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TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Vancouver-based Teck Resources expects to produce between 23,5-million and 25-million tons of coal next year, and plans to boost output further in 2011 and 2012.
For 2009, the company expects to produce 20-million tons and will sell between 19,5-million and 20-million tons.
The figures are at the lower end of the company's forecasts because of shipping delays caused by high winds at the port of Vancouver.
However, missed shipments will likely be made up in the first quarter, weather permitting, the company said.
“Our coal team is focused on near-term expansion opportunities in light of the tight market that we expect for high-quality hard coking coal,” CEO Don Lindsay said in a statement.
While capital budgets are still under review, Teck expects its overall capital spending for all its businesses in 2010 will be “in line” with its total capital spending in 2009.
Last month, Teck said it is closing in on the targets it has set for debt ratios, in the hopes of achieving investment grade credit ratings.
The firm was downgraded after it borrowed $9,8-billion to buy Fording Canadian Coal Trust, just before debt markets turned sour late in 2008.
Since the closing of the Fording transaction, coal has become the biggest earner for Teck – it accounted for 59% of its operating profit in the third quarter, compared with 28% a year earlier.
The company is now the second-biggest producer of seaborne hard coking coal.
