentum off market directly on a bilateral basis. Lawson WinderAnalyst at Bank of America00:41:28All right. That's very helpful commentary. I think as a follow-up, would kind of like to get your sense of the transportation and logistics challenges that the industry might be facing today. And it was actually something that came up at WNFC quite a bit, and it hasn't been a focus at other more recent conferences. So things that were coming up were impact from leftover impacts from the pandemic and Panama Canal constraints, reshuffling of ocean alliances. Lawson WinderAnalyst at Bank of America00:41:59I mean, there was a lot and then there's the USTR Section three zero one. What are your concerns about potential transportation bottlenecks? Are you seeing any in your supply chains? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:42:14Lawson, yourself and others who have been dialing in and listening to us for a long time know that we had been warning about falling asleep on uranium for years. And we've been warning about it because we said, look, building new uranium supply is hard. It's not as easy as some will tell you in a feasibility study. Restarting assets that are already licensed and already permitted is hard, as you see from the efforts from some of the smaller producers to come back to the market. And we've always said this is a highly trade dependent commodity. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:42:51It is one where the vast majority of production occurs in nations the supplier greater than the risks to demand. So in our industry, we tend to have long lead times on the transportation requirements. So for example, when somebody wants delivery, there's a nonbinding notice that's sent over a year in advance of delivery beginning to signal that it's time to start putting in place the liquid and actual transportation commitments can be made. So unlike other commodities, we are not just in time for you stumbling around and looking for transport options. Having said that, it is still challenging, the tariff overhang, the uncertainty around who owns the Panama Canal, the transportation logistics of establishing new channels like we saw in Central Asia, these are all challenges for the industry that are now adding to that getting rather full bucket of risks to supply. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:44:22So I would watch the transportation piece. I wouldn't fall asleep on it. Cameco has never missed a delivery. We never will miss a delivery, but that doesn't mean others aren't going to struggle with the transportation challenges. Lawson WinderAnalyst at Bank of America00:44:37Thank you very much. Operator00:44:43The next question comes from Bob Brackett with Bernstein Research. Please go ahead. Bob BrackettHead - Research Division at Sanford C Bernstein & Co LLC00:44:49Good morning. I'm struck by last week's announcement of 10 new reactors from China, the $27,000,000,000 number that you alluded to. And in that context, how do you think of Westinghouse's relationship with China amidst the tariff and trade disputes we're having? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:45:08Well, Bob, thanks for the question. Obviously, we watch with great interest as well China, whether you deal with them or you don't, they are a mighty force in the nuclear space and 10 reactors a year been announced over the last four years in a row. You do the math on that, they'll be at 100 by 02/1930 and probably 200 by 02/1940. And then we start thinking about where the fuel on the Cameco side, where the fuel is going to come from to service those and all of the rest of the reactors around the world. So that's I mean, when we talk optimism and durable demand and a great future, China is a big part of it. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:45:51Westinghouse has a relationship with China. Obviously, the CAP1000s that they're building there now are of Westinghouse origin. And I know there's some enduring agreements between Westinghouse and China on each of those units to perform work on those. So I think the relationship is very strong and Cameco as well has a good relationship with China. Bob BrackettHead - Research Division at Sanford C Bernstein & Co LLC00:46:17And is there an opportunity there where China doing more business with Westinghouse helps balance out some of the trade balance and what would the timing of that look like? If the announcement of the reactors hits April 27, when do those turn into feed or when do those turn out into sort of capital commitments? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:46:37Yes, that's a good question. Your first question is the interesting one. It's really a geopolitical question is with really what we've been dealing with over the last number of months, the relations between China and Canada, China and The U. S, China and the rest of the world, Canada, U. S, we have a new Prime Minister and government as you know in Canada as of this week. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:46:59And so we'll see how that goes with at the political level between Canada and China. On a B2B business to business level, the relationship has been strong and enduring, and I'll just talk to Grant if he has anything to add. Yes, Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:47:15One of the common threads to all of the tariff discussion and trade disruption is we want a better deal. And what we've discovered after spending a lot of time in Washington, a deal on energy is a really compelling story. So anytime you have an opportunity for a U. S. Business to expand and project, U. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:47:46S. Energy strategy, it tends to be favorably well received. So we're delighted to see the CAP1000 become a really important part of China's new build. Westinghouse enjoys what Dan Littman and team call, Phase II of their relationship with the Chinese. There are instrumentation and control contracts. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:48:09There are fabrication contracts, which benefit The United States to be participant in that. And also, let's just remind ourselves that for everybody out there who says we don't know how to build gigawatt scale reactors, the Chinese are building essentially the AP1000 in sixty months at a cost of about $2,500,000,000 a reactor. So the world knows how to do this, and it's done by starting and not stopping, continuing that momentum, getting to the nth unit. So I think there's two really important messages. One, an energy deal is always well received, and number two, we see the benefits of a nation that starts to build and continues to build, and every country, the Western countries included, can certainly follow in those footsteps. Bob BrackettHead - Research Division at Sanford C Bernstein & Co LLC00:49:03Very clear. Thank you. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:49:05Thanks, Bob. Operator00:49:08The next question comes from Gordon Johnson with GLJ Research. Please go ahead. Gordon JohnsonFounder & CEO at GLJ Research00:49:15Hey, gentlemen. Thanks for taking the I have a, I guess, a more general question. I have a lot of clients asking this. Can you guys talk about the extent to which your projected demand on your output is affecting your current investment in new exploration? And I ask because given the global slowdown in exploration we've seen over the past two years after Fukushima, You guys laid off a bunch of people, a number of people laid off. Gordon JohnsonFounder & CEO at GLJ Research00:49:40It seems like there's a big gap in the cycle. I'm just trying to figure out how you guys are planning for that. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:49:47Yes. Thanks, Gordon. So obviously exploration very important to our strategy. We just put a new Vice President in place, Alexander Oban is our new VP of Exploration. We continue our efforts. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:50:00We've as we've said many times in the past, we've held on to through those lean years, all of the we think are the best properties in the Athabasca Basin. We continue to work them. We've been growing our exploration budget over the last few years. So yes, absolutely exploration continues to be a very, very important part of our business. We don't stand up and brag too much about it. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:50:25It's just something that we do. We try not to blow too hard on it. It's but we do have some very good projects. So if you look at our Operator test, it's Tim Gitzel. Can you hear us? Gordon JohnsonFounder & CEO at GLJ Research00:51:28I can hear you guys now. You guys cut out a bit. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:51:31Okay. Sorry about that. Hopefully, you got the answer. Bottom line exploration remain. Operator00:51:54It seems we've lost connection with our One moment while we reconnect. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:52:01Yes, it's Tim Gitzel. I'll just keep speaking to see if people can can hear me. It's Tim Gitzel. Grant, do you want to try your mic? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:52:10Yes. Operator, can you hear us? Operator00:52:13Yes, you are coming in loud and clear now. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:52:16Okay. Thank you. I'm not sure what happened. Thank you. Maybe we can Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:52:19move on to the next question. Operator00:52:25The next question comes from Craig Hutchinson with T. B. Cowen. Please go ahead. Craig HutchisonAnalyst at TD Cowen00:52:31Hi, good morning guys. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:52:34Good morning. Craig HutchisonAnalyst at TD Cowen00:52:35Good good morning, Tim. I wanted to ask a question on the fuel services business. You realized very strong pricing in the quarter, up year over year, quarter over quarter. Craig HutchisonAnalyst at TD Cowen00:52:45And as I mentioned about mainly results of contracts were entered into an improved pricing environment. Could you just provide some context? Was that a function of the mix of the products you were selling? And is there potential upside here to your guidance just given the strong environment for some of those services? Thanks. