TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Despite achieving higher coal and significantly improved copper sales, Canadian diversified miner Teck Resources posted a 77% slide in fourth-quarter profit on sagging coal prices.

Profit attributable to shareholders for the quarter ended December 31, was $145-million or 25c a share, compared with $637-million or $1.08 a share in the same period last year.

Adjusted profit attributable to shareholders during the quarter was $354-million or 61c a share, compared with $613-million or $1.04 a share, in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Analysts had expected fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 49c a share on revenue of $2.53-billion.

Revenue fell 10% to C$2.7-billion.

For the full year, attributable profit declined by 70% to $811-million, down from the $2.66-billion reported in 2011. Adjusted profit for 2012 declined by 38.45% to $151-billion or $2.0 a share, compared with the $2.46-billion achieved in 2011.

“Due to uncertain global economic conditions, prices for all of our major products were down compared to last year, which resulted in lower earnings and cash flows than in 2011,” Teck CEO Don Lindsay said during an analyst conference call.

He added ongoing economic uncertainties in Europe and the US and less robust growth rates in China, India and other emerging markets had impacted both demand and prices for some of Teck's products.

During the fourth quarter, Teck produced 6.35-million tons of coal, which was slightly below the year-earlier quarter. The company produced 8% more coal during 2012 at 24.65-million tons, compared with the 22.78-million tons produced in 2011.

Total copper production in the quarter rose by 15.73% to 103 000 t, up from 89 000 a year earlier. For the full year, total copper production increased by 16% to 373 000 t.

Fourth-quarter coal sales rose by 15.77% to 6.42-million tons and for the year coal sales rose by 8% to 22.2-million tons. The company said steelmaking coal prices slumped by 37% in the quarter to $159/t, compared with $253/t a year earlier.

Copper sales during the fourth quarter were up 15.38% at 105 000 t, and for the full year increased by 13% to 369 000 t. The average price of copper in the quarter rose 6% to $3.59/lb, up from $3.40/lb.

The company also produced 95 000 t of lead in concentrates and 88 000 t refined lead, as well as 12.69-million tons of molybdenum.

Teck said it expected to produce between 24-million and 25-million tons of coal this year, at a cost of between $71/t and $77/t. Copper production was expected to decrease to between 340 000 t and 360 000 t.

The company plans to spend $2.25-billion on capital expenditures this year.

Teck said it believed the medium-to-longer-term fundamentals for steelmaking coal were favourable, although, the recent weakness in the seaborne steelmaking coal market was expected to persist for at least the first half of the year.

The company’s New York-listed share price declined by 5.23% to $34.94 on Thursday morning.