May 13 (Bloomberg) -- Cameco Corp., the world's largest uranium producer, said first-quarter net income more than doubled to C$133.4 million ($133 million) as uranium sales advanced.

Per-share profit of 37 cents compares with net income of C$58.5 million, or 16 cents a share, a year earlier, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Cameco said today in a statement on its Web site. Nine analysts in a Bloomberg survey expected per-share profit excluding one-time items of 42 cents, on average. Sales increased 45 percent to C$592.8 million.

Chief Executive Officer Jerry Grandey is trying to increase uranium production in Canada and Kazakhstan to meet rising global demand for electricity. Cameco said delays at its McArthur River mine in Saskatchewan may affect 2009 production and shortages of acid in Kazakhstan may delay the start of commercial output from the Inkai uranium mine.

``The results are mediocre since they're basically giving early warning of the possibility of lower production this year and into 2009,'' Blackmont Capital Inc. senior analyst George Topping said today in an interview from Toronto.

Gross profit from uranium sales almost tripled to C$169 million from C$60 million a year earlier, as Cameco's average realized uranium price rose 70 percent to $40.85 a pound and sales volume gained 17 percent, the company said.

First-quarter results include C$85 million in uranium sales from a previous period that were deferred because of accounting rules, the company said.

Shares Rise

Cameco rose 6 cents to C$40.34 at 4:10 p.m. in Toronto Stock Exchange trading. The shares have risen 1.9 percent this year.

Cameco is preparing to mine uranium from a new area within its existing McArthur River project. Development delays may affect production rates in 2009, though Grandey said on a conference call that he remains ``confident'' of meeting production forecasts.

Cameco's efforts to bring its Inkai leach-mining operation to full production have been slowed by shortages of acid used to extract uranium from underground. As a result, production this year at Inkai may be as much as 50 percent less than the planned 1.2 million pounds.

Cameco said it excludes Inkai from its formal forecast of 2008 output because the mine hasn't begun commercial production.

The company said it's working to resume construction at its flooded Cigar Lake uranium project in Saskatchewan. Cameco reiterated its forecast to start up production at Cigar Lake in 2011 ``at the earliest.''

``We are marching down the road to get that mine dewatered,'' Grandey said on the conference call.

Cigar Lake, originally scheduled to open last year and provide about 10 percent of the world's uranium, was flooded after an underground rock collapse in October 2006.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Donville in Vancouver at cjdonville@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 13, 2008 16:13 EDT