Massive Indo-Canadian uranium order in the works

The world's largest supplier of uranium, Saskatoon, Canada-based uranium miner Cameco Corp, says a multimillion-dollar uranium deal is in the works with India for nuclear power plants.

In a conference call on Tuesday to discuss the company's third-quarter results, CEO Jerry Grandey said negotiations for an export order have been underway between Canadian authorities and India for more than a year and an order for more than seven million pounds of uranium is imminent.

"One of the interesting things is that India, of course, has got a very ambitious civilian nuclear power programme and they have shortage of uranium within the country," Grandey told CBC News in an interview. "So they've been quite eager to establish a long-term relationship with a supplier like Cameco so that we can - over many decades - supply them the fuel that they need."

Cameco opened offices in this country last month.

According to Grandey, India and China were the future of the nuclear power business, and Cameco Corp would expand ties with both of them. Grandey devoted a lot of time to the opportunities his firm saw in the two Asian giants, which are expected to dominate global uranium demand in the years to come.

"We're quite optimistic as time goes on that we'll be a major partner [and] supplier with both countries," he said.