A short case study outlining Cameco’s business relationships with Indigenous Peoples in northern Saskatchewan. At the time this was written Cameco, and the Saskatchewan Uranium mining industry, was a global leader in integrating indigenous business and economic development into the overall development of the mining industry in the region.
2. 2
Chart 1 Cameco Northern/Aboriginal Purchases
In addition to employment
Cameco systematically
promotes northern business
development, giving
preferential consideration to
suppliers with northern and
aboriginal involvement.
Volumes of northern
purchases have increased by
880% over eight years,
rising from about C$10
million in 1991 to more
than C$90 million in 1998.
Northern procurement now
represents a very substantial
part Cameco’s total purchases in support of its northern Saskatchewan mining operations.
Northern Resource Trucking (NRT) is one example of a successful northern aboriginal business
nurtured by Cameco’s northern business development strategy. NRT’s 71% aboriginal ownership
consists of nine First Nations and three Metis communities representing the northern Dene,
Woodland Cree and Metis people of northern Saskatchewan. Today NRT employs about 140
people, has annual sales of C$18 million and has a permanent office and transit warehouse in the
north.
Another example is the Mudjatik/Thyssen joint venture, owned by Thyssen Mining Construction
Ltd. and the Mudjatik partnership, a consortium of northern aboriginal partners. In 1999 they
provided over C$39 million in underground mining and construction services to Cameco,
employing more than 100 aboriginal people in some of the highest paid industrial jobs available.
Other examples include Tron Power, wholly owned by the English River First Nation, which had
Cameco contracts worth more than C$9 million in 1999.
Cameco has developed extensive community consultation and involvement procedures and has
even appointed Chief Harry Cook, Chief of the Lac La Ronge First Nation, the largest First
Nation in Saskatchewan, to Cameco’s Board of Directors.
The efforts of Cameco and other northern Saskatchewan mining firms have precipitated a
fundamental shift in the overall development capacity of northern Saskatchewan. The education
level of the area is improving and northern aboriginal peoples have many more professional and
managerial opportunities than ever before. The revenue and associated salaries enables
communities to be more financially self-sufficient and enhances the overall economic capacity.
While, the short-term economic viability of the region is still very dependent on the mining
industry, over the long-term the increased capacity will make it easier to identify and develop
alternative economic activities.
Wayne Dunn & Associates Ltd.
2457 Bakerview Rd. Mill Bay, BC CANADA V0R2P0
Tel: +1.250.743.7619 Fax: +1.250.743.7659
info@waynedunn.com www.waynedunn.com
10.6 16.7 $22.8 $27.9
$44.5 $44.1
$74.5
$93.3
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
P
u
rch
a
ses
in
C
A
D
$
M
illio
n
s
Year
Cameco Northern/Aboriginal Purchases
3. 3
Ten Years Later – an update from 2011
Cameco’s northern procurement has evolved into a Northern Preferred
Supplier Program that has purchased over $1 billion in goods and services
from local vendors and suppliers in northern Saskatchewan since 2004. In
2011, a new record - over $390 million to northern businesses, who provided
74% of all services to our northern mines.