Canadian miner giant Teck Resources Ltd. (NYSE:TCK, TSX:TCK.B) is interested in entering the iron ore industry and would seek to acquire a producing asset rather than develop a mining project, chief executive Don Lindsay told Bloomberg yesterday at the Canada Economic Summit, in Toronto.
Currently the Vancouver-based company generates about half of its revenue from coal, a quarter from copper and a quarter from zinc. With a market cap of $23 billion, Teck specializes in coking coal used for steelmaking, but it does not presently have any iron ore holdings.
But Lindsay’s comments may soon change that, as he said the company would be interested in producing assets, as opposed to buying an earlier stage asset.
Earlier this year the market was flooded with rumours of Teck planning to buy Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG), the third-largest iron ore producer in Australia. But analysts quoted in The Globe and Mail doubt Teck has the resources for a takeover of Fortescue, which is estimated to be worth over $17 billion.
Last February, Teck reported a record annual profit of $2.7 billion, up by half from 2010, fuelled mainly by higher coal prices.
Photo: Don Lindsay speaks to shareholders at Teck’s 2011 Annual Meeting, from Youtube.
