Desjardins boosts First Quantum target price
Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:00pm EST
ca.reuters.com
TORONTO (Reuters) - Shares of First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO: Quote) rose as much as 7 percent on Friday, after Desjardins Securities boosted its price target for the diversified miner.
Analyst John Hughes, in a note to clients, said he was raising his share price target for First Quantum to C$123.70, based on the company's Ravensthorpe nickel project and the higher price of gold.
Hughes previous target for the miner was C$107.30 a share. He maintained his "buy" rating on the stock.
First Quantum shares were up 5.81 percent at C$114.80 on Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The Vancouver-based miner bought the Ravensthorpe project in 2009 for $340 million. Production is set to start in the second quarter of 2011, with annual nickel output from the mine expected to be 40,000 to 50,000 tonnes.
Hughes said Ravensthorpe will vault First Quantum among the top nickel producers on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The miner also expects to produce 195,000 ounces of gold in 2011 and 322,000 tonnes of copper.
In October, First Quantum said it planned to buy Antares Minerals ANM.V, owner of a major undeveloped copper deposit in Peru, moving into Latin America at a time when license issues have halted its operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
(Reporting by Julie Gordon; editing by Rob Wilson) |
