Swapping aluminum for copper will maintain China’s resources, group says
China depends on overseas imports for 60% of its aluminum resources as opposed to 70% of its copper resources.
Vancouver-based Teck Resources, cited slower growth in Europe and emerging markets like China as being behind a slump prices achieved during its second quarter which saw profits more than halve to $312 million.
The $16 billion company was punished on New York markets on Wednesday with the counter sliding by more than 5% by midday on massive volumes of more than 4 million shares. Year to date investors in Teck are 22% poorer.
The diversified miner suffered lower realized prices across the board with copper down 14% to $3.57 a pound, its realized coal price was 26% below Q2 2011 at $202 a tonne. Zinc (-15%), silver (-24%), lead (-22%) and molybdenum (-18%) prices all declined.
Don Lindsay, President and CEO (pictured) said in a statement that the company was nevertheless pleased with operating results as it achieved record quarterly copper production and significantly increased coal sales. The firm said its balance sheet remains strong with $3.6 billion of cash.
The company also trimmed capex plans for 2012 and is now expected to spend $2.1 billion, slightly lower than previous guidance of $2.3 billion. $220 million have been set aside to advance the company’s first foray into the oil sands business at Fort Hills.
The Ottawa Citizen quotes Greg Barnes, an analyst at TD Securities as saying “Teck should face headwinds from falling coal prices, which have been down sharply in recent weeks. Spot prices for hard coking coal have reportedly dropped 11% in the last month alone.”
Teck said it has already reached agreements with coal customers to sell 5.0 million tonnes of coal in the current quarter expect to conclude additional sales over the course of the three months. Prices for its premium coal have been agreed at $225 per tonne and the average price for all products is approximately $198 per tonne.
