China's CGN looking for more Canada uranium deals

CGN Mining

07/03/2016 01:10

By Rod Nickel 
    TORONTO, March 6 (Reuters) - China's CGN Mining Co Limited 
 1164.HK  , the first direct Chinese investor in a Canadian 
uranium project, is interested in buying stakes in more Canadian 
companies, a company official said on Sunday. 
    CGN bought a nearly 20 percent stake for C$82.2 million  
($61.63 million) in Fission Uranium Corp  FCU.TO , Fission said 
in December.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N14A15L 
    "Of course we have interest but it depends on their price," 
said Jianhua Xing, deputy general manager of CGN Uranium 
Resources Co Ltd, when asked about companies such as NexGen 
Energy Ltd  NXE.V   and Mines Denison  DML.TO , which have 
uranium development projects in northern Saskatchewan.  
    "We don't have a specific plan. We're not in a hurry," he 
said in an interview on Sunday in Toronto during the annual 
Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) 
convention. 
    China is briskly building a fleet of new reactors that will 
operate on nuclear fuel. 
    There are limits, however, on foreign involvement in 
Canada's uranium industry. 
    Canada does not allow foreign companies to be majority 
investors in operating uranium mines, although it has made 
exceptions for France's Areva SA  AREVA.PA  and Australia's 
Paladin Energy Ltd  PDN.AX .  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N0Z80T1 
    CGN has raised the issue of foreign investment with Canada's 
embassy in Beijing, but will accept Canada's position, CGN's 
Jianhua Xing said. 
    CGN, a uranium trader, is controlled by China Uranium 
Development Company Ltd, a subsidiary of state-owned China 
General Nuclear Power Corporation. 
    Uranium supplies are expected to run thin in coming years as 
Japanese reactors start up and China expands its nuclear power 
generation.  
    Kelowna, British Columbia-based Fission is developing the 
Triple R uranium deposit at Patterson Lake South in northern 
Saskatchewan. It and Mines Denison  DML.TO  called off a C$483 
million merger agreement in October due to opposition from 
Fission's shareholders. 
 
($1 = 1.3338 Canadian dollars) 
 
 (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Toronto; Editing by Diane Craft) 
 ((rod.nickel@thomsonreuters.com; 1 204 230 6043; Reuters 
Messaging: rod.nickel.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; Twitter: 
@ReutersWinnipeg)) 
 
Keywords: MINING PDAC/CGN MINING