Cameco Corp (CCJ) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Cameco Corporation Third Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) The conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) Webcast participants are asked to wait until the Q&A session before submitting their questions as the information they are looking for may be provided during the presentation.

謝謝你的支持。這是會議操作員。歡迎參加 Cameco Corporation 2024 年第三季業績電話會議。 （操作員指示）會議正在錄音。 （操作員說明）網路廣播參與者需要等到問答環節後再提交問題，因為他們正在尋找的資訊可能會在演示期間提供。

The Q&A session will conclude at 9:00 AM Eastern Time. I would now like to turn the conference over to Cory Kos, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

問答環節將於美東時間上午 9:00 結束。現在我想將會議交給投資者關係副總裁科里·科斯 (Cory Kos)。請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Cameco's third quarter conference call. I would like to acknowledge that we are speaking from our corporate office, which is on Treaty 6 territory, the traditional territory of the Cree Peoples and the homeland of the Métis. With us today are Tim Gitzel, President and CEO; Grant Isaac, Executive VP and CFO; Heidi Shockey, Senior VP and Deputy CFO; and Rachelle Girard, Senior VP and Chief Corporate Officer. I'll hand it over to Tim momentarily to briefly discuss the strength of today's fundamental market dynamics as well as our progress with the continued execution of our strategy, which has us returning to a Tier 1 cost structure and delivering strong production performance while maintaining a solid financial position.

謝謝接線員，大家早安。歡迎參加 Cameco 第三季電話會議。我想承認，我們是在我們的公司辦公室發表講話的，該辦公室位於第 6 號條約領土上，是克里族人民的傳統領土和梅蒂斯人的故鄉。今天與我們在一起的有總裁兼執行長 Tim Gitzel； Grant Isaac，執行副總裁兼財務長； Heidi Shockey，資深副總裁兼副財務長；和 Rachelle Girard，資深副總裁兼首席公司長。我將立即將其交給蒂姆，簡要討論當今基本市場動態的強度以及我們在繼續執行戰略方面取得的進展，這使我們回到一級成本結構並提供強勁的生產績效，同時保持財務狀況穩健。

After, we will open it up to your questions. Today's call will be approximately one hour, concluding at 9:00 AM Eastern time. As always, our goal is to be open and transparent with our communication. However, we do want to respect everyone's time and conclude the call on time.

之後，我們將開放回答您的問題。今天的電話會議將持續約一小時，並於東部時間上午 9:00 結束。一如既往，我們的目標是公開透明的溝通。但是，我們確實希望尊重每個人的時間並按時結束通話。

Therefore, should we not have time to get to your questions during this call or if you would like to get into detailed financial modeling questions about our quarterly results, we will be happy to follow up with you after the call. There are a few ways to contact us with additional questions. You can reach out to the contacts provided in our news release. You can submit a question through the contact tab on our website or you can use the Ask a Question form at the bottom of the webcast screen, and we'll be happy to follow up with you after this call. If you join the conference call through our website event page, there are slides available, which will be displayed during the call.

因此，如果我們在本次電話會議期間沒有時間回答您的問題，或者如果您想了解有關我們季度業績的詳細財務建模問題，我們將很樂意在電話會議後與您聯繫。如有其他問題，可以透過多種方式與我們聯繫。您可以聯絡我們新聞稿中提供的聯絡人。您可以透過我們網站上的聯絡標籤提交問題，也可以使用網路廣播螢幕底部的提問表單，我們很樂意在此次通話後與您聯絡。如果您透過我們的網站活動頁面加入電話會議，可以使用投影片，這些投影片將在通話期間顯示。

In addition, for your reference, our quarterly investor handout is available for download in a PDF on our website at cameco.com. Today's conference call is open to all members of the investment community, including the media. During the Q&A session, please limit yourself to two questions and then return to the queue. Please note that this conference call will include forward-looking information, which is based on a number of assumptions, and actual results could differ materially. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

此外，為了供您參考，我們的季度投資者講義可在我們的網站 comeco.com 上下載 PDF 版本。今天的電話會議向包括媒體在內的投資界所有成員開放。在問答環節中，請只回答兩個問題，然後返回佇列。請注意，本次電話會議將包含基於多項假設的前瞻性訊息，實際結果可能存在重大差異。您不應過度依賴前瞻性陳述。

Actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements, and we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements we make today, except for as required by law. Please refer to our most recent annual information form and MD&A for more information about the factors that could cause these different results and the assumptions we have made. With that, I'll turn it over to Tim.

實際結果可能與這些前瞻性聲明有重大差異，我們不承擔更新我們今天所做的任何前瞻性陳述的義務，除非法律要求。請參閱我們最新的年度資訊表和 MD&A，以了解有關可能導致這些不同結果的因素以及我們所做的假設的更多資訊。有了這個，我會把它交給提姆。

Thank you, Cory, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us on our call today. I'm sure you all closely followed the US presidential election this week. I'd like to offer congratulations to both President-elect Trump and to all of our friends south of the border for shaping the future of your nation by exercising your democratic right to vote.

謝謝你，科里，大家早安。我們感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。相信大家都密切關注本週的美國總統大選。我謹向當選總統川普和邊境以南的所有朋友表示祝賀，祝賀你們透過行使民主投票權塑造了你們國家的未來。

We look forward to ongoing bipartisan support for the nuclear sector across the political spectrum, not only in the US, but here in Canada and throughout the Western world. As we get started here today, I first want to ensure stakeholders look past the noise and understand the headline items in our disclosure this quarter. As I will touch on shortly, we continue to see a trend of improving operational performance in both our uranium and fuel services segments, bringing us back to a Tier 1 cost structure and supporting dividend growth. Our outlook for the year remains strong and consistent with our expectations, and long-term contracting activity is expected to continue gaining momentum with ongoing off-market interest and increased reported volumes added subsequent to the quarter. When it comes to our financials, equity earnings from Westinghouse were and will continue to be impacted by the amortization of the intangible assets that arose as a result of the required accounting for the acquisition.

我們期待跨政治領域的兩黨對核部門的持續支持，不僅在美國，而且在加拿大和整個西方世界。當我們今天開始時，我首先希望確保利益相關者能夠忽略噪音並理解我們本季披露的主要內容。正如我稍後將談到的，我們繼續看到鈾和燃料服務領域營運績效改善的趨勢，使我們回到一級成本結構並支持股息成長。我們對今年的前景仍然強勁，並與我們的預期一致，隨著場外興趣的持續增長以及本季度後報告數量的增加，長期合約活動預計將繼續保持勢頭。就我們的財務狀況而言，西屋電氣的股權收益過去並將繼續受到因收購所需會計處理而產生的無形資產攤銷的影響。

That is why we focus on and provide outlook for adjusted EBITDA as a performance measure for Westinghouse, as it adjusts for these elevated amortization costs, which do not reflect the underlying business performance. Looking past the quarterly earnings, which as always can vary significantly, there's a clear underlying trend of improving operational performance and cash flow generation across our businesses and investments. This trend is backed by stable and rising market prices, driving nearly $1 billion in adjusted EBITDA for the first nine months before those acquisition-related purchase price adjustments. At Cameco, we are exceptionally well positioned, and we continue to see growing demand for nuclear power with the agreements to support nuclear that we've all been hearing about becoming signed commitments to build new reactors. In the third quarter, we continue to see the growing positive momentum and support for nuclear energy among governments, energy-intensive industries and within the general public.

這就是為什麼我們關注並提供調整後 EBITDA 的前景，將其作為西屋電氣的業績衡量標準，因為它針對這些較高的攤銷成本進行了調整，而這並不反映基本的業務業績。縱觀季度收益（一如既往，季度收益可能會有很大差異），我們的業務和投資的營運績效和現金流產生有明顯的改善趨勢。這一趨勢得到了穩定且不斷上漲的市場價格的支持，在與收購相關的購買價格調整之前的前九個月，調整後的 EBITDA 增長了近 10 億美元。在 Cameco，我們處於非常有利的地位，我們繼續看到對核電的需求不斷增長，我們都聽說支持核能的協議成為簽署建造新反應器的承諾。第三季度，我們繼續看到各國政府、能源密集產業和公眾對核能的積極動能和支持不斷增長。

That support is generating durable full cycle demand, which we believe is stronger than ever. For the past two years, we've regularly highlighted demand durability across the fuel cycle and the unparalleled opportunities emerging in the near, mid- and long-term markets. Those fundamental drivers, things like decarbonization, sustainability, energy security and growing energy demand, all remained solid and unchanged. However, on the other side of that equation, future supply continues to be uncertain with the need for improved long-term market prices to underpin supply economics and support ongoing investment. While the long-term uranium price has now crept up to its highest level in over a decade, we're still not seeing significant investments in the projects needed to satisfy future demand to run the existing reactors, let alone those reactors being saved and restarted, reactor life extensions and new reactor builds.

這種支援正在產生持久的全週期需求，我們認為這種需求比以往任何時候都更加強勁。在過去的兩年裡，我們經常強調整個燃料循環的需求持久性以及近期、中期和長期市場中出現的無與倫比的機會。這些基本驅動因素，如脫碳、永續性、能源安全和不斷增長的能源需求，都保持穩固且沒有變化。然而，另一方面，未來供應仍不確定，需要改善長期市場價格來支撐供應經濟並支持持續投資。雖然長期鈾價現已攀升至十多年來的最高水平，但我們仍然沒有看到對滿足未來運行現有反應堆需求所需的項目進行大量投資，更不用說保存和重新啟動這些反應堆了、反應堆壽命延長和新反應器建造。

And as we can clearly see today following the US ban on Russian uranium imports, Uranium supply and services across the fuel cycle take time to respond. Despite the established need for more supply amid the current tight and uncertain market, long-term contracting through the first nine months of the year remained relatively slow. While that's far from unusual in the nuclear fuel cycle where long-term prices are only quoted monthly due to the low frequency of executed transactions, there are a few key developments that are not only driving utilities to review procurement plans, but prompting producers to reevaluate sales strategies. Contracting continued to be impacted by things like the US

正如我們今天可以清楚地看到的那樣，在美國禁止俄羅斯進口鈾之後，整個燃料循環的鈾供應和服務需要時間來做出反應。儘管在當前緊張且不確定的市場中確實需要更多供應，但今年前九個月的長期合約仍然相對緩慢。雖然這在核燃料循環中並不罕見，由於執行交易的頻率較低，長期價格僅每月報價，但有一些關鍵的發展不僅促使公用事業公司審查採購計劃，而且促使生產商重新評估銷售策略。合約繼續受到美國等因素的影響

election; the Russian uranium ban, which took effect in early August; uncertainty with respect to the process to obtain waivers under that ban and new demand emerging from energy-intensive industries, which could reshape the nuclear fuel cycle landscape in the decades to come. As we expected in our last quarterly call, the cautious approach by fuel buyers has started to give way to an increase in utility interest, both publicly in the market and off market through bilateral negotiations with producers. As contracting picks up, we continue to be selective in committing our uranium inventory and UF6 conversion capacity in order to maintain a contract book that preserves exposure to the rising prices, while maintaining downside protection. We're seeing significant interest in the extremely tight conversion segment of the fuel cycle, which remains at historic prices, far higher than anyone in our market had anticipated. However, in the uranium market, the first nine months remained lighter with increased volumes subsequent to quarter end following a couple of larger uranium contracts signed in October.

