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PrintTORONTO - Molybdenum producer Thompson Creek Metals Co. Inc. is assessing "several" acquisition opportunities, including targets in South America, the company's chairman and CEO says.
"We're looking in South America, and we'd look in Australia," Kevin Loughrey said in an interview Thursday.
"We are working very hard. We've identified targets, we're looking at a wide array of acquisition candidates and we're optimistic that we'll do one."
Loughrey has said previously that Thompson Creek (TSX:TCM), one of the largest publicly traded molybdenum producers in the world, would like to diversify into different commodities. He said this is still the case, although he wouldn't specify what the company was looking at.
Although the majority of its sales are to companies in North America, Thompson Creek is increasingly turning its focus to the rapidly growing markets of China and India as a source of demand for moly, which is used to produce alloyed steel and high-end stainless steel for the construction, hydrocarbon and automotive industries.
"We're obviously focusing on China and India because they represent quite a growing market and fertile fields for the production of steels containing moly that have not been there before," Loughrey said.
"In China you've got the possibility of totally new markets where there's been no moly development before. So we are attending to our existing customer base and also looking to expand our markets in those markets where growth looks very likely."
Loughrey said overall demand for the metal has been "gently moving upwards" across industry sectors and geographic areas, as steel production increases to meet the demands of the improving global economy— and government spending on infrastructure.
"We're selling a higher level of our material on an annual contract, which reflects greater confidence on the part of our buyers, and the supply-demand dynamic right now appears to be favourable, unlike some of the other metals," Loughrey said.
Late Wednesday, Thompson Creek reported a drop in its first-quarter profit compared with a year ago, weighed down by a charge related to its outstanding warrants.
The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, said Wednesday it earned US$1.1 million or a penny per share for the quarter ended March 31. That compared with a profit of $8.7 million or seven cents per share a year ago. Sales totalled $127.8 million, up from $78.8 million on higher production and prices.
The results included a non-cash charge of $24.5 million related to the company's outstanding warrants. Excluding the charge, the company said it earned $25.6 million or 17 cents per share.
Thompson Creek said it expects to produce between 29 million and 32 million pounds of molybdenum this year.
The company owns the Thompson Creek open-pit molybdenum mine and mill in Idaho, a roasting plant in Pennsylvania and a 75 per cent share of the Endako open-pit mine, mill and roasting facility in B.C.
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