Rail cars seen near Lytton, British Columbia, on July 3.
Rail disruptions following last week’s devastating British Columbia wildfires have forced diversified miner Teck Resources to reroute coking coal shipments and the company has said that its third-quarter sales will be impacted.
The rail line near Lytton – the small village that was destroyed by the fire – has been damaged, disrupting freight between Teck’s mines and west coast terminals.
The mining company says it has rerouted shipments to Ridley Terminals, in Prince Rupert. Limited rail traffic flow to the Lower Mainland terminals was reinstituted on Monday afternoon.
Based on the repair guidance provided by the railways, Teck states that its September quarter sales will be between 300 000 t and 500 000 t lower.
Second quarter sales are unaffected as the disruption began on the last day of the quarter.
Teck states that it is taking steps to mitigate the effect of rail disruption to transportation of product from Highland Valley Copper operations, which is not expected to have a material effect on third quarter sales at this time.
The company reports that all its British Columbia operations are operating, with steelmaking coal mines continuing to produce and taking advantage of low levels of clean coal inventory at the mines.
“The ongoing wildfire risk is being closely monitored at all operations and comprehensive emergency management plans are in place, with employee health and safety being the top priority,” Teck states.