Shares in the company were down
Teck said steelmaking coal sales for the fourth quarter came in at 5.1 million tonnes, below the 5.2 million to 5.7 million tonnes in its revised guidance it issued
The lower sales came as extreme cold weather in B.C. this winter led to further interruptions and substantial reductions to rail service and port activities.
The company had guidance for 6.4 million to 6.8 million tonnes sold for the quarter before the November deluge.
The disruptions have also increased costs at its operations, but Teck said higher steelmaking coal prices should offset those costs and it expects to substantially make up the lost sales volume in the first half of this year.
Teck also said that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is leading to increased staff absences at its coal operations in B.C. as well as at its QB2 project in
It says that while absences have yet to have a major impact, the situation poses a risk to first quarter production and that costs have risen because of labour inefficiencies related to COVID-19.
The company said it has updated its COVID-19 capital cost guidance for QB2 to between
The company also warned that it was seeing inflationary cost pressures, especially on diesel prices, supplies and labour costs, and that increases it saw in the fourth quarter are expected to continue into this year.
He said, however, that he expects improvements in Teck's coking coal operations this year once the Neptune terminal expansion in
"Teck's strong balance sheet, cost reduction initiatives, organic growth within the copper division and long-term commitment to returning capital to shareholders are all supportive of a higher valuation than currently ascribed by the market."
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Companies in this story: (TSX:TECK.B)
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