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Production Overview

Production in our uranium segment this quarter was 1 million pounds higher compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. Production for the year was 1.7 million pounds higher than in 2012. We set new annual and quarterly production records with these results. See Uranium – operating properties for more information.

Uranium production

  Three months ended
December 31		 Year ended
December 31		  
Cameco’s Share
(million lbs)		 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 Plan 2014 Plan
  1. 1 We updated our initial 2013 plan for McArthur River/Key Lake (to 13.6 million pounds from 13.2 million pounds), US ISR (to 2.3 million pounds from 2.6 million pounds) and Cigar Lake (to nil from 0.3 million pounds) in our Q3 MD&A.
  2. 2 Corrected February 27, 2014 from 23.2 million pounds.
McArthur River/Key Lake 4.0 3.5 14.1 13.6 13.61 13.1
Rabbit Lake 2.1 1.7 4.1 3.8 4.2 4.1
Smith Ranch-Highland 0.5 0.3 1.7 1.1 1.61 2.0
Crow Butte 0.2 0.2 0.7 0.8 0.71 0.6
Inkai 0.7 0.8 3.0 2.6 2.9 3.0
Cigar Lake – – – – –1 1.0 – 1.5
Total 7.5 6.5 23.6 21.9 23.02 23.8 – 24.3

Outlook

Our strategy remains focused on taking advantage of the long-term growth we see coming in our industry, while maintaining the ability to respond to market conditions as they evolve. As a result of the longer-than-anticipated uncertainty that continues to persist in today’s market, it is no longer appropriate to pursue significant production growth to a fixed target. Although we still have an extensive portfolio of assets from which we can increase our production capacity, we have eliminated our 2018 supply target of 36 million pounds in order to allow us to respond to market signals, and as a result, it is no longer appropriate to provide a long-term production forecast.

We plan to:

  • ensure continued reliable, low-cost production from our flagship operation, McArthur River/Key Lake and seek to expand that production
  • ensure continued reliable, low-cost production at Inkai
  • successfully bring on and ramp up production at Cigar Lake
  • manage the rest of our production facilities and potential sources of supply in a manner that retains the flexibility to respond to market signals and take advantage of value adding opportunities within our own portfolio and the uranium market