選舉;俄羅斯鈾禁令於八月初生效；該禁令下獲得豁免的過程存在不確定性，而且能源密集產業出現了新的需求，這可能會重塑未來幾十年的核燃料循環格局。正如我們在上一季電話會議中所預期的那樣，燃料買家的謹慎態度已開始讓位於公用事業公司興趣的增加，無論是在市場上公開還是通過與生產商的雙邊談判在市場外進行。隨著合約的增加，我們繼續有選擇性地投入我們的鈾庫存和六氟化鈾轉化能力，以維持合約簿，以保持價格上漲的風險，同時保持下行保護。我們看到人們對燃料循環的極其嚴格的轉換部分錶現出濃厚的興趣，該部分仍保持歷史價格，遠高於我們市場上任何人的預期。然而，在鈾市場，前九個月仍然清淡，在十月份簽署了幾份較大的鈾合約後，季末後成交量有所增加。

Those deals boosted long-term contract volumes from just over 50 million pounds at September 30 to about 90 million pounds as of last week. That said, long-term contract volumes still remain well short of replacement rate. So it's important to reiterate that requirements can be delayed and can be deferred, but buying the uranium fuel required to keep the lights on cannot be avoided. Future needs are still future needs. And not only do we need to catch up on over a decade of under contracting, but the world also has a fleet of retiring fossil fuel generation that needs to be replaced.

這些交易將長期合約量從 9 月 30 日的略高於 5000 萬英鎊增加到上週的約 9000 萬英鎊。儘管如此，長期合約量仍遠低於替代率。因此，重要的是要重申，需求可以推遲，也可以推遲，但購買維持供電所需的鈾燃料是不可避免的。未來的需求仍是未來的需求。我們不僅需要彌補十多年來的合約不足問題，而且世界上還有一批即將退役的化石燃料發電設備需要更換。

Nuclear addresses all the key considerations influencing energy policies and international plans for replacing carbon-emitting energy sources. Future energy supply must be secure, carbon-free, reliable and uninterrupted. And in each of those categories, nuclear is in a class of its own. Amid intensifying geopolitical challenges and various sustainability-related factors, procuring the required nuclear fuel from responsible, reliable, experienced and sustainable suppliers like Cameco is more important than ever. Therefore, the positive momentum for nuclear energy and the tightness of full-cycle supply puts Cameco in a unique position to add significant value with what we believe are the world's premier Tier 1 fuel cycle assets alongside our investments across the reactor life cycle.

核能解決了影響能源政策和替代碳排放能源的國際計劃的所有關鍵考慮因素。未來的能源供應必須是安全、無碳、可靠和不間斷的。在每個類別中，核能都獨樹一格。在地緣政治挑戰和各種與永續發展相關的因素日益加劇的情況下，從像Cameco 這樣負責任、可靠、經驗豐富和可持續的供應商那裡採購所需的核燃料比以往任何時候都更加重要。因此，核能的積極勢頭和全循環供應的緊張使 Cameco 處於獨特的地位，可以利用我們認為是世界上首屈一指的一級燃料循環資產以及我們在整個反應器生命週期的投資來增加顯著的價值。

With the strategy centered on full cycle value, we've continued to optimize those assets as we shift back to a Tier 1 cost structure. With strong production performance through the first nine months of the year and a solid financial footing, our Board has approved an increase of our dividend from $0.12 in 2023 to $0.16 per common share for this year. And with fundamental improvement continuing across the market, we have recommended a dividend growth plan under which we expect to at least double the $0.12 dividend in 2023, growing it to $0.24 per common share through 2026. Turning to our results. I want to highlight a few developments this past quarter, starting in the marketing and operational areas of our strategy.

憑藉以全週期價值為中心的策略，我們在轉向一級成本結構的同時繼續優化這些資產。憑藉今年前 9 個月強勁的生產業績和堅實的財務基礎，我們的董事會已批准將股息從 2023 年的每股普通股 0.12 美元增加到今年的每股普通股 0.16 美元。隨著整個市場的基本面持續改善，我們建議了一項股息增長計劃，根據該計劃，我們預計到2023 年將股息0.12 美元至少增加一倍，到2026 年將其增至每股普通股0.24 美元。我想強調上個季度的一些進展，首先是我們策略的營銷和營運領域。

In our uranium segment, we continue to evaluate the working capital required to expand our McArthur River and Key Lake operations from 18 million pounds per year to the license capacity of up to 25 million pounds per year. However, in the meantime, production at the Key Lake mill has exceeded our expectations year-to-date, and we now expect production of about 19 million pounds, up from 18 million pounds previously. The improved 2024 outlook is primarily the result of various automation, digitization and optimization projects we undertook while the operation was in care and maintenance. Although the market conditions were difficult at the time, we intentionally made countercyclical investments. Those investments are now paying off.

在我們的鈾業務領域，我們繼續評估將麥克阿瑟河和基湖業務從每年 1800 萬英鎊擴大到每年 2500 萬英鎊的許可產能所需的營運資金。然而，與此同時，基湖工廠的產量今年迄今超出了我們的預期，我們現在預計產量約為 1900 萬磅，高於先前的 1800 萬磅。 2024 年前景的改善主要是我們在營運維護期間所進行的各種自動化、數位化和最佳化專案的結果。儘管當時市場環境困難，我們還是有意識地進行了逆週期投資。這些投資現在正在得到回報。

We're not only bending our cost curve, as that improvement work was completed ahead of the incredible inflationary pressure we're seeing today. But as we evaluate the CapEx required to increase production and step with demand in our contract book, we are potentially now able to achieve a higher baseline level of production before making any additional investments in Key-McArthur assets. Having more Tier 1 production in our portfolio is always a positive development for us. And the additional pounds can be feathered into our long-term contracts, providing further optionality, flexibility and the derisking of our supply stack. The first source of supply is our Tier 1 primary production, which always has a home under long-term contracts before it's pulled out of the ground.

我們不僅彎曲了成本曲線，因為改進工作是在我們今天看到的令人難以置信的通膨壓力之前完成的。但當我們評估增加產量所需的資本支出並根據合約中的需求調整時，我們現在有可能在對 Key-McArthur 資產進行任何額外投資之前實現更高的基準生產水準。在我們的產品組合中擁有更多的一級生產對我們來說始終是一個積極的發展。額外的資金可以納入我們的長期合同，從而提供更多的選擇性、靈活性並降低我們供應鏈的風險。第一個供應來源是我們的一級初級產品，在開採之前，它總是根據長期合約擁有一個家。

Based on available production, we then manage our other levers, including inventory, long-term purchases, loan material and market purchases. We carefully plan these supply sources years in advance, retaining access to multiple levers to manage risks, one risk being that a given source runs short of expectations. That's what we're seeing a JV Inkai in Kazakhstan, which falls into our long-term committed purchase bucket of supply. We now expect production of about 7.7 million pounds of uranium from Inkai, down from last year's production and from our previous 2024 expectation of 8.3 million pounds. The decreased outlook at Inkai is primarily due to the ongoing challenges related to sulfuric acid in that part of the world.

然後，我們根據可用產量來管理其他槓桿，包括庫存、長期購買、貸款材料和市場採購。我們提前幾年仔細規劃這些供應來源，保留使用多種槓桿來管理風險，其中一個風險是特定來源無法達到預期。這就是我們在哈薩克看到的合資企業 Inkai，它屬於我們長期承諾的供應採購範圍。我們現在預計 Inkai 的鈾產量約為 770 萬磅，低於去年的產量以及我們之前預計的 2024 年 830 萬磅。 Inkai 前景的下降主要是由於該地區與硫酸相關的持續挑戰。

There was enough acid procured to achieve the original plant production volume, but the timing of the deliveries of that asset shifted, pushing the development and production schedule into 2025. A portion of our share of this year's production, about 2.3 million pounds, has now arrived at a Canadian port with shipments to Blind River now underway. However, our remaining allocation for this year is still under discussion with Kazatomprom. Of note, we are currently finalizing an updated National Instrument 43-101 technical report for the Inkai mine, in which we will update the expected reserves, production profile, costs, sensitivities and technical information. So in the third quarter, we had to account for the higher production from Key-McArthur, partially offset by the increased uncertainty on the quantity and timing for our full share of production from JV Inkai.

採購了足夠的酸來實現原來工廠的生產量，但該資產的交付時間發生了變化，將開發和生產計劃推遲到了 2025 年。 ，目前正在向Blind River 發貨。然而，我們今年剩餘的撥款仍在與 Kazatomprom 討論。值得注意的是，我們目前正在敲定 Inkai 礦山更新後的 National Instrument 43-101 技術報告，其中我們將更新預期儲量、產量概況、成本、敏感性和技術資訊。因此，在第三季度，我們必須考慮到 Key-McArthur 產量的增加，但我們從 JV Inkai 獲得全部產量的數量和時間的不確定性增加，部分抵消了這一因素。

So we put our supply levers to work, realigning our expected market and long-term committed purchases for the year. We decreased our committed purchases from 9 million pounds to 8 million pounds and shifted our market purchases from up to two million pounds to now be up to 3 million pounds for 2024. And although we have either taken delivery of or have commitments for the majority of our expected 2024 market purchases, we may look for additional opportunities to add to our inventory position. In the fuel services segment, production was also strong. In fact, it was 60% higher than our third quarter last year.

因此，我們發揮供應槓桿作用，重新調整我們的預期市場和今年的長期承諾採購。我們將 2024 年承諾採購量從 900 萬英鎊減少到 800 萬英鎊，並將市場採購量從最多 200 萬英鎊增加到現在的 300 萬英鎊。機會來增加我們的庫存狀況。在燃料服務領域，生產也很強勁。事實上，比去年第三季高出 60%。

This was largely thanks to the commissioning of a new closed-loop water system at Port Hope. This additional process infrastructure not only provides positive benefits from a water usage and sustainability perspective, but it allowed us to eliminate the annual summer maintenance outage for the first time, partially offsetting the impact of the temporary operational issues that affected production in the first half of 2024. As expected and as I highlighted, the performance of our Westinghouse investment this year continues to be impacted by purchase price accounting, which is, of course, not unique to this transaction, but something that is normal course in the case of any acquisition. It's important to look through these impacts as our outlook for Westinghouse's performance this year and over the next five years is positive and unchanged. In fact, when we look at the underlying long-term trends for the industry, we continue to see more opportunities for Westinghouse emerging than we have valued at the time of acquisition, making it a very timely transaction that has fit perfectly into our long-term strategy.

