Saskatoon based uranium miner Cameco is reporting an 85 percent decrease in 2nd quarter profits, but they are not hanging their heads.

President Tim Gitzel says net earnings for the quarter came in at 8 million dollars, or 2 cents per share, compared with 2011's second quarter profits at 55 million dollars, or 14 cents per share.

But that's largely due to the fact of large expenditures on exploration and administration .

Gitzel says another large factor comes from the average realized Uranium price decreasing by 10 percent compared to the first quarter, and lower sale volumes in general.

He says another part of the decrease in profits was the lower production at the McArthur River mine.

But, he says the loss in profit does nothing to hinder their optimism on reaching their production goal to 40 million pounds by 2018.

(jl july 27/12)