By IANS,
Paris : French leading nuclear company Areva has announced the signing of an agreement to sell its 27.94 percent stake in the Millennium uranium mining project in Canada to Cameco Corporation as part of its revamp plan.
The agreement, worth 112 million euros ($148 million), was in line with its strategic action plan aiming at garnering additional revenue to finance other strategic projects, the French company said Friday.
The deal also included “payment of royalties in the event of discovery of additional uranium resources for the mine”, it added.
Located in the north of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, the Millennium Project involves a proposed underground mine estimated to contain 20,000 tonnes of uranium, reported Xinhua.
In a separate statement, the government-run nuclear group reported a 2.6-percent drop in 2011 revenues to 8.87 billion euros due “to difficult context”.
The company’s financial report said mining activities reported a loss of 1.16 billion euros last year while renewable energies narrowed its loss by 36.5 percent to 78 million euros compared to 2010 results.
Reactors and services businesses reported a 512-million-euro loss on “additional provisions for losses at completion for several power plant construction and modernization projects, and by a drop in the services activity in connection with Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear power”.
Areva plans to expand its organic revenue growth up to 6 percent in the nuclear business and to reach above 750 million euros ($991 million) of revenue in renewable energies by 2013.