這主要歸功於霍普港新閉環供水系統的調試。這種額外的製程基礎設施不僅從用水和永續發展的角度帶來了積極的好處，而且使我們首次消除了每年夏季維護停電的情況，部分抵消了影響上半年生產的臨時營運問題的影響。 2024 年。審視這些影響非常重要，因為我們對西屋電氣今年和未來五年的業績展望是積極的且沒有變化。事實上，當我們審視該行業的潛在長期趨勢時，我們繼續看到西屋電氣出現的機會比我們在收購時所估價的要多，這使其成為一項非常及時的交易，完全符合我們的長期目標。

Stepping over to the financial aspect of our strategy, we continue to be in great shape. As always, normal quarterly variability in customer deliveries impacted our results. In addition, earnings from our equity-accounted investees impacted our adjusted net earnings this quarter. As I noted earlier, our overall financial results continue to be influenced by the required Westinghouse purchase accounting and other nonoperational acquisition-related costs. Equity earnings from JV Inkai were also lower because of the continued delay to the transportation of our share of production from the Inkai mine.

轉向我們策略的財務方面，我們繼續保持良好狀態。與往常一樣，客戶交付量的正常季度變化會影響我們的業績。此外，我們的股權投資對象的收益影響了我們本季調整後的淨利潤。正如我之前指出的，我們的整體財務表現繼續受到所需的西屋電氣採購會計和其他非營運收購相關成本的影響。由於我們從 Inkai 礦山生產的部分產品的運輸持續延遲，JV Inkai 的股本收益也有所下降。

We do not take ownership of our share of Inkai's production until it arrives at our Blind River refinery and, therefore, JV Inkai cannot record revenue on those pounds. Ours is a complex long-term industry that does not lend itself well to quarterly estimates. That's why we provide an annual outlook, which, following the third quarter, remains largely unchanged for both Cameco and for Westinghouse, with the exception of the realignment of our supply sources and the impact of a stronger US dollar on average realized price, revenue and adjusted EBITDA from Westinghouse compared to the original assumption used. During the quarter, we continued to focus on debt management.

在 Inkai 生產的產品到達我們的 Blind River 煉油廠之前，我們不會擁有我們的份額，因此，JV Inkai 無法記錄這些磅的收入。我們的產業是一個複雜的長期產業，不太適合季度預測。這就是為什麼我們提供年度展望，在第三季度之後，除了我們的供應來源的重新調整以及美元走強對平均實現價格、收入和收入的影響外，Cameco 和西屋電氣的年度展望基本保持不變。最初使用的假設相比，西屋電氣調整後的EBITDA。本季度，我們繼續關注債務管理。

We made an additional repayment of USD 100 million on the floating rate term loan we used to finance the Westinghouse acquisition, bringing the year-to-date reductions to $400 million. And in the days ahead, we will continue to prioritize repayment of the remaining $200 million outstanding. We remain diligent in managing liquidity and the capital resources and tools required to deliver on our strategy, maintaining a strong balance sheet guided by our investment-grade rating. To provide flexibility and maintain good financial hygiene, we plan to file a new base shelf prospectus to replace the one that expired in October. Before we wrap up, I want to highlight a few changes to our executive team.

我們額外償還了 1 億美元用於資助西屋電氣收購的浮動利率定期貸款，使年初至今的減少額達到 4 億美元。未來幾天，我們將繼續優先償還剩餘的 2 億美元欠款。我們仍然努力管理流動性以及實現我們的策略所需的資本資源和工具，在投資級評級的指導下保持強勁的資產負債表。為了提供靈活性並保持良好的財務狀況，我們計劃提交一份新的基本貨架招股說明書來取代 10 月到期的招股說明書。在結束之前，我想強調一下我們執行團隊的一些變化。

The beginning of October, David Doerksen was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. David has been with Cameco since 1998, most recently as Vice President of Marketing. He's also held roles in tax and treasury, corporate strategy and corporate development. Lisa Aitken has taken over David's previous role as Vice President, Marketing. I have no doubt that the deep uranium market experience that both David and Lisa bring to their new roles will serve Cameco well as we position the company to leverage opportunities through these very exciting times for the nuclear industry.

十月初，David Doerksen 被任命為資深副總裁兼首席行銷長。 David 自 1998 年起就加入 Cameco，最近擔任的職位是行銷副總裁。他也曾在稅務和財務、企業策略和企業發展方面擔任職務。艾特肯 (Lisa Aitken) 接替了大衛 (David) 之前的行銷副總裁職務。我毫不懷疑，David 和 Lisa 為他們的新角色帶來的深厚的鈾市場經驗將為 Cameco 提供良好的服務，因為我們使公司能夠在核工業這個非常激動人心的時刻利用機會。

So with that, I thank you for your interest today, and I'll stop there, and we'd be delighted to take your questions.

因此，我感謝您今天的關注，我就到此為止，我們很高興回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Ralph Profiti, Eight Capital.

（操作員指令）Ralph Profiti，八資本。

Tim, with respect to the long-term contracting that you mentioned in your prepared remarks, just wondering if some of the buying behavior is shifting, specifically with respect to the prioritization of sort of downstream procurement, things like through conversion and enrichment, and buyers are now starting to thinking about moving upstream as that part of the market gets fulfilled in terms of sort of crowding out some of that Russian material. Just wondering if that's -- if this contract means sort of a signal that, that could be happening?

蒂姆，關於您在準備好的發言中提到的長期合同，只是想知道某些購買行為是否正在發生變化，特別是在下游採購的優先順序方面，例如通過轉換和豐富以及買家現在開始考慮向上游移動，因為這部分市場在某種程度上擠出了一些俄羅斯材料。只是想知道，如果這份合約意味著某種訊號，這可能會發生？

Yes, Ralph. I will answer yes to that. We're 2 years, 2.5 years now into this Russian invasion into Ukraine. And as Grant, I think, has pointed out many, many times, once that happened, obviously, that caused a bit of a crisis in the whole market, but the utilities often start at the far end in the enrichment space and work their way backwards. I don't think they're finished in enrichment yet to.

是的，拉爾夫。我對此的回答是肯定的。俄羅斯入侵烏克蘭已經2年了，2.5年了。我認為，正如格蘭特多次指出的那樣，一旦發生這種情況，顯然會在整個市場引起一些危機，但公用事業公司往往從濃縮空間的遠端開始，並以自己的方式工作向後。我認為他們的豐富化還沒有完成。

There's -- you can see the prices are holding pretty firm and enrichment conversion are hitting new highs, and we're waiting for it to come down the pipeline really into the uranium space because we're going to have a problem there going forward as well. So I think your observation is absolutely right, Ralph.

你可以看到價格保持相當堅挺，濃縮轉換正在創下新高，我們正在等待它真正進入鈾領域，因為我們未來將遇到一個問題出色地。所以我認為你的觀察是絕對正確的，拉爾夫。

Okay, great. And I want to ask a question on your comments about Westinghouse and your long-term EBITDA growth rate sort of 6% to 10%. That's a few quarters old and certainly market dynamics have shifted. Just wondering when you'll be in a position to sort of address that growth rate. And how you're thinking about the range of that growth, given some of the market dynamics are certainly moving forward for us.

好的，太好了。我想問一個關於您對西屋電氣以及您 6% 到 10% 的長期 EBITDA 增長率的評論的問題。這已經是幾個季度前的事了，而且市場動態肯定已經改變了。只是想知道什麼時候你才能解決這個成長率問題。考慮到一些市場動態對我們來說肯定是向前發展的，您如何看待這種成長的範圍。

Yes, Ralph, we're holding to that 6% to 10%. But Grant, I'm going to ask you to -- Grant is on the Board for Cameco of Westinghouse, and they're working with them right now on present and future outlook. So Grant, why don't you take a shot.

是的，拉爾夫，我們堅持 6% 到 10%。但格蘭特，我要請你——格蘭特是西屋公司 Cameco 的董事會成員，他們現在正在與他們就當前和未來的前景進行合作。那麼格蘭特，為什麼不嘗試呢？

Yes, happy to do that. Ralph, a couple of key points on Westinghouse. Obviously, we've maintained the guidance for this year from an adjusted EBITDA basis, as you saw in our outlook table. And as you mentioned, we have a 6% to 10% growth rate over the next five years for Westinghouse. And I think your comment -- or your question is a good one.

是的，很高興這樣做。拉爾夫，關於西屋電氣的幾個要點。顯然，正如您在我們的展望表中看到的那樣，我們在調整後的 EBITDA 基礎上維持了今年的指導。正如您所提到的，我們預計西屋電氣未來五年的成長率為 6% 至 10%。我認為你的評論——或者你的問題是一個很好的評論。

There have been a lot of tailwinds to the nuclear industry, and you've seen a lot of news flow around Westinghouse's extraordinarily good position with respect to those tailwinds. And what we would just say is we think that remains a very conservative outlook. We tend to wait until some of the bigger projects, for example, the new build of AP1000 hit the final investment decision in order to kind of adjust that upward growth on new builds. So lots of excitement, a lot of prospect for new builds. For those who haven't seen the DOE's latest lift-off report and how prominently the AP1000 features in that, I would encourage everybody to have a look at that.

核工業有很多順風車，而且你已經看到很多關於西屋電氣在這些順風車方面處於非常有利地位的新聞。我們想說的是，我們認為這仍然是一個非常保守的觀點。我們傾向於等到一些較大的項目（例如 AP1000 的新建項目）做出最終投資決定，以便對新建項目的向上增長進行調整。如此令人興奮，對新建築的前景充滿期待。對於那些還沒看過 DOE 最新升空報告以及 AP1000 在其中的突出表現的人，我鼓勵大家都看一下。

But right now, that is really just a conservative view. We take the announcements that have been made for new builds, for example. And all we're factoring in is the growth that's coming from the front-end engineering and design work. None of these projects, whether it's Poland, Bulgaria or Ukraine, for example, have hit a final investment decision. When that occurs, yes, there will be an upward adjustment to that number.

但目前來看，這其實只是一種保守的觀點。例如，我們以新版本發布的公告為例。我們所考慮的只是前端工程和設計工作所帶來的成長。這些項目，無論是波蘭、保加利亞或烏克蘭，都尚未做出最終投資決定。當這種情況發生時，是的，這個數字將會向上調整。

So it's conservative. It's consistent with the time frames that it takes. But let's be very clear, Westinghouse is incredibly well positioned given all of the tailwinds in the nuclear space.

所以還是保守的。它與所需的時間框架一致。但我們要明確的是，鑑於核子領域的所有有利因素，西屋電氣處於令人難以置信的有利地位。

Adam Wijaya, Goldman Sachs.

亞當‧維賈亞，高盛。

I wanted to just first start on Inkai. So given some of the uncertainties surrounding that deposit, at least in the near and medium term, how are you thinking about the Tier 2 asset base that's currently on care and maintenance? And then a follow-up to that is, how should we be thinking about any potential inorganic growth opportunities, specifically on the mining side?

