Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Teck (NYSE:TCK) Gets Half of Horizonte (LON:HZM), Horizonte Gets Araguaia

Teck Resources (NYSE:TCK) (TSE:TCK) did something it had hoped it didn't have to, and that was to offload its Araguaia nickel project in Brazil.

They've done that now, as Horizonte Minerals (LON:HZM) acquired the nickel project for an extremely cheap 50 percent stake in the company by Teck. Tecks' stake includes the deal for Araguaia, but still a great deal for Horizonte.

Debts from the global recession and crisis brought Teck to a place where they've had difficulty paying off gigantic debts they owe, and which they couldn't attain refinancing for after acquiring Fording Canadian Coal Trust a couple of years ago.

Their loss is Horizonte's gain, as they are getting the assets at a price of 0.7 cents a pound of nickel in the ground, far below the average 3 cents a pound usually asked for.

There will be at least 100 million tons of resource in the deal, and a high probability of it reaching 150 million tons, and at the high end could even reach 200 million tons.

With a 50 percent stake in Horizonte, as least Teck is able to retain a position in nickel, something they wanted to be sure to do, and the reason they've held back on selling the promising asset.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hilarious report!!!
Teck paid its debt 2 years sooner than their schedule! Their Management knows what they are doing!