Cameco CEO looks to grow value, not size

By Carole Vaporean

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The world's largest uranium producer Cameco Corp.'s (CCO.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) vision is to be a dominant nuclear energy company, but any expansion plans would need to add value, not merely size, the chief executive said on Monday.

"We're certainly not averse to acquisitions. We've done lots in the uranium side over the last decade. We look every day at what might make sense and provide growth opportunities," said Cameco CEO Jerry Grandey, speaking at Reuters' Global Mining and Steel Summit in New York.

"But," he added, "We're not going to expand just to get bigger. It has to make economic and strategic sense."

Though Cameco is almost fully vertically integrated, Grandey said he thought production of uranium was the foundation of the company's vision.

The challenge, he said, was to expand its production base through exploration or acquisition.

Without much uranium exploration over the last 25 years, he said the number of significant operating mines today were limited, mostly controlled by major mining companies like BHP Billiton (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) or Rio Tinto (RIO.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), and were not for sale.

Its largest competitor, Areva (CEPFi.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), is the world's biggest nuclear reactor maker and owned by the French government. It primarily feeds French utility giant EDF (EDF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), and was unavailable for purchase.

"So there aren't a lot of opportunities to go out and acquire things," Grandey said.  Continued...