我想先從 Inkai 開始。因此，考慮到圍繞該存款的一些不確定性，至少在短期和中期，您如何看待目前處於維護和保養狀態的二級資產基礎？接下來是，我們應該如何考慮任何潛在的無機成長機會，特別是在採礦方面？

Thanks, Adam, for the question. So you mentioned Inkai. We're working our way through Inkai. You saw in our reporting that there's some asset issues, there's asset issues in the country. But ours was a bit of a timing on asset issue.

謝謝亞當提出這個問題。所以你提到了Inkai。我們正在努力通過Inkai。您在我們的報告中看到，存在一些資產問題，該國存在資產問題。但我們在資產問題上有點時機不對。

I think we got the allocation we need for the year. We just didn't get it quite at the right time. So we're having to adjust our production numbers there a bit, but we remain committed to the JV Inkai project in the future of that. Tier 2, not yet. You hear us talk about our Tier 1s.

我認為我們已經獲得了今年所需的撥款。我們只是沒有在正確的時間得到它。因此，我們必須稍微調整我們的生產數量，但我們仍然致力於 JV Inkai 專案的未來。 2級，還沒有。您聽到我們談論我們的一級。

We've got firepower with our Tier 1 assets, especially the McArthur River/Key Lake project, which we continue to evaluate how we can derisk and debottleneck that project to, at some point, increase production from (inaudible) million pounds. We're at now moving closer to our license capacity of 25 million pounds. So honestly, that's the best project on the planet at the moment. So we'll focus on that. We'll focus on our Tier 1s.

我們的一級資產擁有火力，特別是麥克阿瑟河/基湖項目，我們將繼續評估如何消除該項目的風險和瓶頸，以便在某個時候將產量從（聽不清楚）百萬磅增加。我們現在正在接近 2500 萬英鎊的許可產能。老實說，這是目前地球上最好的項目。所以我們將重點放在這一點上。我們將專注於我們的一級。

And then when the market calls for us to move to Tier 2, we've been keeping them on care and maintenance now for the last number of years. We'll pull those out. Those aren't greenfield, those are brownfield, way shorter to restart than anything greenfield. And so we've got those in our pocket as well. Then we've got a few projects that we haven't even started yet.

然後，當市場要求我們轉向二級時，我們在過去的幾年裡一直在對它們進行保養和維護。我們會把它們拉出來。這些都不是綠地，而是棕地，比綠地的重啟時間短得多。所以我們的口袋裡也有這些。然後我們還有一些尚未開始的項目。

We do have our own greenfields that we -- that are well situated close to existing facilities in friendly jurisdictions with competent teams with great relations with our neighbors, indigenous and otherwise, we would go to those first. So we've got our own package of projects ready to go, whether it's increasing our Tier 1s bringing on our Tier 2s or looking at greenfield. So as Grant just said a minute ago, we are incredibly well positioned and ready to go when the time calls for it.

我們確實有自己的綠地，位置優越，靠近友好管轄區的現有設施，擁有與我們的鄰居、土著和其他人有良好關係的有能力的團隊，我們會首先去那些地方。因此，我們已經準備好自己的一攬子項目，無論是增加我們的一級項目以引入我們的二級項目還是尋找綠地。正如格蘭特一分鐘前所說，我們處於非常有利的位置，並準備在需要的時候出發。

Great. That's super helpful. My second question is just on conversion. So clearly remaining the tightest part of the fuel cycle and understand what the Westinghouse acquisition, the Springfield asset seems really competitively positioned to service that part of the fuel cycle. So what are your latest thoughts on a potential restart here?

偉大的。這非常有幫助。我的第二個問題只是關於轉換。顯然，斯普林菲爾德資產仍然是燃料循環中最緊張的部分，並且了解西屋電氣的收購，斯普林菲爾德資產似乎確實具有競爭力，可以為燃料循環的該部分提供服務。那麼您對這裡可能重新啟動的最新想法是什麼？

And then what needs to happen realistically from a contracting perspective from the conversion side of the equation to accelerate any announcement here?

那麼，從等式轉換方面的合約角度來看，實際需要發生什麼才能加速此處的任何公告？

Yes. So we're incredibly excited about that one, too. That wasn't in the first part of the answer with Cameco. Grant, you want to talk about Springfields in the field?

是的。所以我們對此也感到非常興奮。這並不是 Cameco 回答的第一部分。格蘭特，你想談談斯普林菲爾德的實地情況嗎？

Yes, a couple of common themes emerging. So the first question that we got this morning was about the pattern of contracting, and it's just important for everybody on this call to remember that when utilities really are thinking about securing that fabricated fuel bundle, they start at the reactor and they work upstream. And as they do that, we've seen pressure on the enrichment space. We've seen a lot of pressure on the conversion space. And I would just echo Tim's earlier comment that the world has yet to see that demand fully hit the uranium space, which is, by the way, very, very good news for uranium.

是的，出現了一些共同的主題。因此，我們今天早上收到的第一個問題是關於承包模式，對於這次電話會議的每個人來說，重要的是要記住，當公用事業公司真正考慮確保預製燃料包的安全時，他們從反應爐開始，在上游工作。當他們這樣做時，我們看到了濃縮空間面臨的壓力。我們已經看到轉換空間面臨很大的壓力。我只是同意蒂姆之前的評論，即世界尚未看到需求完全衝擊鈾領域，順便說一句，這對鈾來說是非常非常好的消息。

To your question about conversion, it remains really tight. Conversion does require the last remaining Western conversion facility, Springfields, to come back to the market. That does need to occur. In order to get there, you have to have a very solid plan. Springfields is a multipurpose facility in the U.K., just an incredibly strategic asset.

對於你關於轉換的問題，它仍然非常緊張。轉換確實需要西部最後一個轉換設施斯普林菲爾德重新回到市場。這確實需要發生。為了實現這一目標，您必須有一個非常可靠的計劃。斯普林菲爾德是英國的一個多功能設施，是一項令人難以置信的戰略資產。

It can do a lot of things. And so part of the thinking around Springfields is making sure that the appropriate investments are well leveraged. Different lines at Springfields may share common infrastructure. So spending that money wisely is priority #1. So you have to have a good, solid industrial plan to restart and then like everything else in the nuclear fuel cycle, it has to be coordinated with marketing.

它可以做很多事情。因此，圍繞斯普林菲爾德的部分思考是確保適當的投資得到充分利用。斯普林菲爾德的不同線路可能共享共同的基礎設施。因此，明智地花錢是第一要務。因此，你必須有一個良好、可靠的工業計劃來重啟，然後像核燃料循環中的其他一切一樣，它必須與行銷相協調。

Conversion is like uranium, you don't build productive capacity and then start knocking on people's doors and trying to chase in your demand because it just doesn't exist. So we need to see a stronger contracting cycle in conversion. Right now, that conversion demand is really chasing production at the three existing Western facilities. It hasn't really started to chase the type of pricing required to restart Springfields, but it's coming. So we -- just like in uranium, we're very strategically patient and we're very disciplined.

轉換就像鈾，你不會建立生產能力，然後開始敲人們的門並試圖追逐你的需求，因為它根本不存在。因此，我們需要看到更強的合約轉換週期。目前，這種轉換需求實際上正在追逐三個現有西方工廠的生產。它還沒有真正開始追求重啟斯普林菲爾德所需的定價類型，但它即將到來。所以我們——就像在鈾礦領域一樣，我們在戰略上非常耐心，而且非常自律。

This asset has to come back. And the value opportunity for Westinghouse is very significant. We love our position in the conversion space.

這個資產必須要回來。對於西屋電氣來說，價值機會非常重大。我們喜歡我們在轉換領域的地位。

Adam Wong, RBC Capital Markets.

Adam Wong，加拿大皇家銀行資本市場。

So we've seen a lot of momentum on new nuclear and data centers. But we did see the US government kind of push back on that Amazon and Talen deal. It sounds like maybe more of a speed bump versus changing any major views on using nuclear on -- to power data centers. But I'm just kind of curious of your views on that announcement.

因此，我們看到了新核能和資料中心的巨大發展勢頭。但我們確實看到美國政府對亞馬遜和 Talen 的交易有所抵制。與改變關於使用核能為資料中心供電的任何主要觀點相比，這聽起來可能更像是一個減速帶。但我只是好奇你對此公告的看法。

And then just broadly, we've heard a lot of remarks from the US utilities potentially even considering new builds recently and potentially within the next maybe 12 months. So maybe just your thoughts on a new build announcement in the US sometime in the future and AP1000 role within that?

總的來說，我們聽到了美國公用事業公司的許多言論，他們甚至可能考慮最近並可能在未來 12 個月內建造新的建築。那麼，也許您對未來某個時候在美國發布的新版本以及 AP1000 在其中的角色有何看法？

Yes. I'm not sure that's a speed bump. I'm not sure -- it's not a door opening for more new nuclear buying the meter. But Grant, why don't you answer that?

是的。我不確定這是否是一個減速帶。我不確定——這不會為更多新核電購買電錶打開大門。但是格蘭特，你為什麼不回答這個問題呢？

Yes. My ability to see the silver lining in every dark cloud is pretty astonishing, Andrew. I looked at the FERC announcement very different. I think maybe the market misinterpreted that. What it said to me was that the hyperscalers and the industrial onshores that are chasing electrons have to co-invest in new capacity rather than show up and start generating a lot of demand into existing grids and increasing the price, they have to co-invest in new capacity.

是的。安德魯，我在每一片烏雲中看到一線希望的能力真是令人驚訝。我對 FERC 公告的看法截然不同。我認為市場可能誤解了這一點。它對我說的是，追逐電子的超大規模企業和陸上工業必須共同投資新產能，而不是出現並開始對現有電網產生大量需求並提高價格，他們必須共同投資以新的身份。

So it actually goes hand in glove with some of the announcements that you've seen, the Constellation-Microsoft announcement to bring back Unit 1 at Three Mile Island, new capacity coming to the grid, the hyperscalers co-investing in that new capacity. All the FERC announcement did is confirm that those with in excess of $1 trillion enterprise values that need electrons are going to have to invest in those electrons themselves. That's a great new story for new build. I don't look at it as a speed bump at all. I look at it as a very, very clear signal that very large pockets of demand are coming to buy electrons and they happen to want the quality of electron that comes out of a nuclear power plant, carbon-free 24-hour, fully dispatchable baseload power.

因此，它實際上與您所看到的一些公告密切相關，星座-微軟宣布恢復三哩島的 1 號機組、電網的新容量、超大規模企業共同投資該新容量。 FERC 的公告所做的只是確認，那些需要電子的企業價值超過 1 兆美元的企業將不得不自己投資這些電子。對於新建築來說，這是一個很棒的新故事。我根本不認為這是一個減速帶。我認為這是一個非常非常明確的信號，表明大量的需求正在購買電子產品，而他們恰好想要來自核電站的電子質量、24小時無碳、完全可調度的基本負載力量。

So I very much view it as good news. And I'm going to go back to something I said earlier. If folks on this call haven't seen the DOE left off report, they need to go and have a look at it and see the role that the AP1000 could possibly play and probably draw the same conclusion we do, which is that existing technology, fully operating at the Vogtle plants, generation 3, reliable technology that doesn't have any technology or fuel risk is extraordinarily well positioned to meet this demand and this demand that's being told needs to be co-invested. I like this outcome, Andrew.

