Teck increases zinc output
Teck to ramp up Trail smelter
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/teck-to-ramp-up-trail-smelter/article1236716/
Toronto — Reuters Last updated on Thursday, Jul. 30, 2009 05:27PM EDT
Teck Resources Ltd. said Thursday it will resume full production at its Trail, B.C., zinc smelter due to recovering demand for the metal.
The company, Canada's largest base metals miner and a top producer of coal used in the steelmaking process, also said it has reached agreement with most of its coal customers on 2009 deliveries at $128 (U.S.) a tonne.
Reuters eck Resources Ltd. said Thursday it will resume full production at its Trail, B.C., zinc smelter due to recovering demand for the metal.The company, Canada's largest base metals miner and a top producer of coal used in the steelmaking process, also said it has reached agreement with most of its coal customers on 2009 deliveries at $128 (U.S.) a tonne.
This brings its average realized coal price for the 2009 calendar year to between $155 and $160 a tonne, when factoring in coal sold early in the year at higher 2008 prices.
Teck slashed output at Trail by 20 per cent last fall as a result of plunging demand. It said it will raise output to 25,000 tonnes a month effective Sept. 1. The smelter had been operating at a rate of 20,000 tonnes a month. Mined zinc production will not be affected.
Teck said a strengthening in customer demand over the past several months has depleted refined metal inventories.
“Orders for specific products by a large number of steel mill customers for (the third and fourth quarters) are 44 per cent above the order rate for the first half of the year,” the company said.
Teck became a top coal exporter, and also weighed itself down with $9.8-billion in debt, when it bought Fording Canadian Coal Trust last summer, just before prices for coal and base metals plunged steeply as the global financial crisis took hold.
The company has since managed to pay off or defer short-term debt taken on during the acquisition, and has seen its share price rebound eightfold from a low hit in March.
The stock, which closed at $27.35 (Canadian) Thursday, is still nearly 50 per cent below the high it hit in May, 2008.
Teck said it expects coal production to be about 12 million tonnes in the second half of 2009.