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Gold/Mining/Energy : ZINC The base metal. News and Views. Symbol Zn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Shell Searcher who wrote (164)	4/1/1999 1:15:00 PM
From: jack hampton	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3270

Canadian miner Teck tightens grip on Cominco By Jason Hopps TORONTO, March 31 (Reuters) - Canadian base metals miner Teck Corp. (Toronto:TEKb.TO - news) upped its stake in affiliate Cominco Ltd. (Toronto:CLT.TO - news) to 39 percent on Wednesday, possibly to discourage any takeover moves on Cominco, the world's third largest zinc producer. Teck, a Vancouver-based mining investment and operations company, is already involved in several joint ventures with Cominco. On Wednesday, it acquired more than two million shares of the company on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Teck has bought more than four million Cominco shares in the past year and now holds about 33 million or 39 percent. ''We've held Cominco shares for years and have slowly increased our holdings over that time. We think it's very good value for money,'' John Taylor, Teck Corp. vice-president and chief financial officer told Reuters. ''We think Cominco has outstanding assets and there was an opportunity to buy the shares,'' he added. Cominco, suffering from an extended downturn in base metal prices and flat demand, recently completed a 170,000-tonne production rate increase project at its Red Dog zinc mine in northwestern Alaska. The Vancouver-based company's operations include the production and sale of zinc, lead and copper concentrates from mines in North and South America and in Turkey. Analysts said Cominco, whose shares jumped C$1.35 on the Toronto Stock Exchange to C$21.00 on Wednesday, was in a transitional phase of its operations. ''They're moving on from an uncertain start-up phase of their Kivcet smelter in Trail, where the results have been somewhat unpredictable in the recent past. It appears those operations have turned the corner,'' said mining analyst Marcy Yeamans of J B Were & Son Inc. ''There's a lot of uncertainty and when there's uncertainty, there's opportunity to make money and that maybe what Teck's investment is telling us,'' she added. Yeamans, who said she is maintaining a hold rating on Cominco, said the Teck acquisition would be a very large negative for anybody looking at a takeover. ''Indications from Cominco are that Teck Corp. share purchases have always been for investment purposes, but Teck's large share would dissuade a takeover if someone were to try,'' she said. Zinc prices came under pressure again on Wednesday, dipping $15 to $1,000 per tonne on the London Metals Exchange. Shares of Teck Corp. were unchanged at C$10.60 on the Toronto Stock Exchange late in the Wednesday session.