所以我非常認為這是個好消息。我要回到我之前說過的事。如果這次電話會議的人員還沒有看到能源部留下的報告，他們需要去看看它，看看 AP1000 可能發揮的作用，並可能得出與我們相同的結論，即現有技術，在Vogtle工廠全面運作的第3 代技術，可靠的技術不存在任何技術或燃料風險，非常適合滿足這一需求，而且這種需求被告知需要共同投資。我喜歡這個結果，安德魯。

That's great. That's really good color. And then maybe just on the McArthur/Key Lake, it's producing really well. What's the potential there for that facility to produce above 20 million pounds and maybe you don't even need to spend some extra CapEx to really expand production there?

那太棒了。這顏色確實不錯啊然後也許就在麥克阿瑟/基湖上，它的表現非常好。該工廠產量超過 2000 萬英鎊的潛力有多大，也許您甚至不需要花費一些額外的資本支出來真正擴大那裡的生產？

Yes. Andrew, you're exactly on track. That's what we're evaluating right now. We're continuing to look at and I was up there earlier this week with our Board how we can derisk, debottleneck the existing facilities to get to 25 million pounds. And I give our teams credit in those tough times we were in when we had to take the units down at both McArthur River and Key Lake.

是的。安德魯，你完全步入正軌。這就是我們現在正在評估的。我們正在繼續研究如何消除現有設施的風險和瓶頸，以達到 2500 萬英鎊，本週早些時候我也曾與董事會一起討論過。當我們必須拆除麥克阿瑟河和基湖的部隊時，我對我們的團隊表示讚賞。

We didn't sit on our hands, we actually stepped up and put some thought and some money and some robotics and automation and capital into those assets to really get them ready because we knew they were coming back. Those are the best assets on the planet. They're not going to sit idle forever. And so we -- the work we did during that period, now we're seeing it bear fruit. And so you see we bumped up production a bit this year.

我們並沒有袖手旁觀，我們實際上挺身而出，將一些想法、一些資金、一些機器人技術、自動化和資本投入到這些資產中，真正讓它們做好準備，因為我們知道它們會回來。這些是地球上最好的資產。他們不會永遠閒著。所以我們——我們在那段時期所做的工作，現在我們看到它取得了成果。所以你看我們今年的產量有增加。

We're going to see how far we can push that without putting a big chunk of new capital into that. And like I say, those are elite assets in the nuclear space, I can tell you, the elite assets in the nuclear space. And we have the Elite team running them. And so we'll see what we can do with those assets going forward. But we're going to try and push them as hard as we can without having to put a lot of capital in.

我們將看看在不投入大量新資本的情況下，我們能將這一目標推向多遠。就像我說的，這些是核子領域的精英資產，我可以告訴你，核子領域的精英資產。我們有精英團隊來管理它們。因此，我們將看看未來可以如何利用這些資產。但我們將盡力推動它們，而無需投入大量資金。

And Grant?

格蘭特呢？

Andrew, I'm just going to jump in on the end of it, though, and just remind folks that would ever Cameco talks about increasing production, it does not mean production that's coming to the broader market. It doesn't mean that Cameco is oversupplying. So we increased production after we secured the demand, that production that could possibly come out of McArthur/Key has a home in a long-term contract portfolio. I don't want to see anybody taking away from those comments that, "Oh, Cameco is being irresponsible with production decisions." That never happens.

安德魯，不過，我只是想插話到最後，只是提醒大家，卡梅科曾經談論過增加產量，但這並不意味著產量會進入更廣闊的市場。這並不意味著Cameco 供應過剩。因此，在滿足需求後，我們增加了產量，麥克阿瑟/基可能生產的產量在長期合約組合中佔有一席之地。我不希望看到任何人從這些評論中刪除「哦，Cameco 對生產決策不負責任」。那永遠不會發生。

Alexander Pearce, BMO Capital Markets.

亞歷山大·皮爾斯 (Alexander Pearce)，BMO 資本市場。

So I have a follow-up on one of the earlier questions on Inkai. First off, can you kind of confirm that you think some of the issues at the asset so far this year are transitory? And are you seeing an improvement already? Have you kind of over the hump as it were? And then you've got a fairly complex ownership agreement of that asset.

所以我對 Inkai 的早期問題之一進行了跟進。首先，您能否確認您認為今年迄今該資產的一些問題是暫時的？您是否已經看到了改善？你是否已經渡過了難關？然後您就獲得了該資產的相當複雜的所有權協議。

And so I was just wondering if you can help us with how we should think about your share of production going forward from the asset. Is there any opportunity to catch up on some of the share that you've -- of the volumes that you've lost so far this year?

所以我只是想知道您是否可以幫助我們考慮如何從該資產中獲得您的生產份額。是否有機會彌補今年迄今所損失的部分份額？

So I think yes and yes. Yes, we're getting over some of the issues. Obviously, acid continues to be an issue, sulfuric acid in Kazakhstan. We don't take Russian asset. That's one of the issues with our joint venture that maybe limits it a bit.

所以我認為是的，是的。是的，我們正在解決一些問題。顯然，酸仍然是一個問題，哈薩克的硫酸。我們不拿走俄羅斯的資產。這是我們合資企業的問題之一，可能會有點限制它。

We have made a commitment not to deal with the Russian. So that had a bit of an effect on our asset supply. As I say, we've got enough now, but the timing wasn't particularly right for our production this year. So we had to reduce it by a little bit complex ownership agreement. Yes, we've been there for 25 years.

我們已承諾不與俄羅斯人打交道。所以這對我們的資產供應產生了一些影響。正如我所說，我們現在已經足夠了，但今年的生產時機不太合適。所以我們必須透過稍微複雜的所有權協議來減少它。是的，我們已經在那裡待了 25 年了。

We've got a bunch of complex ownership agreements with them. We'll sort it out. We're in discussions with them now. Our team is talking about what the production allocation is for this year and going forward, and we should be able to recoup there. Don't forget, it's 10%, I think, of our production.

我們與他們簽訂了一系列複雜的所有權協議。我們會解決的。我們現在正在與他們進行討論。我們的團隊正在討論今年和未來的生產分配，我們應該能夠在那裡收回成本。別忘了，我認為這占我們產量的 10%。

So it's important to us. We're happy to be there. We're happy to be partners with Kazatomprom. But in the bigger ticket chemical Westinghouse, it's a smaller portion of our business.

所以這對我們很重要。我們很高興能在那裡。我們很高興與 Kazatomprom 成為合作夥伴。但在規模更大的西屋電氣化學公司中，它只占我們業務的一小部分。

The next question is from Lawson Winder with Bank of America Securities.

下一個問題來自美國銀行證券公司的勞森溫德。

Just wanted to get your thoughts on views on uranium pricing, and in particular, just referring to the late summer uranium price survey from UxC. And so I mean, as it often does, it indicated a pretty significant disconnect in pricing in terms of where utilities think pricing will go and where suppliers think pricing will go, both in the year-end and longer term. And it seems that the utilities, in fact, believe in that lower pricing just given the lower contracting volume this year, they've been softer than in the past several years. So it does seem that the utilities are, in fact, waiting out for lower pricing beyond potentially just attempting to aid in their own negotiations. Are utilities making a mistake that might cost them more in the future?

只是想了解您對鈾定價的看法，特別是參考 UxC 夏末的鈾價格調查。所以我的意思是，正如經常發生的那樣，這表明在年底和長期內，公用事業公司認為定價將走向何方以及供應商認為定價將走向何處方面，定價存在相當大的脫節。事實上，公用事業公司似乎相信，鑑於今年的合約較低，定價較低，他們的表現比過去幾年要軟。因此，公用事業公司實際上似乎在等待更低的定價，而不僅僅是試圖幫助自己的談判。公用事業公司是否犯了一個可能在未來造成更大損失的錯誤？

And then do you think there's a logical explanation for why they might be seeing a different supply-demand situation or at least perceiving it differently? And then historically, what has typically led to the breaking of these types of stalemates?

那麼，您認為對於為什麼他們可能會看到不同的供需情況或至少有不同的看法有一個合乎邏輯的解釋嗎？那麼從歷史上看，通常是什麼導致了此類僵局的打破？

I'll just get our marketing guru, Grant, to answer that. Grant?

我會讓我們的行銷大師格蘭特來回答這個問題。授予？

Yes. A lot of questions there jammed into your one question, Lawson, so let me just make a couple of observations. First of all, with all due respect to our friend at UxC, I deeply, deeply discount that survey because no surprise, that survey says those who buy uranium want lower prices and those who sell it want higher prices. I don't think empirically that is useful in any way, shape or form or should really inform anybody's opinion. What we should always do is look at the fundamentals in this market.

是的。勞森，你的一個問題夾雜著很多問題，所以讓我發表幾點看法。首先，出於對我們在UxC 的朋友的應有尊重，我對這項調查非常非常不以為然，因為毫不奇怪，該調查表明那些購買鈾的人想要更低的價格，而那些出售鈾的人想要更高的價格。我認為從經驗上看，這在任何方面、形狀或形式上都沒有用處，也不應該真正告知任何人的意見。我們應該始終做的是關注這個市場的基本面。

The fundamentals in this market are very clear and they're very positive. The long-term price is up again, $81.50 now in USD terms. And we're not even remotely close to replacement rate contracting. This is a market that has never seen these kind of uranium prices with so little demand in the market.

這個市場的基本面非常明確且非常正面。長期價格再次上漲，目前以美元計算為 81.50 美元。而且我們距離替代率合約還差得很遠。這是一個從未出現過如此低的市場需求的鈾價格的市場。

That's a pretty positive signal. And the structural gap between uranium supply and uranium demand does not require a Russian ban. On a global basis, there is not enough primary supply capacity and secondary supply availability to meet the demand as it's growing in a very certain and predictable way. That is ultimately what's going to drive prices. And when you see a structural gap, that's a one-way trade.

這是一個非常正面的訊號。而鈾供需之間的結構性缺口並不需要俄羅斯的禁令。在全球範圍內，沒有足夠的初級供應能力和次級供應能力來滿足需求，因為需求正在以非常確定和可預測的方式增長。這最終將推動價格上漲。當你看到結構性缺口時，這就是單向交易。

We need higher prices to incent the kind of investment to generate the primary production that's going to fill that gap. So that's very clear. That's unavoidable. How do we get there? Well, we get there through term demand.

