Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Cameco Corporation's Annual Meeting of Shareholders. It is now my pleasure to turn the meeting over to Sean Quinn, Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Quinn, the floor is yours.
Thank you, operator, and welcome to everyone attending today. We are pleased to have joined us for our shareholders' meeting. I am speaking from our corporate office located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, which is on Treaty 6 Territory, the traditional territory of Cree Peoples, and the homeland of the Métis. I would also like to acknowledge that we have mines, industrial facilities and offices on treaty areas in Northern Saskatchewan and Ontario. I am doing this to reaffirm our commitment and responsibility to building meaningful relationships and to improving our own understanding of local indigenous peoples and their cultures.
Now turning to the meeting, I will outline the agenda and various procedures and guidelines. There is time to set aside following the formal business of the meeting for questions of a general nature that pertain to the business and affairs of Cameco. Those persons attending and participating as registered shareholders or as duly appointed proxy holders of shareholders are entitled to ask questions then. In terms of the agenda, following her remarks, our Chair, Catherine Gignac, will call the meeting to order and address various preliminary matters.
All the items of business to be voted on will be moved. We will then take questions from registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders on all the items of business. Questions can be submitted by using the messaging platform available on your screen. Registered shareholders who wish to vote at the meeting and cast the ballot online should have logged into the webcast by entering their 13-digit control number found on their proxy form and the password cameco2024, all in lower case with no spaces.
Proxy holders, including beneficial owners who appointed themselves as proxy holders should have logged into the webcast by entering the 13-digit control number they received after they appointed themselves the proxy holder and registered with TSX Trust company and the password cameco2024 again all in lower case with no spaces.
If your logged on properly, the electronic ballot will be displayed. The online balloting is now open, and you are encouraged to complete your voting as soon as practical since voting will close within 30 seconds after the conclusion of the formal business of the meeting. Be sure to stay connected to the Internet at all times in order to vote.
If you are a registered shareholder or a duly appointed proxy holder, who logged on as a guest, you will not be able to vote at the meeting unless you exit the meeting and log back in using your 13-digit control number and the password mentioned earlier.
Once the formal items of business have moved, we will answer questions received through the online messaging platform. The legal name of the submitting shareholder or proxy holder will be read aloud before the question is addressed. Questions that are redundant or that have inappropriate language, or are otherwise, unduly disruptive to the orderly conduct of the meeting will not be addressed. Questions that do not directly relate to the meeting's items of the business will not be addressed during the formal meeting, but will be addressed in the question-and-answer session following the meeting.
Our meeting today does not include a senior executive presentation. Cameco hosted its first quarter conference call with the company's senior executives just recently on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, where we discuss trends in the market, execution of Cameco's strategy and took questions. A recorded version of that is available on our website.
If during the meeting, we encounter any technical difficulties with the webcast, please remain logged on, and we will resume as soon as possible. Please note that this webcast may include forward-looking information that is based on a number of assumptions, and actual results could differ materially. Please refer to our management proxy circular, Annual Information Form and MD&A, all of which are available on SEDAR+. For more information about the factors that could cause these different results and the assumptions we have made.
I'll now turn the meeting over to the Chair of Cameco' Board, Catherine Gignac.
Thank you, Sean, for outlining today's agenda, procedures and guidelines. And good morning, everyone. I would like to add my welcome to all of you attending this morning and my fellow directors, and I would like to thank all shareholders who voted by proxy and for your continued support of Cameco. In 2023, Cameco celebrated its 35th anniversary. Over that time, the company has grown to be one of the largest producers of uranium in the world, made possible through its enviable asset base, which includes the rich resources in Northern Saskatchewan.
In addition to achieving this milestone, 2023 also proved to be a very exciting and transformative year in many other ways, both for the nuclear power industry and for Cameco. Some of the highlights included Cameco delivering strong financial performance, increasing our uranium production, deepening our commitment to decarbonization through various initiatives and advancing our digital transition across the enterprise.
We received 15- and 20-year license extensions at a number of operations. We believe our commitment to protecting the health and safety of our employees, the public and the environment is reflected in the extended duration of the licenses. In addition, we were proud to commit some of our future uranium supply under long-term contracts to countries like Ukraine that are seeking to enhance their energy security and independence, while affirming their commitment to carbon-free nuclear power generation in order to achieve their climate goals.