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:53:05I'm going to ask Heidi Schocke to provide some comments. Heidi ShockeySenior VP & Deputy CFO at Cameco00:53:09Yes. Hi, there. It was a bit a couple of things going on really. You're seeing the rolling on of new contracts. So just as you know, we layer in contracts over time, so slowly you see older contracts rolling off and improvement in our prices and just in this quarter in particular, we had just the timing of one particular contract that had a higher price, less so on the mix of products, but just really the mix of contracts in this particular quarter. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:53:43As we look ahead, Craig, it's always important to remember that our strategy is about contracting forward. Again, if I refer to that Slide six that was in Tim's comments or 16 in the handout, you remember that that spot sliver is no different for conversion than it is for uranium, and that is there is no utility on the planet that's loading a fuel bundle in 2025 that needs to buy the uranium in conversion in 2025. So we're always selling forward. And why do I say that? Well, to your question about what to expect, the historic pricing that's come through the conversion business it is not yet being realized by us. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:54:21So all of that is in front of us from a pricing point of view. So you're beginning to see the early days of strong performance as a result of that much stronger pricing and conversion, but certainly more to come. That's how we build our strategy, and you're seeing it being executed, it just yet is another reason we're delighted with our position in the nuclear fuel cycle. Craig HutchisonAnalyst at TD Cowen00:54:44Great. Thanks. And maybe just a quick follow-up question for me. In the past, you guys have given great color on floors and ceilings. Can you just kind of give some color on where those sit right now in terms of your discussions? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:54:55Yes. Happy to do that. We continue to be very stubborn, Craig. You heard me say in Q4 that there is a bit of connective tissue between the spot market and the long term market with respect to market related contracts. Remember, those are the contracts for which we're not trying to price them today. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:55:18We're pricing them at time of delivery out into the future, but many are We tend to orient that conversation around operator, do we still have you? Are you still there? Gordon JohnsonFounder & CEO at GLJ Research00:55:46Yes, I'm still there. You're kind of coming in and out on my line. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:55:52I'm not sure what's going on. The floors and ceilings, we orient around where the structural demand and supply is in the market on a forward basis. But no doubt when you have primary producers bringing small volumes of production to spot market and putting downward pressure on it or when you have a fund like a fund out of Central Asia that was being dissolved rather clumsily, it puts down to where we should be with respect to floors and ceilings in contracts out into the future. So we're still holding out for floors that are in the $70 escalated. Operator00:57:22It appears we've lost connection with our speakers. Please wait while we reconnect. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:57:33Ceilings tend to come rather than try to chase it, and we're liking the setup. Operator00:57:45The next question comes from Andrew Wong with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:57:52Hey, good morning. Andrew WongEquity Research Analyst at RBC Capital Markets00:57:54So aside from China, India is the other country with pretty ambitious nuclear energy plans. And obviously, it's taking a little bit of time to get it going, but it seems like they've taken some actions to speed that up recently. Can you just talk about that nuclear growth opportunity in India and the potential there for Cameco Westinghouse specifically? I recall a few years ago, there was a potential AP1000 project that was shelved because of liability issues, but it seems like those issues might be getting addressed. So maybe just talk about that. Thanks. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:58:28Yes. Thanks, Andrew. You're cutting a note on us. I think the question was on India and some of the recent announcements. It is a big stretch, very ambitious. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:58:51We have good relations with India. We've been supplying them since 2015 on the Cameco side. And so we continue to talk to them and hopefully the Canada India relationship will at the political level will improve going forward. But then again, that's not stopped us at the business to business level. So from the Cameco point of view, we have a great relationship with India and we'll be a big player in supplying their fuel needs going forward. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:59:20Westinghouse, same, I know they have teams over there working with the Indians talking about future growth there. And so I don't have any specifics yet. There was a site put aside for Westinghouse units. I think it still exists. So nothing really to report Andrew on that at this point, but yes, we're still working and India is going to play a big role in the future in the world and in the nuclear market. Andrew WongEquity Research Analyst at RBC Capital Markets00:59:49Thank you. Maybe just another question. In your conversations with utility customers, you have a lot of those. How much does the inventory that's held by the physical funds come up in the conversation? And just curious from your perspective, is there still do you among the utilities that those pounds may be available in the future at some point? Andrew WongEquity Research Analyst at RBC Capital Markets01:00:12Or is there a better understanding that those pounds mostly aren't going to be available? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco01:00:17Brent? Hi, Andrew. It's a bit mixed. You would have picked up some of that messaging in Montreal while you were there as well. I think we're in one of those markets where folks are looking at that structural deficit and then they're clinging to hope of something. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco01:00:36And one of that areas of hope is, well, maybe if you can get your hands on uranium that's already in a can and already in North America, that's my hope that's going to bail me out from the fact that I haven't been contracting. So we've seen a lot of what I might call noise around the spot vehicle, for example, or we've seen a lot of noise around the yellow cake vehicle. And I would just say that it seems like it's noise. Haven't heard anything from either of those two that suggests they're not in it for the long run. But more importantly, those are almost irrelevant volumes now in the face of the structural deficit. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco01:01:18I mean, couldn't even begin to plug a one year gap just a few years out. So yes, there are some who point to it and say, well, this material must come to the market at some point. I'll tell you, we worry about it less and less and less every day. Andrew WongEquity Research Analyst at RBC Capital Markets01:01:35That's great. Thank you. Operator01:01:41This concludes the question and answer session. Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to apologize for the clarity of the audio. I would like to turn the conference back over to Tim Gitzel for any closing remarks. I'd like to hand the call back over to Tim Gitzel for any closing remarks. This brings to an end today's conference call. Operator01:03:59You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesCory KosVice-President of Investor RelationsTim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive OfficerGrant IsaacExecutive VP & CFOHeidi ShockeySenior VP & Deputy CFOAnalystsOrest WowkodawManaging Director, Senior Research Analyst, Metals and Mining at ScotiobankRalph ProfitiManaging Director & Senior Equity Research Analyst at Stifel Financial CorpAlexander PierceEquity Research Analyst at BMO Capital MarketsLawson WinderAnalyst at Bank of AmericaBob BrackettHead - Research Division at Sanford C Bernstein & Co LLCGordon JohnsonFounder & CEO at GLJ ResearchCraig HutchisonAnalyst at TD CowenAndrew WongEquity Research Analyst at RBC Capital MarketsPowered by Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(6-K) Cameco Earnings HeadlinesCameco: Investors Are Getting Ahead Of ThemselvesAugust 6 at 6:39 AM | seekingalpha.comCameco (NYSE:CCJ) Trading 1.2% Higher on Analyst UpgradeAugust 6 at 2:13 AM | americanbankingnews.comElon’s BIGGEST warning yet?Tesla's About to Prove Everyone Wrong... Again Back in 2018, when Jeff Brown told everyone to buy Tesla… The "experts" said Elon was finished and Tesla was headed for bankruptcy. Now they're saying the same thing, but Jeff has uncovered Tesla's next breakthrough.August 8 at 2:00 AM | Brownstone Research (Ad)Cameco price target raised to C$117 from C$115 at TD SecuritiesAugust 5 at 6:44 PM | msn.comWhat to Watch With Cameco (CCJ) Before InvestingAugust 5 at 6:44 PM | msn.comThe Bull Market In Cameco ContinuesAugust 5 at 2:16 PM | seekingalpha.comSee More Cameco Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Cameco? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Cameco and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About CamecoCameco (NYSE:CCJ) provides uranium for the generation of electricity. It operates through Uranium, Fuel Services, Westinghouse segments. The Uranium segment is involved in the exploration for, mining, and milling, purchase, and sale of uranium concentrate. The Fuel Services segment engages in the refining, conversion, and fabrication of uranium concentrate, as well as the purchase and sale of conversion services. This segment also produces CANDU reactor fuel bundles and other reactor components. The company offers nuclear fuel processing services. The Westinghouse segment engages in the manufacture of nuclear reactor technology original equipment. This segment provides products and services to commercial utilities and government agencies; and outage and maintenance services, engineering support, instrumentation and controls equipment, plant modification, and components and parts to nuclear reactors. It sells its uranium and fuel services to nuclear utilities in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Cameco Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Saskatoon, Canada.View Cameco ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles Dutch Bros Just Flipped the Script With a Massive Earnings BeatIs Eli Lilly’s 14% Post-Earnings Slide a Buy-the-Dip Opportunity?Constellation Energy’s Earnings Beat Signals a New EraRealty Income Rallies Post-Earnings Miss—Here’s What Drove ItDon't Mix the Signal for Noise in Super Micro Computer's EarningsWhy Monolithic Power's Earnings and Guidance Ignited a RallyRivian Takes Earnings Hit—R2 Could Be the Stock's 2026 Lifeline Upcoming Earnings SEA (8/12/2025)Cisco Systems (8/13/2025)Alibaba Group (8/13/2025)Applied Materials (8/14/2025)NetEase (8/14/2025)Deere & Company (8/14/2025)NU (8/14/2025)Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (8/14/2025)Palo Alto Networks (8/18/2025)Home Depot (8/19/2025) Get 30 Days of MarketBeat All Access for Free Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools. 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PresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Cameco Corporation First Quarter twenty twenty five Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. Following the introductory remarks, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Operator00:00:34Webcast participants are asked to wait until the Q and A session before submitting their questions as the information they are looking for may be provided during the presentation. The Q and A session will conclude at 9AM Eastern Time. I would now like to turn the conference over to Cory Koss, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Cory KosVice-President of Investor Relations at Cameco00:00:58Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Cameco's first quarter conference call. I would like to acknowledge that we are speaking from our corporate office, is on Treaty 6 territory, the traditional territory of the Cree people and the homeland of the Metis. With us today are Tim Gitzel, President and CEO Grant Isaac, Executive VP and CFO Heidi Schachke, Senior VP and Deputy CFO and Rochelle Girard, Senior VP and Chief Corporate Officer. I will hand it over to Tim momentarily to briefly discuss the continued positive momentum across the nuclear energy market and our strong Q1 performance alongside a solid financial position. Cory KosVice-President of Investor Relations at Cameco00:01:37After, we will open it up to your questions. Today's call will be approximately one hour concluding at 9AM Eastern Time. As always, our goal is to be open and transparent with our communication. However, we do want to respect everyone's time and conclude the call on time. Therefore, should we not get to your questions during this call, or if you would like to get into detailed financial modeling questions about our quarterly results, we would be happy to respond to any follow-up inquiries. Cory KosVice-President of Investor Relations at Cameco00:02:03There are a few ways to contact us with additional questions. You can reach out to the contacts provided in our news release. You can submit a question through the send us a message link in the invest section of our website, or you can use the ask a question form at the bottom of the webcast screen and we'll be happy to follow-up after this call. If you join the conference call through our website event page, there are slides available, which will be displayed during the call. In addition, for your reference, our quarterly investor handout is available for download in a PDF on our website at cameco.com. Cory KosVice-President of Investor Relations at Cameco00:02:36Today's conference call is open to all members of the investment community, including the media. During the Q and A session, please limit yourself to two questions and then return to the queue. Note that this conference call will include forward looking information, which is based on a number of assumptions and actual results could differ materially. You should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from these forward looking statements and we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward looking statements we make today except as required by law. Cory KosVice-President of Investor Relations at Cameco00:03:07As required by securities laws, we also have to make you aware that during today's discussion, the company will make a number of references to non IFRS and other financial measures. Cameco believes these measures provide investors with useful perspective on underlying business trends and a full reconciliation of non IFRS financial measures is available at cameco.com/invest. Please refer to our most recent annual information form and MD and A for more information about the factors that could cause different results and the assumptions we have made. I will now turn it over to our President and CEO, Tim Gitzel. Tim? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:03:41Well, thank you, Corey, and hello everyone. We appreciate you joining us on our call today. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying spring or autumn depending on where you're listening from. Here in Canada, the snow is gone, it's spring and we just wrapped up a federal election earlier this week. I'd like to personally congratulate Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberal Party. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:04:04We're excited to begin working with the newly elected Canadian government and look forward to Prime Minister Carney's strong leadership in navigating the current uncertain environment of global tariffs, evolving fiscal policy and complex geopolitics. Our hope is that we can work together to advance the development of the nuclear fuel cycle and expand the use of nuclear energy in Canada and abroad. As a country, Canada is blessed with a rich uranium resource base that makes this country a key player in the global nuclear fuel supply chain. But like Cameco, when it comes to nuclear energy, Canada is much more than just mining. Beyond our resources, we have a long deep history in the nuclear sector. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:04:54So when combined with our advanced technology and generational nuclear expertise, a supportive and collaborative government will be key in helping put Canada on the map as a nuclear industry leader in support of global energy, national and climate security objectives. As we get started, I first want to encourage stakeholders to focus on our long term want strategy and the long term industry outlook discussions in our disclosure beyond the near term geopolitical and trade policy distractions. That said, there is no doubt that those distractions have created new and unexpected risks that must be carefully monitored and diligently managed. It is extremely difficult to operate the world's nuclear fleet if the movement of uranium fuel is restricted because those who need it most tend to have the least. At the outset of the quarter in January, the U. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:05:50S. Threatened to impose a 10% tariff on Canadian energy products. But amid the flurry of tariff changes, retaliatory tariffs and ongoing negotiations, energy products that are compliant with the Canada, United States, Mexico free trade agreement are currently exempt. That means for the time being there are no tariffs on our natural uranium, UF6 and enriched uranium products preserving the flow of nuclear fuel imports into The U. S. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:06:21Market. But regardless of the current exemption, we know that a lot can change overnight. For example, in April, the U. S. Launched a new Section two thirty two investigation to address the risks of reliance on foreign sources of processed critical minerals. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:06:39Notably, the executive order outlined uranium in the definition of critical minerals, directing agencies to assess the national security risks stemming from U. S. Dependence on foreign imports. We went through a similar Section two thirty two investigation covering steel, aluminum and uranium under the previous Trump administration and at that time uranium was spared. However, we take nothing for granted that was a different time in a different trade environment. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:07:10Following that first investigation in 2019, we proactively took steps to minimize potential future impacts such as adjusting and clarifying our contract terms and positioning material well ahead of expected deliveries. Those preemptive actions helped us prepare for the more recent threat of tariffs on Canadian nuclear fuel products and we will continue to adapt accordingly and mitigate such risks in the future. I'm sure there will be more to come this year as negotiations continue and policy evolve, but two things are certain. There's no substitute for uranium in a nuclear fuel bundle and there's no elasticity to the demand for nuclear fuel. You need it to run your reactors and power your economy regardless of tariffs or higher costs. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:08:02Looking at the future picture for nuclear beyond the near term noise, it continues to be more positive than we've ever seen. You've heard us consistently express a positive long term demand outlook quarter after quarter for a few years now. So I won't spend much time reiterating the strong industry tailwinds. I would say it's now a regular occurrence to see news and announcements of significant positive industry developments with nations reaffirming commitments to nuclear, extending reactor lives and saving those that were to be shuttered and planning new reactors. We've recently seen the World Bank announced plans to lift its decades old ban on funding nuclear projects. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:08:49And we've had more announcements of reactor operating licenses being extended in The U. S. Pushing some reactor lives to eighty years. This week, 10 new builds were approved in China, marking the fourth consecutive year that China has approved at least 10 new reactors. Just yesterday, Poland signed an agreement with Westinghouse, Bechtel and Polish utility PJ launching the next phase of preparatory and engineering work for its three unit AP1000 project, the first commercial nuclear plant in the country. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:09:26Those are just a few of the headlines that support our unwavering view that full cycle demand is durable and stronger than ever. The world remains focused on energy security, national security, climate security and sustainability all in the context of growing clean energy demand. But as we keep emphasizing the risk to supply are far greater than the risks to demand. Despite the long term uranium price remaining near its highest level in over a decade, the industry is still not seeing the level of long term utility contracting necessary to support both brownfield expansion plans and the significant investment in new projects that will be required to meet growing future demand. And to meet the total fuel requirements of the world reactors between now and 02/1945, the world's utilities still have a lot of uranium to buy. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:10:25In fact, percent of their needs through 02/1945 remain uncovered. That's about GBP three point two billion that remains to be contracted and for roughly one third or about GBP 1,300,000,000.0, the source of annual primary production is not yet known. With each passing quarter that long term contracting remains below replacement rate, the uncovered requirements line continues to steepen. Long term contracts must be in place to support mining economics and underpin ongoing investments in supply. But with the continued uncertainty driven by global trade policies and unclear market access, fuel buyers have remained focused on adapting procurement plans under the threat of tariffs and securing downstream conversion and enrichment services before buying the natural uranium. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:11:21Looking ahead, we believe a move upstream to focus on security of uranium supply is inevitable and unavoidable. Shifting to briefly highlight Cameco's first quarter. As always, normal quarterly variability in customer deliveries impacted our results. However, under our strategy, which remains consistent and centered on operational, marketing and financial discipline, we delivered strong results. We saw notable improvements across all key financial metrics with revenue up 24%, gross profit up 44%, adjusted net earnings up 52% and adjusted EBITDA up 5%. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:12:05And with our first quarter average realized price increasing year over year at a time when the average uranium spot price fell 30%, it remains clear that value creation in our industry requires a long term contracting strategy and we are clearly well positioned. As expected, our Westinghouse segment reported a net loss in the first quarter of twenty twenty five due to the normal quarterly variations in customer requirements and the ongoing amortization of the intangible assets related to the acquisition. We continue to expect an annual net loss of US20 million dollars to US70 million dollars for Westinghouse in 2025. We focus on adjusted EBITDA as a key performance measure for Westinghouse as it adjusts for non operational or non cash items like amortization costs. In the first quarter of this year, we saw a 19% improvement in Westinghouse's adjusted EBITDA compared to the first quarter of last year. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:13:09Beyond Q1, Westinghouse's first half results are expected to be weaker with stronger performance and higher cash flows expected in the fourth quarter. For the year, our share of adjusted EBITDA is still expected to be between $355,000,000 and $4.00 $5,000,000 And needless to say, with all of the growth opportunities that have materialized post acquisition, we continue to be pleased with the performance and excited about the potential of our investment. Our operational performance across all segments continues to improve and our outlook for the year remains strong and consistent with our expectations. In our uranium segment, our share of production from our two Northern Saskatchewan operations was 6,000,000 pounds in the first quarter of twenty twenty five, slightly higher than the 5,800,000 pounds in Q1 last year. We continue to expect 18,000,000 pounds of production on a 100% basis at each of our McArthur River Key Lake and our Cigar Lake operations. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:14:15We also continue to evaluate the optimal mix of production, inventory and purchases to retain the flexibility to deliver long term value. The first source of supply is our Tier one primary production, which always has a home under a long term contract before it is pulled out of the ground. Next source is our purchase material and our inventory, including our share of production purchased from JV Inkai. Following the unexpected suspension of production for most of January, JV Inkai updated its plans to adjust for the suspension and is targeting 8,300,000 pounds of uranium for 2025, of which our purchase allocation is 3,700,000 pounds The team is still working on a delivery schedule based on the new production plan, but we do not expect to receive any deliveries from JV Inkay until at least the second half of twenty twenty five. And with ongoing acid and other supply chain challenges, the updated 2025 production target is certainly not without risk. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:15:25In the fuel services segment, production also started the year strong, up 5% over the first quarter of last year. Our annual production expectation for fuel services remains between 27,000,000 kgu of combined products for the year. In the uranium market, long term contracting activity is expected to continue to gain momentum. The long term price increased from US68 dollars per pound in January 2024, holding now around US80 dollars per pound for several quarters. Our marketing team continues to be very busy with a large and growing pipeline of business under discussion that is expected to further grow our long term portfolio. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:16:10As contracting picks up, we continue to be selective in committing our uranium inventory and UF6 conversion capacity in order to maintain a contract book that preserves exposure to the rising prices while maintaining downside protection. Maintaining financial balance and balanced liquidity to execute on our strategy remains a priority. Our balance sheet is strong and we continue to expect strong cash flow generation in 2025. Thanks to our risk managed financial discipline and strong cash position in January 2025, we made the final repayment of US200 million dollars to fully repay the US600 million dollars term loan we used to finance the acquisition of Westinghouse. As previously disclosed, we received our first cash distribution from Westinghouse, our share being US49 million dollars of the US100 million dollars distribution paid in February. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:17:13And in April, following the end of the first quarter, we received a cash dividend of US87 million dollars net of withholdings from JV Inkai based on its 2024 financial performance. So from a financial perspective, we continue to be in excellent shape. We've remained diligent in managing the capital resources and tools required to deliver on our strategy, maintaining a strong balance sheet guided by our investment grade rating. Amid the intensifying geopolitical challenges and complex international trade relationships, it's more important than ever to procure nuclear fuel from responsible, reliable, experienced and sustainable suppliers like Cameco, fuel that supports a future energy supply that is secure, reliable and carbon free. We believe Cameco's premier Tier one fuel cycle assets complemented by our investments across the reactor life cycle puts us in a unique position to power a secure energy future. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:18:19So I thank everyone on the line and on the webcast for your interest today and we will now take your questions. Operator00:18:33We will now begin the question and answer session. In the interest of time, we ask that you limit your questions to Webcast participants are welcome to submit questions through the box at the bottom of the webcast frame. The Cameco Investor Relations team will follow-up with you by email after the call. The first question today comes from Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank. Please go ahead. Orest WowkodawManaging Director, Senior Research Analyst, Metals and Mining at Scotiobank00:19:40Hi, good morning. Obviously, the balance sheet is in great shape here with paying down the remaining term loan debt on the Westinghouse acquisition. I'm just wondering, given the forecast or the outlook moving forward in terms of solid free cash flow and no real material uses of cash that we're aware of, can you really talk about what the priorities are for capital allocation moving forward here? And I'm wondering whether increasing capital returns returns to shareholders either be dividends or could we see a buyback coming from Chemical? It really seems like you're in a strong financial position moving forward. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:20:20Orest, thanks for the question. We've got the CFO and Deputy CFO here. So Grant, why don't you start? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:20:26Yes, happy to do that and maybe a bit of a tag team if necessary. Orest, thanks, and thanks to everybody for joining. We're always excited to talk about Cameco and its really critical role in this nuclear fuel cycle and reactor cycle. There is no doubt that our strategy is playing out. We've simply delivered on what we said we would deliver on. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:20:47And you're seeing that in the financial results and you're seeing that in the outlook. But I would remind folks that we remain in supply discipline as Cameco for a very specific reason and that is we have yet to see the uranium segment hit replacement rate or above replacement rate contracting. So while in supply discipline, that always reminds us that we must remain financially conservative because you have to design a strategy that's got the right mining plan, the right milling plan, the right marketing plan and it has to be backed up by a balance sheet that allows you the patience. The patience that utilities can show has to be matched on the supply side. So with that backdrop, we remain very conservative in our focus. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:21:36We are seeing strong cash flow, strong earnings build. But while we're in supply discipline, we always want to make sure we can self manage the risk of, say, a prolonged delay in the contracting cycle so that there are no awkward lurches to the capital markets because we mistimed it, for example. That would be an inappropriate thing for us to do. As we look ahead, what are the things that we might spend capital on? Well, no doubt that our position in a recovering nuclear fuel cycle is an important one. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:22:09We have opportunities through our Cameco asset base on the uranium side. We have opportunities on the conversion side, obviously opportunities in enrichment. And then, of course, through Westinghouse, we have opportunities for further investments. But we have to be very careful with making those decisions because there is some uncertainty that we're trying to navigate. I would just point to, for example, making sure we have clarity and certainty over the role of Russia forward in the nuclear fuel cycle because we've all seen what's happened in the past. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:22:43So we have not abandoned our conservative financial discipline yet. As we go forward, we will look for appropriate risk adjusted growth opportunities. After that, we would then be looking at maybe it's appropriate to return capital to our owners, maybe that's appropriate through enhancing our dividend growth strategy, which we have out there right now. Maybe it's appropriate through shrinking the outstanding denominator of our shares through a share buyback. But I would just say that the strategy is paying off, but it's paying off in a market that hasn't yet fully come with its demand. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:23:23We remain in supply discipline and that's what's driving our conservatism. We will obviously keep this group up to date on any plans on capital allocation, but I just wanted to provide that strategic backdrop. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:23:36And Orest, it's certainly something our board has at the top of their agenda every meeting as well. So we're looking at it closely. Orest WowkodawManaging Director, Senior Research Analyst, Metals and Mining at Scotiobank00:23:43Thank you. And as a follow-up, if I could, can you speak to what the implications are for Westinghouse with respect to the recent IP legal settlement with Korea? And what could that mean to that five year outlook for Westinghouse if there are material builds outside of Korea that is done by that organization? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:24:06Yes. Thank you, Orest. At the time of acquiring Westinghouse, there was an outstanding intellectual property dispute between the Koreans and between Westinghouse over the use of what is essentially Westinghouse technology in the Korean reactors. There was a very important government to government agreement that was signed between The U. S. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:24:28And the Korean government. And following that was a commercial agreement between Westinghouse and the Koreans. There's a confidentiality agreement wrapped around that for the moment, but let me just step back and say what it effectively means. It means that Westinghouse and the Koreans have gone from potentially being competitors in markets for gigawatt scale new build to be important collaborators, reflecting in fact what is the shared contribution each makes to a new build program. And so as markets where Westinghouse may not have been competitive, for example, where utilities or states were looking for a fixed price turnkey solution, which of course everybody knows, you've heard us say Westinghouse is not in the market offering fixed price on a turnkey reactor, those were markets that the Koreans were very competitive in. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:25:32But now instead of being excluded from those markets, Westinghouse has an opportunity to participate in the scope of those new builds. And so if you want to think about it from an energy systems point of view, remember that's a segment that we valued at zero at the time of acquisition. For Westinghouse and AP1000s, we've since seen positive announcements in Poland, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Ukraine. And now there are markets where Westinghouse was not successful like the Czech Republic, Czechia, where Westinghouse will now participate. So it actually just grows the scope of the energy systems business. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:26:11It's very exciting, but ultimately there are some steps that we have to still go through with the agreement before we can say more. But when we can, we're going to be very excited. It's an agreement definitely to the mutual benefit of Westinghouse and the Koreans. Orest WowkodawManaging Director, Senior Research Analyst, Metals and Mining at Scotiobank00:26:28And just finally, how quickly could it impact Westinghouse performance? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:26:37The trigger, if you will, for impacting Westinghouse performance is when the announcement of a new build or a vendor selection in the new build gets to the point where a final investment decision is made by the country that's considering it. And as we've been talking about from the Poland example, once a reactor is chosen, you still go through a series of front end engineering and design work, to design the reactor, but to engineer the reactor in a novel location, that's all part of leading towards that final investment decision, which is usually which usually coincides with an EPC contract. So if you look at the markets where the Koreans have been successful in bidding their reactor offering, Czechia is a market that is well ahead, with respect to going down that process. It is a nuclear market. They're very familiar with operating, building nuclear reactors. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:27:42So really, the trigger becomes when a final investment decision is made and an EPC contract is signed. Now those are incredibly hard to predict and I'm not going to try to predict them, but that process let me just say is well underway in The Czech Republic. Orest WowkodawManaging Director, Senior Research Analyst, Metals and Mining at Scotiobank00:28:00Thank you. Thanks Grant. Thanks Tim. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:28:03Thanks Orest. Operator00:28:06The next question comes from Ralph Profiti with Stifel. Please go ahead. Ralph ProfitiManaging Director & Senior Equity Research Analyst at Stifel Financial Corp00:28:14Thanks operator and good morning everyone. Tim, I wanted to come back to your comments about fuel buyer procurement emphasis upstream versus downstream. And from your comments, it doesn't seem like we are in a phase of normal buying prioritization. Just wondering what the industry markers you're looking for that will mark more of a transition. How far are we away from that type of market? Ralph ProfitiManaging Director & Senior Equity Research Analyst at Stifel Financial Corp00:28:39And what are the indications that we can look to see that changing? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:28:45Ralph, thanks for the question. I think you also heard me say that between now and 02/1945, I think there's over GBP 3,000,000,000 un procured, GBP 3,200,000,000.0 and over 1,000,000,000 of those, not sure where they're coming from yet, what source is going to provide those. So we're not seeing the panic yet. You've heard Grant probably many, many times say fuel buyers start at the back end and they worry about their fuel bundles and then work backwards from there. Where's your enrichment coming from? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:29:17You've seen enormous pressure on the enrichment space in the last couple of years, especially since the Russian move into Ukraine conversion, same thing, enormous pressure. There is no reason why that's not going to come to the uranium space. It just hasn't got there yet. And so we're being patient. We were saying, I think to our Board yesterday that you can run, but you can't hide. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:29:42I mean, people need uranium to make this whole thing work. And so you can defer and wait and hope for better times, but they have to come to the market. We have not yet seen replacement rate contracting really in the last ten years. And so there's a deficit out there that's going to have to be filled. As Grant said in his comments, we're patient. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:30:03We make sure our production is patient, our marketing is patient. We have a very strong financial position that we're ready and we can wait it out, but it's coming, we're sure of that. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:30:14Tim, if I could, I'll jump in and Ralph, there's always a risk trying to call a turning point, but let me go ahead and try to do it anyway. At the recent WNFC Conference in Montreal, our Vice President of Global Marketing, Lisa Aiken was on a panel and she made a couple of observations that I think are really important. And if I can point you to a slide and point everybody to a slide, it's Slide six in Tim's comments or Slide 16 in the investor handout for Q1 of twenty twenty five. And what I what it feels like is starting to happen in the long term contracting market for uranium is the challenge that's depicted in that slide is really starting to impress upon fuel buyers. So if you look at the left hand panel, the shaded area is good. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:31:05Just think of that as if you see a shaded area, that's good. That's the wedge of uncovered requirements. That's the wedge of demand that Tim was referring to. It now goes out to 2,045 and it now equals 3,200,000,000 pounds of uranium that needs to be procured over the next twenty years. That's 70% of the requirements over the next twenty years that have not yet been bought. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:31:29And you look to the panel on the right hand side and you say, well, how worried should we be? You see after a decade of underinvestment due to low prices and a decade of harvesting inventories and secondary supplies, you see a primary supply stack that's falling over the same period. You see a secondary supply stack that's falling. You layer in some known proposed production, the kind of stuff that's been hyped for many, many years, well, let's assume it's going to come into the market, and even under the base case demand, you see that red wedge there of 1,300,000,000 pounds of uranium, we're not sure where it's coming from. And I would just echo the comments that Lisa made on the panel, until we see stronger demand in the market, until we see utilities calling for that, the investment simply won't be made to fill that red wedge. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:32:29That feels really good to an incumbent uranium producer who has yet to run at full capacity, who hasn't even got its Tier one assets at full capacity, let alone contemplating restarting our Tier 2s. This is why we're patient. This is why we're still in supply discipline because this is an incredibly strong setup. Ralph ProfitiManaging Director & Senior Equity Research Analyst at Stifel Financial Corp00:32:53Understood. Well said. Thanks very much. And if I could just ask a follow-up on your recent meetings in with the Kazakhs. And we've got some production visibility now for 2025 at Inkay. Ralph ProfitiManaging Director & Senior Equity Research Analyst at Stifel Financial Corp00:33:06Just wondering what your meetings over the last several weeks and months since the production shutdown have yielded in terms of commitment going forward, your feeling on being able to meet those long term production targets, your comfort around the long term viability of chemicals, Kazakhstan business? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:33:25Yes, Ralph, it's Tim. We have met with them several times here in Canada, PDAC and in other places, we've had teams go over, I'll be heading over there in a couple of weeks for the foreign investors council meeting with the President. I'd say things are back on track thereafter those twenty three days in January that we weren't sure what exactly was happening. They got the licensing back in place, restarted operations. We're targeting £8,300,000 now production for the year, 3.7 our share. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:33:58I think we've got just under a million pounds sitting there that will be coming over sometime this year as well. And so I'd say our relations are back on track. We obviously have a great respect for the Kazatomprom team, Mr. Yusupov who runs the places is a good leader and a good friend of ours. And so I'd say, mean, there's always the risk. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:34:20The acid risk hasn't gone away, supply chain risk hasn't gone away, but our relations with them have stabilized and we're on a good track. Ralph ProfitiManaging Director & Senior Equity Research Analyst at Stifel Financial Corp00:34:30And from a sulfuric acid availability and procurement, what does that outlook look like? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:34:37I'm going to ask Corey Koss, who's our Kazakh expert, the latest on sulfuric acid. Cory KosVice-President of Investor Relations at Cameco00:34:42Hey, Ralph. Yes, we haven't seen any indication that an agreement has been signed to actually go ahead and build a plant, but they've remained on that line that I think 2027 is when they expect to have the plant in place. But again, haven't seen construction start and haven't seen agreements signed. So no solution is in place yet. Ralph ProfitiManaging Director & Senior Equity Research Analyst at Stifel Financial Corp00:35:05Okay. Thanks. Important answers. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:35:09Thank you, Ralph. Thanks, Ralph. Operator00:35:13The next question comes from Alexander Pierce with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Alexander PierceEquity Research Analyst at BMO Capital Markets00:35:20Good morning all. I have a follow-up question on Inkai. So Tim, you mentioned that you weren't expecting to get deliveries until I think you said at least H2 this year. Is it fair to say that you think the deliveries are more likely to be weighted in the back end of the year, I. E. Alexander PierceEquity Research Analyst at BMO Capital Markets00:35:37Kind of Q4? And could you see a situation where actually there's any more delay to those deliveries? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:35:47Yes, I don't have any specific information. We know it's probably second half of the year is what we said. And so Alex, I really don't have any more specific timing on that yet. And as soon as we do, we'll let everybody know, but we're confident it will come in the second part of the year. Alexander PierceEquity Research Analyst at BMO Capital Markets00:36:04Okay. Thanks, Tim. And then maybe I can ask just a question on McArthur River. So can I just ask where you stand with some of the studies you're doing there for potential production upside? I know there's no mention of it in the MD and A this time. Alexander PierceEquity Research Analyst at BMO Capital Markets00:36:19Are you still looking at the potential upside with up towards the license capacity levels? Thanks. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:36:27Yes. Thanks, Alex. No decision to expand there. We're in supply discipline as Grant has said many, many times. We've said we're not moving until our contract book calls for it. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:36:40And so no decision to produce anything more than 18,000,000 pounds at the McArthur River Key Lake. I think Key Lake is down at the moment, we're on the shutdown, stood the mine down to the mill down to do our annual maintenance on it this month. So you'll see a little bit less production there, but no change, 18,000,000 at MacArthur. We continue to evaluate how to reduce risk and debottleneck the site. In the event that at some point we want to increase our production, we could go to 25,000,000 pounds, I think everyone knows that. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:37:20Those are the best 7,000,000 pounds extra pounds probably on the planet, but today no decision to make any moves on that. Alexander PierceEquity Research Analyst at BMO Capital Markets00:37:30Okay. Thanks, Tim. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:37:32Thank you. Operator00:37:37The next question comes from Lawson Winder with Bank of America. Please go ahead. Lawson WinderAnalyst at Bank of America00:37:45Thank you very much operator and good morning Tim and Grant. Thank you very much for the update today. There was an interesting comment in your MD and A, just noting that prices from fixed price contracts had increased. Could you provide any color in terms of the direction of travel relative to the current $80 per pound long term price indicator? And would you describe the situation as one where the balance sheet shifting more towards fixed price contracting? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:38:15Grant? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:38:17Yes. There's a lot to unpack in that question, Lawson. Let me just step back and talk about it from a market point of view. When you look at the interest in long term contracting, there would be some utilities that do have a preference for market related. There would be some utilities that have a strong preference for fixed. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:38:40And then that preference tends to shift with where you are in the cycle. For those utilities that are looking at our Slide six that shows there's GBP 1,300,000,000.0 of uranium, we don't know where it's coming from against the GBP 3,200,000,000.0 that needs to be bought. That's a pretty shocking, risk that's been transferred to fuel buyers. We will see an interest in trying to fix the price because that would be driven by a fuel buyer who understands prices probably have to go up and have to go up significantly in order to incent supply to come to the market. So market related because suppose we're in a market where they've agreed to fix the price but the price happens to be below, they just don't want to take that kind of risk. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:39:32You don't want to be taken out behind the woodshed for trying to call a price around volatility. So really it is specific to where you are in the cycle and then specific to the value at risk metrics of the utilities themselves. For Cameco, we said in Q4 and we'll continue to say today, we just remain disciplined in this kind of market. We want market related exposure that is a requirement for us if we're going to commit long term pounds. And we want market related exposure at floors and ceilings that reflect the structural gap ahead, not the softening of the spot market that we saw over the first quarter of this year. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:40:19We don't believe that that has anything to do with what the appropriate price is under a long term contract that starts delivery a couple of years out and then delivers into this window of the structural deficit. So we continue to be very disciplined and we want market related and we want market related at escalated floors and ceilings that work for us. And for those utilities that are aligned with the need to secure those pounds, we're still able to have productive conversations. For those utilities that want to drag those floors and ceilings down because of the current because of the spot softness that they saw in the first quarter, I would note we've seen some recent strengthening, the bid and ask is just too big for us to have a fruitful conversation. So we are again, I'm going to use the term turning point. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:41:06It feels like there is a growing awareness that it is time to start contracting. We're starting to see some momentum around some RFPs and momentum around on market RFPs is always joined with increased momentum off market directly on a bilateral basis. Lawson WinderAnalyst at Bank of America00:41:28All right. That's very helpful commentary. I think as a follow-up, would kind of like to get your sense of the transportation and logistics challenges that the industry might be facing today. And it was actually something that came up at WNFC quite a bit, and it hasn't been a focus at other more recent conferences. So things that were coming up were impact from leftover impacts from the pandemic and Panama Canal constraints, reshuffling of ocean alliances. Lawson WinderAnalyst at Bank of America00:41:59I mean, there was a lot and then there's the USTR Section three zero one. What are your concerns about potential transportation bottlenecks? Are you seeing any in your supply chains? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:42:14Lawson, yourself and others who have been dialing in and listening to us for a long time know that we had been warning about falling asleep on uranium for years. And we've been warning about it because we said, look, building new uranium supply is hard. It's not as easy as some will tell you in a feasibility study. Restarting assets that are already licensed and already permitted is hard, as you see from the efforts from some of the smaller producers to come back to the market. And we've always said this is a highly trade dependent commodity. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:42:51It is one where the vast majority of production occurs in nations the supplier greater than the risks to demand. So in our industry, we tend to have long lead times on the transportation requirements. So for example, when somebody wants delivery, there's a nonbinding notice that's sent over a year in advance of delivery beginning to signal that it's time to start putting in place the liquid and actual transportation commitments can be made. So unlike other commodities, we are not just in time for you stumbling around and looking for transport options. Having said that, it is still challenging, the tariff overhang, the uncertainty around who owns the Panama Canal, the transportation logistics of establishing new channels like we saw in Central Asia, these are all challenges for the industry that are now adding to that getting rather full bucket of risks to supply. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:44:22So I would watch the transportation piece. I wouldn't fall asleep on it. Cameco has never missed a delivery. We never will miss a delivery, but that doesn't mean others aren't going to struggle with the transportation challenges. Lawson WinderAnalyst at Bank of America00:44:37Thank you very much. Operator00:44:43The next question comes from Bob Brackett with Bernstein Research. Please go ahead. Bob BrackettHead - Research Division at Sanford C Bernstein & Co LLC00:44:49Good morning. I'm struck by last week's announcement of 10 new reactors from China, the $27,000,000,000 number that you alluded to. And in that context, how do you think of Westinghouse's relationship with China amidst the tariff and trade disputes we're having? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:45:08Well, Bob, thanks for the question. Obviously, we watch with great interest as well China, whether you deal with them or you don't, they are a mighty force in the nuclear space and 10 reactors a year been announced over the last four years in a row. You do the math on that, they'll be at 100 by 02/1930 and probably 200 by 02/1940. And then we start thinking about where the fuel on the Cameco side, where the fuel is going to come from to service those and all of the rest of the reactors around the world. So that's I mean, when we talk optimism and durable demand and a great future, China is a big part of it. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:45:51Westinghouse has a relationship with China. Obviously, the CAP1000s that they're building there now are of Westinghouse origin. And I know there's some enduring agreements between Westinghouse and China on each of those units to perform work on those. So I think the relationship is very strong and Cameco as well has a good relationship with China. Bob BrackettHead - Research Division at Sanford C Bernstein & Co LLC00:46:17And is there an opportunity there where China doing more business with Westinghouse helps balance out some of the trade balance and what would the timing of that look like? If the announcement of the reactors hits April 27, when do those turn into feed or when do those turn out into sort of capital commitments? Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:46:37Yes, that's a good question. Your first question is the interesting one. It's really a geopolitical question is with really what we've been dealing with over the last number of months, the relations between China and Canada, China and The U. S, China and the rest of the world, Canada, U. S, we have a new Prime Minister and government as you know in Canada as of this week. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:46:59And so we'll see how that goes with at the political level between Canada and China. On a B2B business to business level, the relationship has been strong and enduring, and I'll just talk to Grant if he has anything to add. Yes, Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:47:15One of the common threads to all of the tariff discussion and trade disruption is we want a better deal. And what we've discovered after spending a lot of time in Washington, a deal on energy is a really compelling story. So anytime you have an opportunity for a U. S. Business to expand and project, U. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:47:46S. Energy strategy, it tends to be favorably well received. So we're delighted to see the CAP1000 become a really important part of China's new build. Westinghouse enjoys what Dan Littman and team call, Phase II of their relationship with the Chinese. There are instrumentation and control contracts. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:48:09There are fabrication contracts, which benefit The United States to be participant in that. And also, let's just remind ourselves that for everybody out there who says we don't know how to build gigawatt scale reactors, the Chinese are building essentially the AP1000 in sixty months at a cost of about $2,500,000,000 a reactor. So the world knows how to do this, and it's done by starting and not stopping, continuing that momentum, getting to the nth unit. So I think there's two really important messages. One, an energy deal is always well received, and number two, we see the benefits of a nation that starts to build and continues to build, and every country, the Western countries included, can certainly follow in those footsteps. Bob BrackettHead - Research Division at Sanford C Bernstein & Co LLC00:49:03Very clear. Thank you. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:49:05Thanks, Bob. Operator00:49:08The next question comes from Gordon Johnson with GLJ Research. Please go ahead. Gordon JohnsonFounder & CEO at GLJ Research00:49:15Hey, gentlemen. Thanks for taking the I have a, I guess, a more general question. I have a lot of clients asking this. Can you guys talk about the extent to which your projected demand on your output is affecting your current investment in new exploration? And I ask because given the global slowdown in exploration we've seen over the past two years after Fukushima, You guys laid off a bunch of people, a number of people laid off. Gordon JohnsonFounder & CEO at GLJ Research00:49:40It seems like there's a big gap in the cycle. I'm just trying to figure out how you guys are planning for that. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:49:47Yes. Thanks, Gordon. So obviously exploration very important to our strategy. We just put a new Vice President in place, Alexander Oban is our new VP of Exploration. We continue our efforts. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:50:00We've as we've said many times in the past, we've held on to through those lean years, all of the we think are the best properties in the Athabasca Basin. We continue to work them. We've been growing our exploration budget over the last few years. So yes, absolutely exploration continues to be a very, very important part of our business. We don't stand up and brag too much about it. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:50:25It's just something that we do. We try not to blow too hard on it. It's but we do have some very good projects. So if you look at our Operator test, it's Tim Gitzel. Can you hear us? Gordon JohnsonFounder & CEO at GLJ Research00:51:28I can hear you guys now. You guys cut out a bit. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:51:31Okay. Sorry about that. Hopefully, you got the answer. Bottom line exploration remain. Operator00:51:54It seems we've lost connection with our One moment while we reconnect. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:52:01Yes, it's Tim Gitzel. I'll just keep speaking to see if people can can hear me. It's Tim Gitzel. Grant, do you want to try your mic? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:52:10Yes. Operator, can you hear us? Operator00:52:13Yes, you are coming in loud and clear now. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:52:16Okay. Thank you. I'm not sure what happened. Thank you. Maybe we can Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:52:19move on to the next question. Operator00:52:25The next question comes from Craig Hutchinson with T. B. Cowen. Please go ahead. Craig HutchisonAnalyst at TD Cowen00:52:31Hi, good morning guys. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:52:34Good morning. Craig HutchisonAnalyst at TD Cowen00:52:35Good good morning, Tim. I wanted to ask a question on the fuel services business. You realized very strong pricing in the quarter, up year over year, quarter over quarter. Craig HutchisonAnalyst at TD Cowen00:52:45And as I mentioned about mainly results of contracts were entered into an improved pricing environment. Could you just provide some context? Was that a function of the mix of the products you were selling? And is there potential upside here to your guidance just given the strong environment for some of those services? Thanks. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:53:05I'm going to ask Heidi Schocke to provide some comments. Heidi ShockeySenior VP & Deputy CFO at Cameco00:53:09Yes. Hi, there. It was a bit a couple of things going on really. You're seeing the rolling on of new contracts. So just as you know, we layer in contracts over time, so slowly you see older contracts rolling off and improvement in our prices and just in this quarter in particular, we had just the timing of one particular contract that had a higher price, less so on the mix of products, but just really the mix of contracts in this particular quarter. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:53:43As we look ahead, Craig, it's always important to remember that our strategy is about contracting forward. Again, if I refer to that Slide six that was in Tim's comments or 16 in the handout, you remember that that spot sliver is no different for conversion than it is for uranium, and that is there is no utility on the planet that's loading a fuel bundle in 2025 that needs to buy the uranium in conversion in 2025. So we're always selling forward. And why do I say that? Well, to your question about what to expect, the historic pricing that's come through the conversion business it is not yet being realized by us. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:54:21So all of that is in front of us from a pricing point of view. So you're beginning to see the early days of strong performance as a result of that much stronger pricing and conversion, but certainly more to come. That's how we build our strategy, and you're seeing it being executed, it just yet is another reason we're delighted with our position in the nuclear fuel cycle. Craig HutchisonAnalyst at TD Cowen00:54:44Great. Thanks. And maybe just a quick follow-up question for me. In the past, you guys have given great color on floors and ceilings. Can you just kind of give some color on where those sit right now in terms of your discussions? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:54:55Yes. Happy to do that. We continue to be very stubborn, Craig. You heard me say in Q4 that there is a bit of connective tissue between the spot market and the long term market with respect to market related contracts. Remember, those are the contracts for which we're not trying to price them today. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:55:18We're pricing them at time of delivery out into the future, but many are We tend to orient that conversation around operator, do we still have you? Are you still there? Gordon JohnsonFounder & CEO at GLJ Research00:55:46Yes, I'm still there. You're kind of coming in and out on my line. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:55:52I'm not sure what's going on. The floors and ceilings, we orient around where the structural demand and supply is in the market on a forward basis. But no doubt when you have primary producers bringing small volumes of production to spot market and putting downward pressure on it or when you have a fund like a fund out of Central Asia that was being dissolved rather clumsily, it puts down to where we should be with respect to floors and ceilings in contracts out into the future. So we're still holding out for floors that are in the $70 escalated. Operator00:57:22It appears we've lost connection with our speakers. Please wait while we reconnect. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:57:33Ceilings tend to come rather than try to chase it, and we're liking the setup. Operator00:57:45The next question comes from Andrew Wong with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco00:57:52Hey, good morning. Andrew WongEquity Research Analyst at RBC Capital Markets00:57:54So aside from China, India is the other country with pretty ambitious nuclear energy plans. And obviously, it's taking a little bit of time to get it going, but it seems like they've taken some actions to speed that up recently. Can you just talk about that nuclear growth opportunity in India and the potential there for Cameco Westinghouse specifically? I recall a few years ago, there was a potential AP1000 project that was shelved because of liability issues, but it seems like those issues might be getting addressed. So maybe just talk about that. Thanks. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:58:28Yes. Thanks, Andrew. You're cutting a note on us. I think the question was on India and some of the recent announcements. It is a big stretch, very ambitious. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:58:51We have good relations with India. We've been supplying them since 2015 on the Cameco side. And so we continue to talk to them and hopefully the Canada India relationship will at the political level will improve going forward. But then again, that's not stopped us at the business to business level. So from the Cameco point of view, we have a great relationship with India and we'll be a big player in supplying their fuel needs going forward. Tim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive Officer at Cameco00:59:20Westinghouse, same, I know they have teams over there working with the Indians talking about future growth there. And so I don't have any specifics yet. There was a site put aside for Westinghouse units. I think it still exists. So nothing really to report Andrew on that at this point, but yes, we're still working and India is going to play a big role in the future in the world and in the nuclear market. Andrew WongEquity Research Analyst at RBC Capital Markets00:59:49Thank you. Maybe just another question. In your conversations with utility customers, you have a lot of those. How much does the inventory that's held by the physical funds come up in the conversation? And just curious from your perspective, is there still do you among the utilities that those pounds may be available in the future at some point? Andrew WongEquity Research Analyst at RBC Capital Markets01:00:12Or is there a better understanding that those pounds mostly aren't going to be available? Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco01:00:17Brent? Hi, Andrew. It's a bit mixed. You would have picked up some of that messaging in Montreal while you were there as well. I think we're in one of those markets where folks are looking at that structural deficit and then they're clinging to hope of something. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco01:00:36And one of that areas of hope is, well, maybe if you can get your hands on uranium that's already in a can and already in North America, that's my hope that's going to bail me out from the fact that I haven't been contracting. So we've seen a lot of what I might call noise around the spot vehicle, for example, or we've seen a lot of noise around the yellow cake vehicle. And I would just say that it seems like it's noise. Haven't heard anything from either of those two that suggests they're not in it for the long run. But more importantly, those are almost irrelevant volumes now in the face of the structural deficit. Grant IsaacExecutive VP & CFO at Cameco01:01:18I mean, couldn't even begin to plug a one year gap just a few years out. So yes, there are some who point to it and say, well, this material must come to the market at some point. I'll tell you, we worry about it less and less and less every day. Andrew WongEquity Research Analyst at RBC Capital Markets01:01:35That's great. Thank you. Operator01:01:41This concludes the question and answer session. Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to apologize for the clarity of the audio. I would like to turn the conference back over to Tim Gitzel for any closing remarks. I'd like to hand the call back over to Tim Gitzel for any closing remarks. This brings to an end today's conference call. Operator01:03:59You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesCory KosVice-President of Investor RelationsTim GitzelPresident and Chief Executive OfficerGrant IsaacExecutive VP & CFOHeidi ShockeySenior VP & Deputy CFOAnalystsOrest WowkodawManaging Director, Senior Research Analyst, Metals and Mining at ScotiobankRalph ProfitiManaging Director & Senior Equity Research Analyst at Stifel Financial CorpAlexander PierceEquity Research Analyst at BMO Capital MarketsLawson WinderAnalyst at Bank of AmericaBob BrackettHead - Research Division at Sanford C Bernstein & Co LLCGordon JohnsonFounder & CEO at GLJ ResearchCraig HutchisonAnalyst at TD CowenAndrew WongEquity Research Analyst at RBC Capital MarketsPowered by