我們需要更高的價格來刺激投資來生產初級產品，從而填補這一缺口。所以這非常清楚。這是不可避免的。我們如何到達那裡？好吧，我們透過期限需求來實現這一目標。

And when we think about that term demand, it's always important to remember that utility decide when they're bringing their term demand to the market. And that term demand is actually set by a number of things. There are some utilities that are contracting, let's not forget this. Let's not traffic in the assumption that there's no term demand happening. At the end of the third quarter, there was just over 50 million pounds contracted.

當我們考慮術語需求時，重要的是要記住，公用事業公司決定何時將術語需求推向市場。需求這個詞其實是由很多因素決定的。有些公用事業公司正在收縮，我們不要忘記這一點。我們不要假設沒有發生期限需求。截至第三季末，合約金額剛超過 5,000 萬英鎊。

But within three weeks, another 40 million pounds of uranium was reported as contracted. We've been saying, there's a lot of off-market activity going on. And in three weeks, we added another 40 million pounds of long-term contracting in the industry. There's a lot of off-market activity going on. So there are utilities who know they need future supply and they're working accordingly.

但三週內，據報導又有 4,000 萬磅鈾是依照合約交付。我們一直在說，有很多場外活動正在進行。三週內，我們又增加了 4000 萬英鎊的行業長期合約。有很多場外活動正在進行。因此，有些公用事業公司知道他們需要未來的供應，並且正在相應地工作。

But there are some uncertainties that are holding that up. And a big uncertainty there is not whether the Russian ban is going to stay or not. That's a legislative fan. It would require legislative action to overturn. The question is how easy will waivers be between now and 2028.

但存在一些不確定因素阻礙了這一進程。最大的不確定性並不在於俄羅斯的禁令是否會持續下去。這就是立法迷。需要採取立法行動才能推翻。問題是從現在到 2028 年，豁免有多容易。

And that's driving some uncertainty in the market or let's call it some pause from some of the fuel buyers. But when you step back and look at the overall dynamics and you see that market-related contracts are being priced at $70, low-$70 escalated floors, $130 escalated ceilings, if you pick the midpoint between those floors and ceilings, that's 3-digit uranium, that's $100 uranium. Market-related contracts are signaling that utilities understand the uranium price is going up from the long-term price of $81.50 because structurally, it has to in order to get the supply there. So that survey that you referenced at the beginning doesn't capture any of these facts. The facts are pretty clear and the facts are optimistic -- sorry, the facts are very positive and Cameco is incredibly well positioned for these facts.

這給市場帶來了一些不確定性，或者讓我們稱之為一些燃料買家的暫停。但當你退後一步，看看整體動態時，你會發現與市場相關的合約定價為70 美元，低至70 美元的升級底價，130 美元的升級上限，如果你選擇這些底價和上限之間的中點，那就是3 位數鈾，也就是 100 美元的鈾。與市場相關的合約表明，公用事業公司了解鈾價正在從 81.50 美元的長期價格上漲，因為從結構上來說，為了獲得供應，它必須這樣做。因此，您一開始引用的調查沒有捕捉到任何這些事實。事實非常清楚，事實也很樂觀——抱歉，事實非常積極，Cameco 在這些事實方面處於非常有利的位置。

Okay. And just as a follow-up, cost is often cited as a supporter to pricing and pricing is quite a bit above the cost curve. But in what we've been seeing with some of the other miners that are producing other commodities is that the cost inflation has become a theme again after disappearing for no less than just a couple of quarters. What are you guys seeing in terms of cost inflation? I mean we obviously know that Inkai has experienced significant cost inflation as a result of the new royalty, but just in Canada, are you seeing any cost inflation that will lead you to believe that the curve is moving up?

好的。隨之而來的是，成本經常被認為是定價的支持者，而定價遠高於成本曲線。但我們在其他一些生產其他商品的礦商身上看到的是，成本通膨在消失至少幾季後再次成為一個主題。你們對成本通膨有何看法？我的意思是，我們顯然知道 Inkai 由於新的特許權使用費而經歷了嚴重的成本通膨，但僅在加拿大，您是否看到任何成本通膨會讓您相信曲線正在上升？

Or are you seeing it in any other countries that would lead you to believe that cost curve is moving higher?

或者您是否在任何其他國家看到過這種情況，這會讓您相信成本曲線正在走高？

Yes. Certainly, the cost curve has been moving higher right across the resource space. There's no doubt about that. And Cameco has not been immune to that. Whether it's purchasing reagents and energy on North American markets, we've seen some cost increases on the labor side, for example, in our market.

是的。當然，整個資源空間的成本曲線一直在走高。毫無疑問。 Cameco 也未能倖免。無論是在北美市場購買試劑和能源，我們都看到勞動力方面的成本增加，例如在我們的市場上。

But I want to go back to something that Tim highlighted, which is the amped up, the automation and digitization project we did at McArthur/Key perfectly timed to bend the cost curve ahead of this inflation. So those investments are paying off. They're paying off in lower costs relative to where those assets were running in 2017 before we shut them down and lower costs relative to where inflation would have otherwise taken them and then, of course, additional production on the same asset base. So this is a really strong story about we bent the cost curve and actually got more production out of assets at a time when supply chains had become difficult. The other factor that's influencing the global cost curve, Lawson, is that in a bifurcated market, we simply need more Western sources of uranium, conversion and enrichment, and Western sources have historically been more expensive than non-Western sources, primarily because non-Western sources often from state-owned enterprises that don't have a commercial objective never really adhere to any sort of production economics in their pricing.

但我想回到蒂姆強調的事情，那就是我們在 McArthur/Key 所做的自動化和數位化項目，時機恰到好處，可以在通貨膨脹之前彎曲成本曲線。所以這些投資正在得到回報。相對於 2017 年我們關閉這些資產之前的營運成本，它們的回報是較低的成本，相對於通貨膨脹本來會帶來的成本，當然還有相同資產基礎上的額外生產。因此，這是一個非常強大的故事，講述了在供應鏈變得困難的時候，我們彎曲了成本曲線，實際上從資產中獲得了更多的產量。勞森，影響全球成本曲線的另一個因素是，在一個分岔的市場中，我們只需要更多的西方鈾來源、轉換和濃縮，而西方來源歷來比非西方來源更昂貴，主要是因為非西方來源西方來源通常來自沒有商業目標的國有企業，在定價時從未真正遵循任何生產經濟學。

You bifurcate the market, you have Western demand chasing smaller Western supply, you need production economic pricing. That's why there's been upward pressure on enrichment, massive upward pressure on conversion. And as I said earlier, that demand has not yet hit uranium in a full way, but it's coming.

你將市場一分為二，西方的需求追逐較小的西方供應，你需要生產經濟定價。這就是為什麼濃縮、轉化面臨巨大的上行壓力的原因。正如我之前所說，這種需求尚未全面衝擊鈾，但它即將到來。

Craig Hutchison, TD Cowen.

克雷格·哈奇森，TD·考恩。

Q4 is setting up to be quite a strong quarter at Westinghouse based on your updated guidance this morning. Can you just provide some context on the seasonality and why Q4 is going to be so strong? And is that a seasonality factor and something we should expect in future years going forward?

根據您今天早上更新的指導，西屋電氣第四季度將是一個相當強勁的季度。您能否提供一些有關季節性的背景資訊以及為什麼第四季度會如此強勁？這是季節性因素嗎？

Craig, thanks for the question. I'm going to ask Heidi Shockey to answer that one. Heidi?

克雷格，謝謝你的提問。我要請海蒂·肖基來回答這個問題。海蒂？

Craig, it is true, there is some seasonality with Westinghouse example. Throughout the year, we've said that the second half of the year is going to be stronger than the first half. First of all, because through the acquisition, we had to mark a lot of our assets and inventory to fair value. So we did sell that inventory in the first half. So that's unique to this year and won't carry on.

克雷格，確實如此，以西屋電氣為例，存在一些季節性。全年來看，我們都說過下半年會比上半年更強。首先，因為透過收購，我們必須將我們的許多資產和庫存標記為公允價值。所以我們在上半年確實賣掉了這些庫存。所以這是今年獨有的，不會繼續下去。

But there is seasonality to their business. They have two outage seasons typically, one in the spring and one in the fall. And the one in the fall kind of starts end of August and goes until November. So it is primarily in the fourth quarter. We see a lot of more work and higher margin work in that period.

但他們的業務有季節性。他們通常有兩個停電季節，一個在春季，一個在秋季。秋季的活動從八月底開始，一直持續到十一月。所以主要是在第四季。在此期間，我們看到了更多的工作和更高的利潤工作。

Okay. Great. And just one more follow-up question for me. Just on the sales forecast, again, it seems like Q4 is going to be quite strong. Just can you talk to some of the factors that pushed sales into the last quarter of the year?

好的。偉大的。還有一個後續問題想問我。就銷售預測而言，第四季似乎將相當強勁。您能談談推動今年最後一個季度銷售的一些因素嗎？

Yes, Craig, great question. So along with Westinghouse having a strong fourth quarter, Cameco, as you'll recall from our disclosure in Q4 when we put out our outlook, we were indicating stronger sales volumes in the second half of the year. And if you look at deliveries year-to-date versus our outlook table, which hasn't changed, somewhere between 11 million pounds and 13 million pounds of uranium remains to be sold in Q4. And these are committed sales that we have to deliver into. So you got to go back to 2018 or 2019 to see kind of back-end deliveries loaded that way.

是的，克雷格，好問題。因此，隨著西屋電氣第四季度的強勁表現，Cameco，正如您在第四季度發布展望時所披露的那樣，我們也表明下半年的銷售將更加強勁。如果你看看今年迄今的交貨量與我們的展望表（該表沒有改變），第四季仍有 1100 萬磅至 1300 萬磅鈾待售。這些都是我們必須實現的承諾銷售。所以你必須回到 2018 年或 2019 年才能看到後端交付是這樣加載的。

Just it's a function of when utilities call for deliveries, and it just happened to be a strong Q4 for us in the uranium segment to go along with a strong Q4 in Westinghouse, which is why it's so important to always remind people whenever you're looking at our quarterly results, you should also simultaneously look at our outlook table and our guidance and ask yourself, has anything changed materially there? And if it hasn't, that should help you put the quarter in proper context. So strong uranium segment in Q4, strong Westinghouse in Q4.

這只是公用事業公司要求交貨時的一個功能，而這恰好是我們鈾礦領域第四季度的強勁表現，與西屋電氣第四季度的強勁表現一致，這就是為什麼無論何時都要提醒人們如此重要的原因在查看我們的季度業績時，您還應該同時查看我們的展望表和指導，並問問自己，有什麼重大變化嗎？如果沒有，這應該可以幫助您將該季度置於適當的背景中。第四季鈾業務表現強勁，西屋電氣第四季表現強勁。

The next question is from Mohamed Sidibe with National Bank Financial.

下一個問題來自國家銀行金融部門的穆罕默德·西迪貝。

I just had a question on, I guess, the delayed shipment to be received from Inkai and how we should think about that in relationship with maybe your inventory balance and the implied...

