Tim Gitzel, an executive at Cameco (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) for 17 years and president and CEO for 13, has led the company through more bad times than good. Among the bad times: repeated flooding at the Cigar Lake mine; the post-2007 uranium price crash; and the more devastating doldrums after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.
Among the good times: right now.
The company’s shares have doubled in the past year, following the exploding uranium price. But Gitzel’s careful preparation has positioned Cameco for such a moment, when supply challenges, geopolitics, and renewed fervour for nuclear power have swung uranium back into favour.
That’s why Gitzel is our Mining Person of the Year for 2023.
Cameco’s discipline through the tough times allowed it to take advantage of a company-changing opportunity as the nuclear sector’s fortunes turned. It acquired a 49% stake in Westinghouse last year for US$2.1 billion, diversifying its revenues and going downstream into the reactor service and design business. This at a time when hundreds of reactors are in construction or being planned around the world.
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