US miner Thomson Creek to acquire Canada’s Terrane for C$650 million

Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc (Thompson Creek), one of the world's largest pure molybdenum miners has agreed to acquire mineral exploration firm Terrane Metals Corp (Terrane) for approximately C$650 million ($617 million) seeking to go beyond molybdenum and become a mid-tier base metal producer.

Under the terms of the cash-and-stock transaction, Terrane shareholders will get C$0.90 in cash and 0.052 Thompson Creek common shares for every Terrane share they own.

The consideration offers a value of C$1.41 per Terrane share based on the closing price of C$9.90 for Thompson Creek shares in Toronto on 14 July 2010 and represents 21 per cent premium over Terrane's closing price of C$1.17 on the same day.

Vancouver-based Terrane is an exploration and development company focused on the development of the Mt Milligan copper-gold and Berg copper-molybdenum-silver projects in British Columbia. Major Gold miner Goldcorp Inc owns 52 per cent equity interest in the company on a fully diluted basis.

Simultaneously, Thompson Creek has also entered into a gold stream sale agreement with precious metals royalty company Royal Gold Inc with respect to the purchase and sale of 25 per cent of the life of the mine gold production from Terrane's Mt Milligan project for an aggregate consideration of C$311.5 million.

Denver-based Thompson Creek owns the Thompson Creek molybdenum mine and mill in Idaho, and a metallurgical facility in Pennsylvania. In addition, the miner holds 75 per cent stake in the Endako open-pit mine, mill and metallurgical unit in British Columbia. The company is also pursuing other molybdenum deposits in Colorado and British Columbia.