Canadian miner Teck Resources Ltd TECK-B-T -3.22%decrease missed profit estimates for second-quarter profit on Thursday and lowered its annual copper production outlook due to delays at a project in Chile.
The Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 project (QB2) in the South American country is one of the largest undeveloped copper resources in the world, and Teck had previously said it expected to achieve full production rates by the end of 2023.
Teck, the target of a takeover bid by Swiss commodity giant Glencore, also reported the death of an employee at QB2 during the second-quarter.
The company said it now expects annual copper production of 330,000 tonnes to 375,000 tonnes, down from its previous estimate of 390,000 tonnes to 445,000 tonnes.
For the reported quarter, realized prices for steelmaking coal and copper fell 41 per cent and 11 per cent respectively, denting profit.
Fears of slowing growth, particularly in top consumer China, has hurt copper prices. The average copper price fell about 11 per cent to $3.85 per pound in the April-June quarter, according to CFRA Research.
Quarterly copper production fell about 11 per cent to 64,000 tonnes, while production of steelmaking coal rose 9.4 per cent to 5.8 million tonnes.
Glencore in June offered to buy Teck’s steelmaking coal business as a stand-alone unit, after the Canadian miner twice rebuffed its $22.5-billion offer to combine the two.
Teck’s coal mines are among the few left in the world, which makes the company attractive to Glencore as it seeks to combine them with its own thermal coal business.
Teck said last month that it had received several proposals for its coal business.
On an adjusted basis, Vancouver-based Teck posted a profit of C$1.22 per share for the three months ended June 30, missing analysts’ average estimate of C$1.25 per share, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.