Australian uranium miner rejects talk of Cameco bid
"I know there is speculation now growing that Paladin is a takeover target in particular from Cameco . . . that is nothing that we are aware of," said Dustin Garrow, executive general manager of marketing for Paladin.
As recently as Monday, Cameco CEO Jerry Grandey has said the company is eyeing a possible return to the acquisition strategy it exercised in the late 1990s and earlier in decade.
"We acquired lots of low-cost properties in that period of time and then stepped out. Now it's becoming interesting again," he said earlier this week at the Reuters Global Mining Summit in New York.
Grandey said any acquisition would have to be big enough to be material to the company and its production volume.
"On the high side, I look out there in the universe of what might be available, and I don't think that there's anything there that's impossible for Cameco," he said.
Garrow said Paladin is looking at start-up mining projects in Asia and North America and favoured investments in production by 2010 at the latest.
"We are looking right now in Asia as well as North America . . . we will see some activity on that front this year," he told an investor event.
"The fuel cycle is more than uranium. We will actually be looking further up the fuel cycle."
He said Paladin would also set up its own marketing arm, Paladin Nuclear, in the second quarter, and had allocated around $75 million for its establishment.
The firm now operates the Langer Heinrich uranium project in Namibia, which produces 2.6 million pounds of U3O8 per year.
The mine is undergoing expansion with a production target of 3.7 million pounds in 2010.
In Malawi, Paladin has started construction at Kayelekera and production should begin from December 2008. The mine is expected to produce 3.3 million pounds U3O8 per year by 2010.