By Rod Nickel
TORONTO, March 8 (Reuters) - Several of the world's biggest
uranium producers say they are taking a cautious approach to
building new mines, preferring to shave expenses and wait for
higher prices despite forecasts for a supply shortfall by the
end of the decade.
France's state-owned Areva SA AREVA.PA will trim 100 to
200 more jobs this year and stay out of the hunt for new mine
exploration projects, Jacques Peythieu, Areva senior executive
vice president of mining business, said in an interview from
Paris on Tuesday.
"We are very focused to reduce our cost and to reduce our
investment, to be able to manage this period of low price," he
said.
France state-owned utility EDF EDF.PA is buying Areva's
reactor arm, leaving the company to focus on uranium mining and
fuel after struggling with losses and scant reactor sales.
Last year, Areva, the third-largest uranium producer,
eliminated 500 jobs. It now employs about 4,000 people.
Spot prices of uranium, used to make fuel for nuclear power
production, have been depressed since the 2011 Fukushima
disaster in Japan, which led to the shutdown of that country's
reactors and generated burdensome stockpiles globally. Demand is
growing rapidly, however, with China in particular aggressively
building reactors.
Areva is maintaining its exploration budget but is not
interested in buying new projects, Peythieu said, adding that it
will start building its Imouraren mine in Niger, with a capacity
of 13 million pounds, once prices improve.
"What's important for us is profitability," he said.
Cameco Corp CCO.TO , the second-largest producer, is slowly
expanding the world's biggest uranium mine, but its CEO said on
Monday the company is holding off on expanding to full capacity.
Russian-controlled Uranium One UOII.UL and partner
Kazatomprom are ramping up uranium production in Kazakhstan
during the next three years, adding 1.5 million to 2 million
pounds. But Uranium One will delay building a new mine in
Tanzania until prices rise more than 70 percent from current
levels, Chief Executive Officer Feroz Ashraf said on Tuesday.
Toronto-based Uranium One, the world's fourth-largest
uranium producer, looks to start construction of the Mkuju River
mine in Tanzania once spot uranium prices stick above $55 per
pound.
Uranium currently trades around $32.15 per pound.
"When people realize the price is going to go up, it's going
to go up faster than you and I can dream about," Ashraf said in
an interview during the Prospectors & Developers Association of
Canada convention in Toronto.
(Editing by David Gregorio)