TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Teck Resources' second-quarter adjusted net earnings rose 91% compared with a year earlier, after higher coal and copper prices offset lower coal sales, higher costs and a strong Canadian dollar.
Adjusted profit for the second quarter was C$663-million, up from C$347-million a year ago. Including once-off items, profit attributable to shareholders rose 167% year-on-year, to C$756-million.
Vancouver-based Teck produces copper, zinc and metallurgical coal, and is the second-biggest producer of seaborne hard coking coal, behind BHP Billiton's alliance with Mitsubishi, after its 2008 acquisition of Fording Canadian Coal.
The company said on March 23 it had lowered its sales estimates for both copper and coal this year, citing difficult weather conditions, operational difficulties at a new concentrator in Chile and a labour dispute in Western Canada.
Workers at Teck's Elkview coal operation began a strike on January 30. The operation resumed production on April 8, after a new contract deal was reached.
The company also cautioned last month that second-quarter coal sales would be at the low end of its 5.5-million to six-million ton forecast, because some customers deferred contracted shipments because of the February earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Teck sold 5.57-million tons of coal in the second quarter, compared with 6.43-million a year earlier, the company said on Thursday.
“Our efforts for the balance of the year will continue to focus on ramping up production at our coal mines and advancing our copper, coal and oil sands development projects," CEO Don Lindsay said in a statement.
Edited by: Creamer Media Reporter
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