TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Diversified miner Teck Cominco will consider selling its gold portfolio to raise cash for paying down its heavy deb tload, after the firm bought Fording Canadian Coal Trust last month.

Minority interests owned in other projects and firms could also be on the chopping block, according to a presentation posted on the company's website.

Teck arranged for $9,8-billion in debt to fund the Fording transaction, comprising a $4-billion, three-year amortising term, which requires 11 quarterly instalments beginning in April next year, and a $5,8-billion 364-day bridge loan.

The company expects to have achieved a “substantial” reduction in the bridge debt by mid-2009, senior vice president for corporate development Ron Vance said in a presentation in New York on Wednesday, broadcast over the Internet.

The firm's gold assets include a 40% interest in Sumitomo's Pogo mine, in Alaska, and a 50% interest in the Hemlo operations, in north-western Ontario, which it owns with Toronto-based Barrick Gold.

Vance said that the company has already held talks with a number of potential buyers for its gold portfolio..

Teck, which bought the Fording assets to increase its coal production and reduce its exposure to zinc, has taken a pounding in the markets as the outlook for steel demand darkens and analysts speculate that the company and other coal producers will have to settle for lower coal contract prices in the next round of negotiations with customers.

Vancouver-based Teck even felt it was necessary to issue a statement on Tuesday evening, in response to what it termed "market rumours", reiterating that it was not planning an equity financing to pay down the debt.

Investors are concerned that the company will not be in a position to repay its borrowings, because of softening demand for base metals and coal, which account for most of its revenue.

However, Vance said that, besides potential asset sales, the firm will pay down a large portion of the bridge loan from operating cash flow and a cash tax refund of about $1-billion expected from the Canadian government in the first half of 2009.

Nevertheless, Teck's shares plummeted another 24% on Wednesday, to C$6,63 a share. The stock fell 20% the previous day.