Tim-t Fights Back

Globe says Timminco fires back at critics

2008-05-09 08:03 ET - In the News

The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Timminco, which has faced skepticism about the viability of its ability to produce solar-grade silicon, hit back at critics Thursday. The Globe's Andy Hoffman writes Tmminco announced a contract upgrade and a report it commissioned suggesting its method has the potential to transform the solar industry.

The Toronto company's shares rose Thursday and are up sharply over the past week. Pittsburgh's Solar Power Industries (SPI) will buy another 3,000 tonnes of solar grade silicon from Timminco a year from 2010 to 2015. The initial deal, announced March 15, 2007, to supply 4,000 tonnes of silicon over five years, was Timminco's first contract announcement. At the time, SPI was not identified as the buyer.

Timminco claims it has developed a "breakthrough" process to upgrade metallurgical silicon for use in solar cells at much lower costs than competitors. Critics and short sellers have questioned whether Timminco can produce large amounts of solar-grade silicon, when rivals such as Elkem AS are spending more than twice as much to produce less material. Timminco says it commissioned a report by Photon Consulting to review its manufacturing.