我只是有一個問題，我想，從 Inkai 收到的延遲發貨以及我們應該如何考慮與您的庫存餘額和隱含的...

Yes. The delays in shipping from Inkai, I'll just go back and remind everybody, we made a decision when the Russians invaded Ukraine that we would not utilize the normal transportation channels to get material out of Central Asia. Normal transportation channels involved using Russian rails and Russian ports. What we wanted to do was take advantage of the so-called Trans-Caspian corridor route, which Kazatomprom had used before and had said was very reliable and very predictable. And I know all we've discovered in the last couple of years is it's neither reliable nor predictable.

是的。關於印海運輸的延誤，我回去提醒大家，當俄羅斯人入侵烏克蘭時，我們做出了決定，我們不會利用正常的運輸管道將物資運出中亞。正常運輸渠道涉及使用俄羅斯鐵路和俄羅斯港口。我們想做的是利用所謂的跨里海走廊路線，Kazatomprom 以前使用過該路線，並表示路線非常可靠且非常可預測。我知道我們在過去幾年中發現的只是它既不可靠也不可預測。

It just -- it takes time to get material assembled in Kazakhstan across the Caspian, the relevant permits through Azerbaijan in Georgia into the Black Sea and out the Bosporus to make its way to our Blind River refinery. So the good news is that corridor works, but it doesn't work in the predictable way the old Russian route work. And that just leads to some timing issues with respect to deliveries. But make no mistake, those deliveries eventually show up and the economic benefit of those deliveries hits our results. It just didn't hit in Q3 as Heidi referred to earlier.

只是——需要時間將材料在哈薩克跨里海組裝，獲得相關許可，通過格魯吉亞的阿塞拜疆進入黑海，然後離開博斯普魯斯海峽到達我們的盲河煉油廠。因此，好消息是走廊是有效的，但它不像舊的俄羅斯路線那麼有效。這只會導致一些與交付有關的時間問題。但毫無疑問，這些交付最終會出現，而這些交付的經濟效益會影響我們的業績。正如海蒂之前提到的那樣，它只是沒有在第三季度出現。

So we're just continuing to work that route. We're committed to that route because we are not going to use the Russian route. So that's how you need to think about those delays. We eventually get the material. And in the meantime, we use multiple sources, inventory, long-term purchases, perhaps some market purchases to always meet our sales commitments.

所以我們只是繼續沿著這條路線努力。我們致力於這條路線，因為我們不會使用俄羅斯路線。所以這就是你需要考慮這些延遲的方式。我們最終得到了材料。同時，我們使用多種來源、庫存、長期採購，也許還有一些市場採購來始終履行我們的銷售承諾。

And then just another question for me on the fuel services segment. So great quarter in terms of sales and improvement quarter-over-quarter there. But on the cost fronts, costs are largely flat. Could you maybe give us some more color on what would drive costs maybe lower towards your guided costs for 2024 into Q4?

我還有一個關於燃料服務領域的問題。就銷售而言，季度環比的改善非常出色。但在成本方面，成本基本上持平。您能否為我們提供更多信息，說明什麼因素會降低 2024 年第四季度的指導成本？

Yes. Costs in the fuel services segment can vary quite a bit. We have a number of different products in that segment, and they're quite different in terms of cost structure. So it -- from quarter-to-quarter, it will vary kind of based on the volume of sales of the various products. This year, we're seeing a little bit higher cost than in the UF6 segment because of the lower production than we forecast and, of course, some inflationary pressures.

是的。燃料服務領域的成本可能差異很大。我們在該領域有許多不同的產品，它們在成本結構方面有很大不同。因此，每個季度，它都會根據各種產品的銷售量而有所不同。今年，我們看到六氟化鈾領域的成本略高，因為產量低於我們的預測，當然還有一些通膨壓力。

But it's likely just a -- in the quarter, a difference between the mix of the products that we sold.

但這可能只是本季我們銷售的產品組合之間的差異。

Bryce Adams, CIBC.

布萊斯·亞當斯，CIBC。

Building on Lawson's question and Grant, you touched on it for a second. But with regard to long-term contracting, can you provide any color on where negotiations for floor and ceiling prices are? What levels are those at generally? How does that compare to negotiations earlier in the year, say, in the summer? Just generally, how are those floors and ceilings evolving?

在勞森和格蘭特的問題的基礎上，你又談到了這個問題。但對於長期合同，您能否提供有關最低價和最高價談判的任何資訊？一般都在什麼水平？這與今年早些時候（例如夏季）的談判相比如何？一般來說，這些地板和天花板是如何演變的？

Yes. Happy to do that, Bryce. I'm actually going to expand a little bit and just talk about the connective tissue that can sometimes happen between the spot market and the term market because it helps explain, I think, in part why there's been a bit of a slowdown in term contracting. So if you think about the spot market, it's always important to remember, it's small, it's discretionary, it's not fundamental and it's low quality demand. But it does create a reference point, if you will, for fuel buyers.

是的。很高興這樣做，布萊斯。實際上，我要稍微擴展一下，只是談談現貨市場和定期市場之間有時可能發生的結締組織，因為我認為這有助於解釋為什麼定期合約略有放緩。因此，如果您考慮現貨市場，請務必記住，它很小，可以任意選擇，不是基本面，而且需求品質低。但如果你願意的話，它確實為燃料購買者創造了一個參考點。

So when we're negotiating a long-term contract and we want it to be market related, they almost invariably have a floor and ceiling conversation around them. Floors today at $70, a little over $70 escalated, ceilings at $130 escalated. When you see the spot market soften like it's done and who are the culprits there? Well, it's anybody who produces material and doesn't have a home for it. Those are the culprits for why the spot market is softening.

因此，當我們談判長期合約並希望其與市場相關時，他們幾乎總是會進行上下限對話。今天的底價為 70 美元，略高於 70 美元，上限為 130 美元。當您看到現貨市場像完蛋一樣疲軟時，罪魁禍首是誰？好吧，任何人都在生產材料，但沒有地方存放它。這些都是現貨市場疲軟的罪魁禍首。

When the spot market softens and comes off like it has, $10, utilities are inclined to believe that, that should mean a one-for-one reduction in floors and ceilings, right? So if the spot market has come off $10, then shouldn't floors fall by $10, shouldn't ceilings fall by $10? And because we're strategic and because we're patient, for us, it's always about pricing appropriately for the future. And our message is the spot market coming off because somebody has sold 50,000 pounds of material in a clumsy way into a thinly traded market, has nothing to do with the appropriate price of uranium two years from now and out and beyond. So it's got nothing to do with where floors and ceilings should be.

當現貨市場走軟並像 10 美元那樣下跌時，公用事業公司傾向於認為，這應該意味著地板和天花板的一對一減少，對嗎？因此，如果現貨市場下跌 10 美元，那麼下限不應該下降 10 美元，上限不應該下降 10 美元嗎？因為我們具有策略性，而且我們很有耐心，所以對我們來說，最重要的是為未來進行適當的定價。我們的訊息是現貨市場即將下跌，因為有人以一種笨拙的方式向交易稀少的市場出售了 50,000 磅材料，這與兩年後及以後的鈾的適當價格無關。所以它與地板和天花板的位置無關。

And when we see that kind of narrative come through the market, we at Cameco will step back and say, "Okay, well, we'll just -- we'll wait until a better sense returns to the market." So right now, it's not that the term demand is strictly in the hands of the utilities, there's a counterparty and that counterparty is a producer who might not be satisfied with a conversation that floor should fall and ceilings should fall. And we would be one of those producers. So we're being very disciplined, very patient in our contracting. That's the connective tissue between long-term market and the spot market. And we're just trying to break that connection in our contracting.

當我們看到市場出現這種說法時，我們 Cameco 會退一步說：“好吧，我們會等待，直到市場有更好的感覺。”所以現在，並不是說需求這個詞嚴格掌握在公用事業公司的手中，而是有一個交易對手，而交易對手是一個生產商，他可能對下限應該下降和上限應該下降的對話不滿意。我們將成為這些生產商之一。因此，我們在簽訂合約時非常有紀律、非常有耐心。這是長期市場和現貨市場之間的結締組織。我們只是想在合約中打破這種聯繫。

What somebody is doing in a clumsy way in the spot market today with a small amount of pounds has nothing to do with the appropriate future price of uranium, and we're just in a position where we can hold out for that to send that signal accordingly.

今天有人在現貨市場上用少量英鎊笨拙地做的事情與鈾未來的適當價格無關，而我們只是處於可以堅持下去以發出信號的位置因此。

Okay. So sticking with the $70, $130 escalated ranges, that seems to be the default at the minute, but stay tuned, that could scale up in the next six months do you think?

好的。因此，堅持 70 美元、130 美元的升級範圍，這似乎是目前的預設範圍，但請繼續關注，您認為在未來六個月內可能會擴大範圍嗎？

If you look at the fundamentals and you look at that long-term price that continues to rise on really small volumes and then you look at the global cost curve and where it needs to be to make sure that the supply is there to meet the demand, it is suggestive that higher prices are required. Higher prices are required to incent the primary supply that's needed not just to replace primary mine depletion, but to replace secondary supply, which has dwindled dramatically and then to grow with the market. That is all very suggestive that this uranium price has yet to see the kind of move that enrichment and conversion has made simply because the enrichment and conversion demand hasn't fully made its way into uranium yet.

如果你看看基本面，你會看到長期價格在非常小的數量下繼續上漲，然後你會看到全球成本曲線以及它需要在哪裡，以確保供應能夠滿足需求，這表明需要更高的價格。需要更高的價格來刺激初級供應，這不僅需要取代初級礦山的枯竭，而且還需要取代已大幅減少並隨後隨市場增長而增長的二級供應。這一切都非常表明，鈾價尚未出現濃縮和轉化所造成的那種走勢，這僅僅是因為濃縮和轉換需求尚未完全進入鈾領域。

Brian MacArthur, Raymond James.

布萊恩麥克阿瑟，雷蒙德詹姆斯。

I just want to go back to the 11 million pounds to 13 million pounds in the fourth quarter on the uranium side. Can I assume that when you do that, the assumption is any utilities that had upward flexibility and their volumes in those old contracts that are coming due at that time? That's all reflected in there, i.e., you couldn't end up with 14 million pounds in the fourth quarter? Or is there still flex in the book that you're not assuming that might come through given where long-term prices are?

我只想回到第四季鈾方面的 1100 萬英鎊至 1300 萬英鎊。我是否可以假設，當您這樣做時，假設任何公用事業公司都具有向上的靈活性以及當時到期的舊合約中的交易量？這一切都反映在那裡，也就是說，你不能在第四季獲得 1400 萬英鎊？或者，考慮到長期價格的情況，書中是否仍然存在您認為不會實現的靈活性？

Yes, Brian, it's a great question, getting into a lot of detail. But normally, there wouldn't be that kind of upward surprise, if you will, simply because recall that the typical delivery commitment requires a nonbinding notice of delivery, say, 12 months out from when the utility wants it, may be converted to a binding notice of delivery six months out. So everything is pretty much baked in the cake now. If they wanted to flex up, they've already sent us that finding notice. There really aren't those kind of surprise opportunities left.

