Silicon manufacturer Timminco announces sales to Q Cell of Germany

Canadian manufacturer Timminco ( TIM on Toronto ) announced a pact to sell silicon to Q-Cells of Germany - the world's largest solar cell maker .

Under the terms of the agreement, Becancour will supply Q-Cells with contractually fixed supplies of 410 metric tons in 2008 and 3,000 metric tons in 2009 at fixed prices. The deliveries start immediately. Until the end of July, 2008, the partners will negotiate a further contract on the delivery of up to 6,000 metric tons per year in the years 2010 to 2013. The price for these possible further supplies will be negotiated, contingent upon market conditions. With this contract, Q-Cells will become Becancour's largest customer for solar-grade silicon in 2009.
This agreement represents Becancour's fifth long-term commercial contract for the sale of high-purity silicon. In the event that Q-Cells and Becancour agree to extend the contract to 6,000 metric tons per year for the period 2010 to 2013, this contract would raise the committed deliveries of Becancour's solar-grade silicon business to 12,000 metric tons per year, beginning in 2010. In Stockwatch on Feb. 22, 2008, Timminco announced the expansion of Becancour's solar-grade silicon capacity to 14,400 metric tons per year, with the incremental capacity fully on stream by the end of the second quarter of 2009. "Becancour has developed a proprietary process, which enables it to produce solar-grade silicon by purifying metallurgical silicon. Q-Cells has tested unblended material from Becancour extensively and has obtained very good results in cell production," said Anton Milner, chief executive officer of Q-Cells.

The news that drove the price - Timminco jumped $ 25.70 up $ 4.81 ( 23 %)

"This contract represents a giant step for our solar-grade silicon business. Q-Cells is a leader in the photovoltaic industry and their endorsement of our material through this supply agreement is further evidence of the paradigm shift we are creating in the solar-grade silicon market," said Rene Boisvert, president and chief executive officer of Becancour.

Timminco is held in The AMP Portfolio - I sold one third of my position to
capture some of the profits after the recent run.

Jack Bass is editor of the market letter The Apprentice Millionaire - available at www.amprogram.com His latest book is " Building Your AMP Portfolio ".