Cameco to acquire BHP’s uranium project in Australia

Cameco to acquire BHP’s uranium project in Australia BHP Billiton has said that it will sell its Yeelirrie uranium deposit that is situated in Western Australia for $ 430 million to Cameco Corp of Canada.

The sale announcement came after BHP Billiton said that it has decided to scrap the project. Chief executive Marius Kloppers has indicated that the deposits were too small in quantity for the company. WA Premier Colin Barnett had asked BHP Billiton to scrap the project because it is too small for its portfolio.

BHP uranium president Dean Dalla Valle said that Cameco Corp is one of the largest publicly listed uranium producers and has a good name in the industry. Cameco is already present in Western Australia through the Kintyre uranium project, which it had purchased from Rio Tinto in 2008. Cameco has already completed its prefeasibility study on Kintyre and will soon conduct the feasibility study on the project. The company had admitted that the economics of the project is challenging.

Gitzel, president and chief executive for Cameco said, “Yeelirrie represents an attractive deposit that fits well with Cameco’s vision and corporate strategy. We are pleased to add this promising deposit to our suite of uranium assets and look forward to advancing this property through our process for assessing development projects.”