(Bloomberg) -- Canada’s NexGen Energy Ltd. says it’s in advanced talks with several US nuclear utilities to sell more uranium from a $1.6 billion mine it plans to build in Saskatchewan despite escalating trade tensions between the neighboring nations.

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Chief Executive Officer Leigh Curyer said he’s nearing offtake agreements with a number of US utilities in the coming months, adding to supply deals NexGen struck two months ago. The Vancouver-based company said in December it was awarded its first contracts to supply 5 million pounds of uranium to multiple US nuclear utility companies.

NexGen is one of several firms racing to develop projects in northern Saskatchewan’s uranium-rich Athabasca region, which has become a hub of uranium mining activity as the world warms to nuclear power. Only a handful of companies operate mines for the metal used to fuel reactors. NexGen’s Rook I, one of the area’s biggest projects, would account for about 13% of the world’s uranium supply, according to Bank of Nova Scotia.

Trade tensions between the US and Canada, which threaten to levy steep tariffs on metals including uranium, have not deterred the company’s progress on discussions with US buyers, Curyer said.

“During our first round of agreements there were the same threats of trade wars occurring, and that didn’t impact our negotiations,” the CEO said in a Tuesday interview. “Overall demand for electricity is far greater than what the overall impacts of tariffs can be for nuclear fuel.”

The company is awaiting its final permit from the Canadian government to start building Rook I later this year.

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