Is MOL in TCM''s crosshairs?sure would like to see this happen, although i think GMO would make for better synergies,,,just my opinions
UPDATE 2-Thompson Creek sees sizable internal growth
Thu Jun 14, 2007 2:39PM EDT
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(Adds details. In U.S. dollars unless noted)
By Susan Taylor
OTTAWA, June 14 (Reuters) - Canadian molybdenum miner Thompson Creek TCM.TO said on Thursday it has a good shot at sizable internal growth as it awaits reserve studies on its Thompson Creek and Endako projects that could double their current mine life estimates.
"We're highly optimistic that when the new numbers come out, we'll expand that mine life significantly," Chief Executive Kevin Loughrey told Reuters in an interview. "Twice the mine life that we have now, we think of that as significant."
A reserve study is expected in the third quarter on the Thompson Creek mine, which is now expected to run until 2015 or 2016. A study is anticipated this month on Endako, which has a six-year mine life to 2013.
Thompson Creek, which recently changed its name from Blue Pearl Mining, says it is the world's fifth-largest producer of the steel-hardening metal.
It operates the Thompson Creek mine in Idaho, and Endako mine, in which it holds a 75 percent stake, in British Columbia.
The miner also owns the Davidson project in British Columbia, for which a feasibility study will be complete in mid-July, and a processing facility in Pennsylvania.
The new reserve estimates are based on a $10 per pound molybdenum price, up from the previous $3.50 per pound estimate used for Endako and $5 estimate used for Thompson Creek.
"Moly assets are expensive," Loughrey said. "So whatever we can do internally, we think, represents the least expensive form of growth."
Thompson Creek is also awaiting feasibility studies on increasing Endako's milling capacity and changing the mine design to one "super pit" from three.
Its first focus is internal growth, but the company is also "seriously" looking at acquiring other assets, said Loughrey, who would not identify anything specific.
"We have positioned ourselves as one of a very few large, operating, producing moly companies that are publicly traded," Loughrey said. "I'm not saying, again, in the right circumstance, for the right opportunity you wouldn't evolve from that. But for right now, we're happy with that."
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's No. 1 molybdenum producer, told Reuters in May that it was still considering sales of its molybdenum operations. It expects to produce 70 million pounds of the metal in 2007.
Thompson Creek expects to produce 21 million pounds of molybdenum this year, 27 million pounds next year, and could hit 35 million pounds by 2010.
Thompson Creek stock added 55 Canadian cents to C$17.73 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday.
($1=$1.07 Canadian)