Canada’s Teck misses Q1 profit on lower sales

Canadian miner Teck Resources missed first-quarter profit estimates on Thursday, pulled down partly by lacklustre steelmaking coal sales volumes and lower zinc prices.

Teck, one of the leading producers of steelmaking coal, last year announced the sale of the business to Swiss miner Glencore Plc, and said it was shifting its strategy towards building its copper business.

The miner reported a 74 per cent rise in copper production at 99,000 tonnes in the first quarter, helped by ramp-up in output at its Quebrada Blanca (QB) mine in Chile.

“We had strong first quarter performance... with steadily increasing quarterly copper production as QB ramp-up advances,” CEO Jonathan Price said in a statement.

The company reiterated full-year copper production of between 465,000 tonnes and 540,000 tonnes, above 296,500 tonnes produced in 2023.

All outstanding major construction at QB operations was completed and the molybdenum plant will be ramped up in the second quarter, it added.

“The investment case for Teck is very much dependent on the company hitting the revised ramp-up timeline and capex guidance at QB2.. the completion of construction and reiterated guidance is encouraging,” as per Jefferies analysts.