Canadian miner Cameco has written down $168m in impairment charges against the investments made towards its Kintyre project in Australia.
The impairment charges resulted out of a weak uranium market, failure to expand mineral resources and the decision to halt the project’s feasibility study.
As a result, the company’s revenues plummeted to $266m for the financial year 2012, down 41% when compared to $450m earned in 2011.
Lower uranium prices and increased cost of sold product also contributed to the decreased earnings.
Cameco president and CEO Tim Gitzel remarked that in 2013 the company would focus on execution and reducing costs in 2013.
"We are confident in a positive future for our industry based on its fundamentals. On the demand side, new reactor construction
continues in China and there are strong indications that additional plants will be coming back on line in Japan.
"On the supply side, about 24 million pounds of annual uranium supply will be removed from the market after 2013 with the end of the Russian highly enriched uranium agreement," Gitzel added.
For the year 2013, the miner has pegged uranium production to total 23.3 million pounds while revenues could increase by 1 to 5%.