But perhaps the biggest and most transformative undertaking for Cameco in 2023 was the closing of the acquisition of Westinghouse Electric Company in a strategic partnership with Brookfield. We believe Cameco's 35 years of experience in uranium mining and nuclear fuel production combined with Brookfield's expertise in clean energy, provide a solid foundation for Westinghouse's continued success in the provision of nuclear plant technologies, products and services and creates a powerful platform for strategic growth across the nuclear sector.
The partners, together with Westinghouse are well positioned to provide global solutions for the increasing need and accelerating demand for secure, reliable and carbon-free baseload electricity. This positive momentum is being driven by global scale factors that we expect to persist for years to come. Geopolitical tension, energy security and climate change concerns are highlighting the multiple benefits of nuclear energy. There is a growing belief that there is no net-zero without nuclear, which is supporting a durability of demand that we believe has not been seen before. And the continued execution of our strategy has positioned Cameco to benefit from the favorable fundamentals for nuclear power and the products, services and technologies needed to fuel it.
But for us, what is just as important as the business we do at Cameco is how we do it. From corporate strategy, day-to-day operations and its approach to executive compensation, Cameco continues to integrate sustainability principles and practices into its business processes and activities and remains committed to delivering its products responsibly.
Along with our continued focus on protecting the health and safety of our employees and the environment across our operations, we made significant progress on transformative projects like Digital HR and SAP S/4HANA while advancing inclusion and diversity and culture improvement initiatives in 2023. From continuing to work on our low carbon transition plan by evaluating over 160 decarbonization project ideas from across the organization to expanding training and pre-employment courses for our indigenous partner communities in Northern Saskatchewan to donating $1.8 million to support various community organizations.
We know these activities are not only good for business, but the right thing to be doing. With the renewed recognition of the role nuclear power must play in providing carbon-free and secure baseload power, we are optimistic about Cameco's role in supporting the transition to a net-zero carbon economy.
We have a plan to achieve a 30% absolute reduction from our total Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions level by 2030 from our 2015 baseline, which is the first major milestone on the journey to achieve our ambition of being net-zero. And we believe our largest contribution to the net-zero transition comes from the uranium nuclear fuel services and technology that we supply to support the generation of nuclear power, 100% carbon-free electricity.
To get there, the Board and I continue to have a high level of confidence in Tim Gitzel, Cameco's President and CEO, his senior management group and Cameco's entire employee team in helping the company achieve its vision and objectives. The senior leadership team conducts itself with integrity and leads with a demonstrated commitment to safety, people and the environment. And they have a wealth of experience and industry knowledge gained through long careers in the nuclear energy industry.
Finally, I want to thank my fellow board members for their dedication over the last year. We have a strong and engaged Board with a good mix of skills, experience, diversity, and other characteristics that bring tremendous value to the table, and the Board takes its responsibilities very seriously. On that note, today, we are saying goodbye to Don Deranger and Jim Gowans, who are retiring from the Board at the end of our 2024 Annual Meeting as they have reached our term limit of 15 years for directors. Ian Bruce, former Chair of the Board, passed away on October 23, 2023, after serving on Cameco's board since 2012.
Each of these directors contributed substantively to Cameco's Board during their tenure and their expertise, leadership and advice were deeply valued and will be missed. With Jim's departure, Dominique Miniere is taking on the Chair position of the Safety Health and Environment Committee. Dominique has served as a member of this committee since he joined Cameco's Board in September 2023.
And his experience in operational excellence and safety will serve us well. My role as Chair of the Nominating Corporate Governance and Risk Committee will also end following the AGM, and Kate Jackson will take on the role of Committee Chair. Leontine van Leeuwen-Atkins will take on the role of Technical Committee Chair. Kate had served as its chair since 2022 and will continue to serve as a technical committee member.
I have full confidence that both will do an outstanding job in providing leadership to these committees. We will now turn to the formal part of the meeting. I am joined by Tim Gitzel, Cameco's President and CEO; and Sean Quinn, Cameco's Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary. The meeting will now come to order. As Chair of the Board, I will act as Chair of the meeting. Sean Quinn will act as Secretary of the meeting.
Representatives of TSX Trust Company are attending and appointed as scrutineers for this meeting. The secretary has advised that we have a quorum for the meeting. The secretary has an affidavit attesting to the mailing of the notice of meeting. I now declare this annual meeting to be regularly convened and properly constituted for the transaction of business.