是的，布萊恩，這是一個很好的問題，涉及很多細節。但通常情況下，如果您願意的話，不會出現這種向上的驚喜，僅僅因為回想一下，典型的交付承諾需要一份不具約束力的交付通知，例如，距公用事業公司需要的12 個月後，可能會轉換為六個月後具有約束力的交貨通知。所以現在一切都已經在蛋糕上烤好了。如果他們想靈活應對，他們已經向我們發送了調查通知。確實沒有那種令人驚訝的機會了。

And just as you write new contracts, is that the same way they're still set up? You sort of have a 6-month notice in a year or is that term changing as part of the negotiation strategy as we write new contracts as well as price and all these floors and ceilings we talked about are volume options changing in the market?

就像您簽訂新合約一樣，它們的設定方式是否相同？您一年內有6 個月的通知，或者當我們編寫新合約以及價格時，作為談判策略的一部分，該條款是否會發生變化？的變化？

Many factors are changing. As the market tightens, as you look out into the future in which utilities are looking for material and there's only a couple of producers that are going to have projects and production out into that window, leverage is shifting over to the seller. And as the leverage shifts over to the seller, it's reflected in appropriate pricing mechanisms, higher floors, higher ceilings, better escalators on the floors and ceilings. It translates into lower flex in a contract. We don't have to be offering as much flex as the market tightens.

許多因素正在改變。隨著市場收緊，當你展望未來時，公用事業公司正在尋找材料，而只有少數生產商將在這個窗口內開展項目和生產，槓桿正在轉移到賣方身上。隨著槓桿轉移到賣方，它反映在適當的定價機制、更高的樓層、更高的天花板、更好的樓層和天花板自動扶梯上。它轉化為合約中較低的彈性。我們不必在市場緊縮時提供盡可能多的彈性。

It translates into different requirements for notice periods so that we have more time to plan the production. So we just -- we save our contracting for when we're in an up cycle precisely for these reasons because it brings more leverage to us, more certainty and predictability to our account. That's why we position when we do. And when the market isn't offering that kind of demand, we leave our production in the ground.

它轉化為不同的通知期要求，以便我們有更多的時間來規劃生產。因此，正是出於這些原因，我們在處於上升週期時才保留合同，因為它為我們帶來了更多的槓桿作用，為我們的帳戶帶來了更多的確定性和可預測性。這就是為什麼我們在這樣做時要定位。當市場無法提供這種需求時，我們就會將生產留在地下。

Gordon Johnson, GLJ Research.

戈登·約翰遜，GLJ 研究。

Just a quick one. Typically, there's some seasonality with uranium prices. And typically, from what we've seen, the prices have been weak in July, August, September. And then in October, November, December, they get stronger. I wanted to see if you guys are seeing some of that seasonality now.

只是快一點。通常，鈾價格存在一定的季節性。一般來說，從我們所看到的情況來看，七月、八月和九月的價格一直疲軟。然後在十月、十一月、十二月，他們變得更強。我想看看你們現在是否看到了一些季節性因素。

Clearly, prices have been weak recently. And also, can you juxtapose that against the strength we've seen in enrichment prices and why that may be foretelling or not foretelling with respect to what to expect for uranium prices moving forward?

顯然，近期價格疲軟。另外，您能否將其與我們在濃縮價格中看到的強勢進行對比，以及為什麼這可能預示或不預示鈾價未來的走勢？

Yes. A couple of good questions there. If you think about seasonality, I mean, there's a few factors going on there. You've heard us say before that actually the uranium calendar or the nuclear fuel cycle calendar starts in September and actually ends the following spring. So it's not based upon a January to December calendar.

是的。有幾個很好的問題。如果你考慮季節性，我的意思是，有幾個因素在起作用。您之前聽我們說​​過，實際上鈾日曆或核燃料循環日曆從九月開始，實際上在第二年春天結束。所以它不是基於一月到十二月的月曆。

So typically, the World Nuclear Association conference every September is kind of the kickoff to a contracting year. And then that leads to having all the customers and all the suppliers in the same place at the same time, starts to kick off, a lot of contracting. That contracting carries on through the remainder of the year. That is what typically makes the year-end a little stronger from pricing. It continues into the spring.

因此，每年九月舉行的世界核能協會會議通常是簽約年的開始。然後，這導致所有客戶和所有供應商同時出現在同一個地方，開始簽訂大量合約。該合約將持續到今年剩餘時間。這通常會讓年底的定價變得更強勁。它持續到春天。

And then in the past, the fuel buyers have kind of gone away for a little bit of a break, and we usually saw some softness from a demand point of view in the summer. So that -- the seasonality is just reflected by the fact that the nuclear calendar is really September to the end of August as opposed to January to December. But don't forget the effect of month-end games that happens on the uranium price. It comes as a surprise -- sorry, we sometimes -- it's a head scratcher for us for as long as we've been in our business that whether it's the price reporters or the equity markets looking at uranium, they're surprised that some people show up with very small volumes and dump them into the market right at the end of every month. And yet we don't understand why they're surprised.

過去，燃料買家會稍微休息一下，從夏季的需求角度來看，我們通常會看到一些疲軟的情況。因此，季節性只是透過核子日曆實際上是九月到八月底而不是一月到十二月這一事實來反映的。但不要忘記月末比賽對鈾價的影響。令人驚訝的是——抱歉，有時我們——只要我們從事我們的業務，這對我們來說就是一個令人頭疼的問題，無論是價格記者還是關注鈾的股票市場，他們都驚訝於一些人們以非常小的數量出現，並在每個月底將它們傾銷到市場上。但我們不明白他們為什麼感到驚訝。

We know exactly what's going on there. Folks are positioning ahead of an offtake or they're a trader that's moving material that they can't carry over reporting period. Month ends tend to be soft. Last month end was soft. The month end before that was soft for precisely this reason.

我們清楚地知道那裡發生了什麼事。人們在承購之前進行定位，或者他們是正在移動無法在報告期間結轉的材料的交易員。月末往往比較溫和。上個月月底很軟。正是由於這個原因，上個月末市場表現疲軟。

So you have the normal seasonality overlaid by a spot market that has a lot of short-termism in it, but we can always look through that. Fundamentally, this market needs more supply, that supply needs to be incented and higher prices are the only thing that's going to cure that structural gap.

因此，正常的季節性被現貨市場所覆蓋，其中有許多短期主義，但我們總是可以審視這一點。從根本上說，這個市場需要更多的供應，需要刺激供應，而更高的價格是解決結構性缺口的唯一方法。

And you kind of answered my next question, which was coming out of the, I guess, the World Nuclear Symposium in London, September 4 through 6, have you seen stronger contracts, et cetera. But I guess can you address that? Are you seeing stronger prices in the contracts? Maybe you already answered that, but if you could address that. And then another question, maybe a weak one, but I'd like to hear from you guys, what do you see as the biggest near-term headwinds and tailwinds?

你回答了我的下一個問題，我猜這個問題來自 9 月 4 日至 6 日在倫敦舉行的世界核研討會，你是否看到了更強有力的合約等等。但我想你能解決這個問題嗎？您是否看到合約價格上漲？也許你已經回答了這個問題，但如果你能解決這個問題。然後是另一個問題，也許是一個弱問題，但我想聽聽你們的意見，你們認為近期最大的逆風和順風是什麼？

Yes. I'll just finish on the contract. Certainly, coming out of the WNA there -- and we had said this, we were on a podcast and we said there's a lot of off-market activity going on. And no surprise, in the last three weeks, the trade press has posted another 40 million pounds of long-term contracts, kind of reflecting the quality and depth of those off-market conversations. The upward trend in pricing stalled a little bit with floors and ceilings around market-related contracts stalled a little bit for the reasons I talked about earlier, which is as the spot price softens because somebody out there is dumping material into a thinly traded market, it tends to create a situation where fuel buyers expect the floor and ceiling prices for future deliveries to fall accordingly.

是的。我馬上完成合約。當然，從 WNA 那裡出來 - 我們已經說過了，我們在播客上說有很多場外活動正在進行。毫不奇怪，在過去三週內，貿易媒體又發布了 4000 萬英鎊的長期合同，這在某種程度上反映了這些場外對話的品質和深度。定價的上升趨勢略有停滯，市場相關合約的下限和上限略有停滯，原因是我之前談到的，即現貨價格走軟，因為有人向交易稀少的市場傾銷材料，它往往會造成這樣一種情況：燃料買家預計未來交付的最低價格和最高價格將相應下降。

And we just don't play that game. We'll step back from the market and be patient and be disciplined because a spot market that's softening a little bit today has nothing to do with appropriate prices out into the future. So symposium was strong, a lot of off-market activity. That proof has now worked its way through the market.

我們只是不玩那個遊戲。我們將退出市場，保持耐心並遵守紀律，因為今天稍微走軟的現貨市場與未來適當的價格無關。所以研討會很活躍，有很多場外活動。這項證據現已在市場上發揮作用。

That's all the time we have for the question-and-answer session today. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Tim Gitzel for closing remarks.

這就是我們今天問答環節的全部時間。我想把會議轉回提姆·吉澤爾做閉幕詞。

Well, thank you very much, operator, and thanks to everyone who joined today, as Cory noted at the start of the intro. If you have any detailed follow-up questions related to the third quarter results or any questions that we didn't get a chance to answer on today's call, please send those in or call us and we're happy to address those directly. At Cameco, we are a responsible commercial supplier with a strong balance sheet, long-lived Tier 1 assets and a proven operating track record. We're invested across the nuclear fuel and reactor life cycles and believe we have the right strategy to achieve our vision of energizing a clean air world, and we will do so in a manner that reflects our values. We're committed to addressing the risks and advancing the opportunities that we believe will make our business sustainable over the long term.

嗯，非常感謝你，接線員，也感謝今天加入的所有人，正如科里在介紹開始時指出的那樣。如果您有任何與第三季業績相關的詳細後續問題，或者我們在今天的電話會議上沒有機會回答的任何問題，請發送給我們或致電我們，我們很樂意直接解決這些問題。在 Cameco，我們是一家負責任的商業供應商，擁有強大的資產負債表、長期的一級資產和良好的營運記錄。我們在核燃料和反應器生命週期進行投資，並相信我們擁有正確的策略來實現為清潔空氣世界注入活力的願景，並且我們將以反映我們價值觀的方式實現這一目標。我們致力於應對風險並抓住機遇，我們相信這將使我們的業務長期可持續發展。

So with that, thanks again for joining us today. Stay safe and healthy, and have a great day.

因此，再次感謝您今天加入我們。保持安全和健康，祝你有美好的一天。

This brings to close today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與，祝您有個愉快的一天。