CHARTS: The coming critical minerals trade war is BRICS short of a load
"While a large number of countries around the world continue to talk about securing raw material supply, China is actually doing something about it."
Laurentian Bank Securities released Friday an analysis of Vancouver-based Taseko Mines’ (TSE: TKO) current project pipeline and potential merger and acquisition (M&A) targets.
The analysis stated the copper producer, operating Gibraltar mine in south-central British Columbia, could look to make an acquisition in the near-to-medium term to strengthen its production growth profile.
The companies that could be on Taseko’s M&A radar are: Copper Mountain (TSE: CUM), Curis Resources (TSE: CUV), Yellowhead Mining (TSE, CVE: YMI) and Panoro Minerals (CVE: PML) according to the analysis. Merging with these companies and forming a “B.C. Mining Inc,” would create a significant producer with low political risk jurisdictions and give investors an additional mid-tier investment on the TSE.
The study estimated in 2013, BC Mining Inc. pro-forma attributable contained production of 147 million pounds of copper, 1.2 million pounds of molybdenum, 25,000 ounces of gold and 226,000 ounces of silver at an operating cash cost of $2.21 per pound.
This was compared with BC Mining Inc.’s attributable contained copper-equivalent production.
Taseko is currently in the planning stages for several other mines, including Harmony, Aley and the controversial New Prosperity Mine, which was rejected by the federal government, and not for the first time, last February. Taseko has said the rejection is “not an acceptable conclusion” and haswarned it will pursue other courses.
The analysis concludes the miner could be better served by spinning out the asset to another investment vehicle to potentially unlock some value. This, it said, could help remove some of the New Prosperity blemishes that continue to overhang the Taseko share price.
