Taseko tables bid for bcMetals

Vancouver – Taseko Mines (TKO-T, TGB-X) has waded into the foray to acquire bcMetals (C-V, BMTLF-O), intending a $1.05 per share bid for the junior.

The offer trumps the unsolicited 95 per share bid tabled by Imperial Metals (III-T, IPMLF-O) in September.

With its board urging rejection of Imperial’s offer, bcMetals countered the hostile bid by recently aligning with Hong Kong-based Global International Jiangxi Copper Mining (GIJCM) intending to form a limited partnership for development of the Red Chris copper-gold porphyry deposit near Iskut in northwestern British Columbia.

Its agreement with GIJCM would see bcMetals holding a 25% free-carried interest in the partnership for contributing Red Chris while the Chinese company will acquire 75% for contributing US$105 million and entering into an offtake agreement to purchase all produced concentrates from the proposed mine.

Meanwhile, Taseko’s planned offer will be conditional on the tender of 90% of bcMetals’ shares and its shareholders rejecting the proposed GIJCM limited partnership at an upcoming special meeting. The offer also includes a 2-bid for each “out-of-the-money” bcMetals share purchase warrant.

Taseko president and CEO, Russ Hallbauer, stated: “We believe this offer represents a solid premium over the Imperial Metals bid and fairly values bcMetals shares. It means immediate cash in the hands of bcMetals’ shareholders rather than a minority position in a mine development joint venture. We will finance this acquisition from existing cash reserves.”

Taseko Mines operates its Gibraltar open pit copper-molybdenum mine near Williams Lake in south-central B.C., producing 55 million lbs. of copper and 427,000 lbs. of molybdenum in 2005. The company is also evaluating a potential open pit operation at its Prosperity porphyry copper-gold project located southwest of Gibraltar.

bcMetals’ Red Chris hosts life-of-mine proven and probable reserves of 277.8 million tonnes grading 0.35% copper and 0.27 gram gold per tonne (about 2.1 billion contained lbs. of copper and 2.4 million contained ozs. of gold). Additional measured, indicated and inferred resources outside the pit shell are 574.8 million tonnes at 0.32% copper and 0.28 gram gold. Mining plans call for a conventional open pit operation producing about 110 million lbs. of copper and 75,000 ozs. of gold in concentrates annually over its first five years.

More than $30 million has been spent on advancing Red Chris including completion of a bankable feasibility study and receipt of necessary environmental approvals. Additionally, a US$110-million project debt financing facility has been arranged through Investec Bank (UK).

Shares of bcMetals leapt on the competing bid for the company, closing up 15 at the offer price of $1.05 on trading volume of almost 2.8 million shares. Based on its 37.5-million shares, bcMetals posts a market capitalization of $39 million.