Source:Brian Sylvester of The Critical Metals Report 01/2012TCMR:IBC Advanced Alloys Corp. (IB:TSX.V; AALF:OTCQX) makes unique copper alloy and beryllium-aluminum alloys used in aerospace and defense applications. You like "off the beaten path" metals stories. Do you know anything about this one?
BK: I've been following IBC Alloys for about a year. I came to it not as a basic resource play, because it purchases beryllium from U.S. stockpiles and Kazakhstan, but because I was very impressed with the technical and the engineering skills of what it does with the beryllium and how it does it.
The company supplies high-end apps in aerospace and high-end technology niches. But IBC is also trying to bring beryllium into a more consumerist marketplace, such as automotive applications, because beryllium is lightweight, strong and absorbs vibration really well. If it can crack the automotive market, IBC is looking at entire train cars full of product.
IBC Alloys is also a very advanced company in terms of its work with the nuclear fuels business. Beryllium and uranium can be mixed to create stronger nuclear fuel rods with a higher melting point and different heat-flow capacity. The rods are still in the R&D phase, but the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is already very interested, as is the nuclear power community. The company also has partnerships with companies like General Electric Co. and Hitachi.
TCMR: Is this a misunderstood story? The share price has lagged despite its promising products and advanced research.
BK: It's an underfollowed story—and to the extent that it is followed, it's misunderstood. Part of it is just the general disrespect by the market, which is barely paying for fundamentals. I mean, there are a lot of companies out there that are selling for cash value or less.