The national debate over potash and what constitutes a “strategic resource” is shining a spotlight on efforts to ease restrictions on foreign ownership of uranium mines.
The federal government’s Non-Resident Ownership policy currently mandates a minimum level of 51 per cent resident ownership at the mining and milling stages of Canadian uranium production.
A federal panel has called for selectively removing the restrictions on foreign ownership of uranium mines for countries that offer reciprocity, a position backed by the Uranium Development Partnership (UDP) appointed by the province.
The Saskatchewan Party government itself went even further in 2009, calling for the complete elimination of the policy “as a barrier to foreign investment in the province” when it responded to the UDP report.
And the government is supportive of a private member’s bill from Brad Trost, the Conservative MP for Saskatoon-Humboldt, which would end the restrictions on foreign ownership.
But the focus on uranium comes after Premier Brad Wall donned the mantle of economic nationalist as he fought against BHP Billiton’s hostile takeover attempt of Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, citing the country’s strategic interest as a main argument against the Australian company’s bid.
Speaking to reporters at the legislature, Wall said he considered uranium a strategic resource as well, but there was no contradiction between the two stances.
The province wants the changes because it would allow a foreign company to build a new mine and also take away the ownership restrictions on Areva, the French state-owned company that is already a major player in provincial uranium, he said.
“We want to be open to that kind of investment in the province, so right now that’s the case with potash. Mosaic owns outright mines in the province. That’s an American company. We welcome investment from outside the country. The difference between that and the BHP takeover is the amount of the reserves in play and the fact we would have lost a Canadian champion,” said Wall after the NDP raised the issue in question period.
The significant market position of Saskatoon-based Cameco also ensures that a major portion of the province’s uranium reserves will remain in Canadian hands no matter how much expansion occurs, he said.
The ownership of Cameco — the uranium company formed by the merger and subsequent privatization of federal and provincial Crown corporations — is a separate issue from the Non-Resident Ownership Policy. Federal legislation sets a 25-per-cent limit on total foreign ownership of shares and Wall said the province does not want that changed.
Cameco chief executive officer Jerry Grandey said the company supported liberalization of its foreign ownership restrictions the last time they were changed in 2001 but is “quite content” with the current levels.
On the issue of changes to the Non-Resident Ownership Policy, Cameco supports liberalization of mine ownership rules but it must be done on a bilateral basis of reciprocity negotiated with other countries, said Grandey.
He said the provincial position of simply eliminating the current nonresident policy is “just failing to understand that so much of the rest of the world regulate their uranium and nuclear industries in a much more closed way than even we do today.”
Trost noted that his private member’s bill has been sitting on the order paper for a year without attracting attention.
He said there is support within the Conservative cabinet for the idea behind the bill but it is a low priority for a very busy Minister of Natural Resources.