Could it be used to mop up the radioactive mess in Japan's Fukishima nuclear reactor? Now we're really straying off into penny-stock land.DUBLIN-( BUSINESS WIRE)-The "Global Antimony Market Analysis 2020" report has been added to 's offering. government buys it for remediating nuclear sites. Antimony also controls large reserves of high-grade zeolite in Idaho, best known as the absorbent material in kitty litter. Antimony Chief John Lawrence, who's been smelting the stuff since the 1970s.Īnd then there's the kitty litter factor: U.S.
#Antimony mining companies cracked
By 2009 it was back up to 140,000 pounds, and then the government cracked down again and the price soared.Īntimony bulls are betting that industrial customers, sick of Chinese manipulation of rare-earth and antimony markets, will pay more for a non-Chinese supply even if prices fall.They also cite the technical expertise of U.S. This cycle of purges, executions and falling supply played out a decade ago when Chinese production fell to 95,000 pounds a year from more than 120,000. Of course, if the Chinese slip into their old habits and let thousands of small-scale smelters spring up again, the market could be flooded with antimony and non-Chinese producers driven out. Molycorp, which is running $100 million a year in revenue right now, has a market cap of $4.3 billion. At 10x cash flow, that's only a $3 stock, but if production grows to $100 million a year as the bulls anticipate, U.S. At current prices, that would equal $23 million a year and $18 million, or 30 cents a share, in earnings before interest and depreciation. Antimony's production from the Mexican operations at 40 pounds of antimony and 8 ounces of silver per ton of mined rock. The first phase, with capacity of 150 tons a day, is scheduled to come on line July 1. It is definitely building smelters with an ultimate capacity of 500 tons a day in Mexico. producer of all things electrical, rumored to be worth $65 million over 2.5 years.
Antimony recently signed a large contract with a major U.S. In its most recent 10-k the company flatly states " we have no `proven reserves' or `probable reserves' of antimony." But one investor told me U.S. Antimony's Securities and Exchange Commission filings to back up these optimistic scenarios and company executives declined comment. Antimony's Mexican mines even more intriguing. The fact that antimony is frequently found in combination with silver makes U.S. Antimony's stock price is a Mexican mine and smelting facility that some analysts believe could boost its production revenue from $9 million last year to $100 million by 2013. China supplies 90% of the world's supply of antimony, which is primarily used in the production of electrical wire insulation, fireproofing materials, and lead bullets (it makes them harder). Why the sudden interest? Antimony prices more more than doubled after Chinese officials launched one of their periodic purges of mine managers who were illegally producing and exporting the metal. Antimony shares in recent months (disclosures will be available June 30) and the stock's rise has made it the largest single holding in Berol's $25 million Encompass Fund. Berol of the San Francisco-based Encompass Fund, Morningstar's top-performing world stock fund in 20 (don't ask about 2008).īoth have bought U.S. One fan is Eugene Fox of Cardinal Capital Management in Greenwich, Conn., a small- and mid-cap value manager known for its dogged investigations of questionable businesses including InfoUSA and Conrad Black’s Hollinger International.
The chart looks like the quintessential pump-and-dump, but the managers I spoke with don’t fit the mold of gullible penny-stock investors.
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