By Rod Nickel
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Canada's Cameco Corp CCO.TO is not planning further cuts to uranium output "right now," but has the option of lowering production again without jeopardizing supply contracts, its chief executive said on Thursday.
Cameco will suspend production for 10 months at McArthur River, Saskatchewan - the world's biggest uranium mine - and the nearby Key Lake mill by the end of January because of low uranium prices, the company said late on Wednesday. now we don't foresee any other moves but that can always change," CEO Tim Gitzel said in an interview.
Gitzel said he would closely watch how uranium prices respond to Cameco's cuts, but noted that earlier curtailments had little effect on utilities' appetite to sign new contracts.
The global uranium industry is in a six-year tailspin, dating back to the 2011 tsunami that caused Japan to shutter all of its nuclear reactors, a few of which have since restarted. The shutdown created a glut of uranium used to make nuclear fuel for powering reactors.
"We have to be ready if the market stays low so we can survive and be viable," Gitzel said. "Hopefully we're wrong on that and it does improve."