KEPCO acquires 17 pct of Canadian uranium firm

SEOUL, July 6 (Reuters) - Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) (015760.KS) has acquired 17 percent of Canadian uranium company Denison Mines (DML.TO) to guarantee access to its uranium, the Korean company said in a statement on Monday.

By paying $68 million, KEPCO has acquired a stake in the firm that will provide about 300 tonnes on average per year, or 20 percent of its annual production between 2010 and 2015, KEPCO said. The supply is equivalent to about 8 percent of South Korea's annual uranium consumption of 4,000 tonnes.

"2009 is the best time for M&A in natural resource development before the world economic recovery actually happens," President & CEO Kim Ssang-soo said in the statement.

KEPCO said it plans to acquire one or two more uranium mines this year if possible, and is in the process of purchasing stakes of potential uranium mines in Africa.

South Korea is the world's sixth largest nuclear power plant owner and uranium consumer, running 20 nuclear power plants and planning to add eight more. By 2016, the country expects its uranium consumption to increase by 50 percent to 6,000 tonnes.

KEPCO will continue to receive 20 percent of Denison's annual uranium production from 2016 and onward, unless KEPCO lowers its stakeholding below 10 percent, it said.

Denison in April agreed to sell 19.9 percent of itself to KEPCO. [ID:nN27162433] (Reporting by Cho Meeyoung; Editing by Lincoln Feast)