Saskatoon-based uranium producer Cameco Corp. is calling a new agreement signed between Canada and China a "key milestone."
The agreement signed Thursday in Beijing will help Canadian companies export more uranium to China, said Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, and will expand a nuclear co-operation agreement that's been in place since 1994.
"The ability to export Canadian-sourced uranium to China is incredibly important to our company," said Cameco CEO Tim Gitzel in a release.
"It will mean more jobs, more development and more investment here in Canada by Cameco and other uranium producers hoping to access this huge and growing market for nuclear energy."
Cameco signed two long-term uranium supply deals with Chinese companies in 2010, one with China Nuclear Energy Industry Corporation for 23 million pounds of uranium concentrate through 2020. The second deal is with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co., Ltd. for 29 million pounds of uranium concentrate through 2025.
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said while he awaits more detail on the agreement from the Harper government it is a "huge step" nonetheless.
"This is literally, in the long-term, billions of dollars in mining expansion. This is a lot of uranium to be sold," Wall said in a telephone interview.
"It's important for Canada, but of course Saskatchewan's the source for Canadian uranium."
The future of global demand for nuclear energy was called into question last year when a tsunami and earthquake badly damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, causing a radiation release.
The fate of Japan's nuclear industry remains uncertain and the crisis prompted some European countries to rethink or cancel altogether their nuclear expansions.
But Cameco says China is "one of the world's largest and fastest-growing consumers of nuclear energy."
