TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Uranium giant Cameco Corporation said on Monday that its third-quarter core profit declined 18,1% compared with a year earlier, mainly because of weaker uranium sales and higher costs.

Cameco earned C$172-million in the third quarter, 27% higher than last year, but, excluding some one-off items, adjusted net earnings came in at C$104-million, 18% lower than net income of C$127-million in the third quarter of 2008.

Revenue for the quarter slid to C$694-million, from C$729-million last year.

Profit was affected by lower earnings in the uranium and gold businesses, partially offset by higher results in the fuel services and electricity businesses, the company said.

Cameco sold 8,3-million pounds of uranium during the quarter, compared with 9,8-million pounds in the same period last year.

Uranium production rose to 5,6-million pounds, from 2,8-million pounds a year ago.

However, the company continued to buy uranium at near-market prices, which had a negative impact on the cost of sales.

Uranium revenue decreased by C$67-million, to C$329-million owing to a 15% decrease in reported sales volumes and a 2% decrease in the realised selling price in Canadian dollars.

The decrease in the average realised price was related to lower realised prices under market-related and fixed-price contracts, Cameco said.

A more favourable foreign exchange rate partially mitigated the Canadian dollar decline.

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