Revenue rose swiftly at Teck Resources Ltd. in the second quarter as it took advantage of record high copper prices.
Vancouver-based Teck is one of Canada’s biggest base metals miner by market value, selling metallurgical coal, copper and zinc.
Sales rose to $2.6-billion from $1.7-billion year-over-year powered in part by materially higher copper prices. The industrial metal hit a record high in the quarter of US$4.78 a pound, as global economies staged a strong recovery with the COVID-19 pandemic ebbing.
Teck is in the process of widening its exposure to copper as it builds a new mine in Chile. The company said that next month the QB2 mine will be about 60 per cent complete with production expected in the second half of 2022.
Profit and revenue in its core coal business also rose in the quarter compared with the previous year, with the company benefiting from higher pricing amid brisk demand for steel. Wildfires in British Columbia have lately disrupted some rail shipments from its coal mines in the current quarter, and Teck said that will result in the company selling about half a million tonnes of coal less than it previously indicated for the entire year.
Teck reported a profit of $0.63 per share for the quarter ending on June 30 on an adjusted basis, two cents lighter than analysts surveyed by Refinitiv expected.
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