Going nuclearThe third miner to look at is uranium producer Cameco. Perhaps the only thing less loved than coal is uranium, but that's really an issue of headline risk -- not operating performance. In other words, when something goes wrong in the nuclear power space it goes wrong in a big way. But when you dig beneath the headlines, nuclear power has a long track record of reliable and mostly safe operation. It also happens to be a relatively clean fuel, since it doesn't emit carbon dioxide (like coal and other carbon-based fuels). This is one of the reasons why the nuclear power industry is expected to expand across the globe between now and 2025, adding 81 new power plants to the existing global fleet. As of 2015, 63 of those plants were under construction. The impact, driven largely by Asia, will be an increase in demand for uranium.
How much demand? Cameco projects uranium consumption will increase from 165 million pounds to 230 million pounds. Only current production is just 155 million pounds, which without additional investment will decline to 140 million pounds by 2025. In other words, there's a potentially large future for uranium miners who survive through the current uranium market downturn.
Source: Cameco Investor Presentation
And so far, Cameco appears to be a survivor. In fact, it's been profitable in each of the past 10 years, which is impressive since uranium prices peaked in 2011 along with other commodities. So Cameco really does have a mixture of a bright future and profitable present.