Canadian diversified mining major Teck Resources has lowered its full-year guidance for metallurgical coal by half-a-million tonnes, owing to wildfires in British Columbia disrupting coal transportation.

The full-year coal guidance has been lowered to between 25-million and 26-million tonnes and senior VP for coal Robin Sheremeta said on Tuesday that Teck was “in good shape” to hit this new target range.

Third-quarter steelmaking coal sales were expected to be reduced by 500 000 t to 800 000 t, with the quarter’s guidance revised to between 5.7-million and 6.1-million tonnes. The group previously said that its third-quarter sales hit would be between 300 000 t and 500 000 t.

The British Columbia government last week declared a state of emergency to support the province-wide response to the ongoing wildfire situation. There are about 250 fires currently burning in the province.

Teck has contracts in place to ship through all three West Coast ports and that gave it flexibility to divert trains and vessels through Ridley Terminals, in Prince Rupert.

As a result of the wildfires, the yearly transportation cost guidance range has been increased by C$3/t. CEO Don Lindsay said that it should be viewed in the context of current steelmaking coal prices, which had risen by $100/t during the quarter.

Teck would continue to prioritise available spot volumes to China, which should continue to result in favourable price realisations. The miner continued to target 7.5-million tonnes of sales to China in 2021 – unchanged from its previous guidance.

During the second quarter, the company sold about two-million tonnes of steelmaking coal to customers in China at premium CFR China prices. China prices are about $315/t.

Overall, Teck’s second-quarter sales were 6.2-million tonnes, which was in line with its guidance.

The Elkview operations achieved a new all-time quarterly production record.