BLE Company Snapshot BullBoards Member Forums My BullBoards Jump to BLE Forum SUBJECT: Good Golly its Molly Posted By: babywildthing Post Time: 12/1/2006 09:03 « Previous Message Next Message »
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Keith Woolhouse, The Ottawa Citizen Published: Thursday, November 30, 2006 Blue Pearl Mining Ltd.'s plunge into the arcane world of molybdenum isn't a raving success story. Not yet. But having risen from obscurity overnight to become Canada's only standalone producer of molybdenum and the world's largest publicly traded mining company that mines the unpronounceable stuff, how long can it be before the word is on everyone's lips?
Molybdenum doesn't have the same allure as gold or silver or even nickel, but it is just as lucrative. Considered the "modern metal,' molybdenum (pronounced mo-lib-de-num) is in short supply and demand for it has soared since 2002 when it sold for $2 U.S. a pound. The average cost to extract one pound of moly, as the industry calls it, is around $4.50 U.S. and it sells for $26 U.S., having reached a high last year of $40 U.S.
Moly is used extensively in steel and alloys for its strength and anti-corrosive properties. The People's Republic of China crimped worldwide supply earlier this month when it imposed a 10-per-cent export duty.
"Anyone who thinks that the steel mills and foundry industry in America are not now looking for molybdenum in scrap is wrong," metals analyst Jack Lifton wrote for the Resource Investor.com newsletter.
Blue Pearl (BLE/T) is on a tear, having soared 1,355 per cent from 60 cents to $8.73 in the past 12 months. The B.C.-based company would probably have languished as a penny stock had it not been for a stunning deal Blue Pearl chairman and CEO Ian McDonald struck in September when he agreed to buy Thompson Creek Mining Co., of Idaho, for $636 million U.S.
It was a classic case of the fish swallowing the whale.
At that time Blue Pearl had five employees. Thompson Creek had 250.
Blue Pearl's assets were valued at $8 million, Thompson Creek's at $650 million U.S.
The deal catapulted Blue Pearl into the exclusive club of mining giants, placing it among the top five moly producers in the world.
What Blue Pearl got was Thomson Creek's moly mine in Idaho, a refining plant at Langeloth, Pennsylvania, where the metal is roasted, and a mill and roaster at Endako, B.C., not far from Blue Pearl's Davidson deposit near Smithers.
The proximity of Thomson's Endako roaster to Blue Pearl's Davidson deposit, the largest moly mine in Canada, was the synergy that propelled the deal.
Blue Pearl funded the buyout, which includes a $125-million U.S. add-on payment contingent on the future price of the metal, through a series of equity offerings, a $402-million loan and a $25-million line of credit.
Seven brokerage houses, among them GMP Securities, UBS Securities Canada, Canaccord Capital, Dundee Securities and Blackmont Capital, participated in the equity offerings, yet, surprisingly, none of the companies has, so far, issued an analyst report or stock recommendation.
Days before Thomson Creek agreed to the buyout on Sept. 5, Blue Pearl's shares spiked to $4. The companies closed the acquisition on Oct. 26, at which time Blue Pearl shares had risen to $6.59.
The trading volume and the stock have continued to rise, the shares hitting a 52-week high yesterday.
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