Canada-headquartered Teck Resources will miss its previously guided copper production target by between 60 000 t and 70 000 t, owing to delays in construction and commissioning of its Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 (QB2) in Chile.

The miner lowered its guidance for QB2 to between 80 000 t and 100 000 t for the year, resulting in its overall guidance falling to between 330 000 t and 375 000 t.

The 2024 to 2026 guidance of 545 000 t to 640 000 t remains unchanged.

Teck achieved a significant milestone at QB2 during the second quarter, with the first shipment and sale of copper concentrate from the project. CEO Jonathan Price reported that QB2 would ramp up to full production later this year.

“We continue to explore a range of options to realise the full potential of our world-class base metals business and to progress our overall copper growth pipeline, including receiving regulatory approval for our Zafranal project, in May,” said Price.

One of the copper growth projects is the mill expansion at Quebrada, or QBME, which entails an increase in concentrator throughput of about 50% with the addition of one identical semi-autogenous grinding line. The feasibility study for QBME, initiated in mid-2022, will be completed in the second half of 2023.

Teck produced 64 000 t of copper in the second quarter and 121 000 t in the first half of the year. This compares with 72 000 t in the prior-year quarter and 139 t in the corresponding half-year.

Zinc-in-concentrate production dipped to 164 000 t in the three months under review and refined zinc output dipped to 68 000 t.  

Teck lowered its production guidance at the Red Dog mine, in Alaska. The mine’s zinc output fell to 133 700 t in the second quarter, down from 143 800 t a year ago, owing to lower zinc grade and an unplanned five-day shutdown owing to power system availability at the beginning of the quarter.

Red Dog’s lead production of 23 500 t in the second quarter was 2 500 t higher than a year ago as a result of higher lead grade, as expected in the mine plan. Recovery was lower than plan, owing to lead solubility in the feed material. This is expected to extend to the second half of the year and as such, Teck has reduced its 2023 production guidance for lead to between 95 000 t and 110 000 t, from its previous guidance of 110 000 t to 125 000 t.

At the Trail Operations, in Canada, refined zinc and refined lead production were 3% and 12% lower, respectively, at 67 000 t and 16 200 t. Refined zinc production was impacted by planned maintenance and by issues in commissioning the new automated equipment to cast zinc. Refined lead production was impacted by unplanned maintenance resulting from boiler leaks. The boiler has reached the end of its life and replacement is planned in 2024.

Steelmaking coal production increased to 5.8-million tonnes.  

Price reported that strong performance from the steelmaking coal unit contributed to solid financial results, reinforcing the value of the steelmaking coal business.

Teck posted adjusted profit of C$643-million, or $1.24 a share, in the second quarter, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of C$1.5-billion, driven by continued robust commodity prices and strong steelmaking coal sales.