The first item of business on the agenda is to receive the corporation's 2023 consolidated financial statements and the auditor's report. The financial statements and the auditor's report have been distributed by mail to requesting shareholders and have otherwise been provided in accordance with notice and access requirements. They are also available on Cameco's website. To make the best use of our time, I've asked the Corporate Secretary to move the matters which are called for in the notice of meeting. Voting on the applicable items of business to come before today's meeting is being conducted online by a single electronic ballot.
Voting online has been open since the start of the meeting and will remain open for approximately 30 seconds following the conclusion of the question-and-answer session on the items of business. Once voting closes, the scrutineer will tabulate the results of the vote for each matter. All items of business in the management proxy circular will now be moved. The first ballot item is the election of directors. Sean, could you please propose the nominees for election?
I move that each of the proposed nominees listed in the management proxy circular accompanying the notice of meeting be nominated as directors of the corporation to hold office until the next annual meeting of the shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed in accordance with the provisions of the Canada Business Corporations Act. The nominees are Daniel Camus, Tammy Cook-Searson, Catherine Gignac, Tim Gitzel, Kathryn Jackson, Don Kayne, Dominique Miniere and Leontine van Leeuwen-Atkins.
The next item of business on the agenda is the appointment of auditors.
I move that KPMG LLP be appointed as auditors of the corporation until the close of our next Annual Meeting of Shareholders and the directors be authorized to fix their remuneration.
The next item of business is the consideration and approval of the non-binding advisory resolution accepting the corporation's approach to executive compensation.
I move on an advisory basis and not to diminish the role and responsibilities of the Board of Directors for executive compensation, that the shareholders accept the approach to executive compensation disclosed in Cameco's management proxy circular, delivered in advance of the 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
We will now take questions from registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders pertaining to the business of the meeting. Sean, please read any questions received related to the items of business. As a reminder, questions not related to the business of the meeting will be addressed in the question-and-answer session following the meeting.
Madam Chair, there are no comments or questions to be addressed related to the business of the meeting. Discussion of the items of business is now closed. There are 30 seconds remaining for shareholders to complete ballots, after which ballots will be automatically submitted.
[Voting]
Madam Chair, the polls are now closed.
As there were no director nominations in accordance with the advanced notice requirements of Cameco's bylaws and each director nominee has received a majority of votes cast in favor of their election, each of the director nominees are elected. Due to the number of proxy votes received, I can advise that the motion for the appointment of auditors and the resolution on an advisory basis that the shareholders accept the corporation's approach to executive compensation have passed. Sean, could you please advise on the vote results?
Thank you, Catherine. The preliminary vote report shows support for the advisory vote on executive compensation of at least 86% and support for the appointment of the auditors of at least 98%. I'm sorry, I made a mistake, it's reversed. It's 98% support for the auditors and 86% -- sorry, 98% for executive compensation and 86% for the appointment of the auditors.
Thank you, Sean. As there is no further business for the meeting, I declare that the meeting is terminated. We are pleased to have this time to answer your questions of a general nature pertaining to the business and affairs of Cameco. If you have not already done so, use the messaging platform available on your screen to submit a question. Sean, can you please review the protocol for the question-and-answer session?
We will read the questions that are submitted and consolidate questions of the same nature. Cameco will not address any questions or statements that are, amongst other things related to material non-public information of the company, out of order or not otherwise suitable for the conduct of the annual meeting. All of may be determined by the chair and our reasonable judgment. For additional information about the conduct of this question and answer session, please see the asking questions section on Page 14 of the management proxy circular.
Thank you, Sean. Could you take us through any questions that have been received?
Madam Chair, there are no questions to be addressed.
Okay. Thank you, Sean. I would like to thank all of you for attending. I also would like to take this opportunity to thank all of Cameco's shareholders for your support. Your ability to engage with our Board and management team is important to us. Before we sign off, I've asked Sean Quinn to review some of the ways that you can get in touch with us.
Thank you, Catherine. Our website, cameco.com, is an important and useful source of information. You can access our quarterly disclosures and join quarterly investor webcast and conference calls by navigating to the Invest section of our website. We maintain there an archive of all recent investor disclosures.
You can also e-mail questions to the Corporate Secretary or to our Investor Relations department directly at any time.
Contact information for that is available on our website. You are also welcome to mail a confidential letter to the Chair of the Board or the Chair of any Board Committee. Further details on that are set out on Cameco's website and are included in our management proxy circular.
This now concludes our event. Thank you for your continued support of Cameco.
