Teck sets financial performance records in 2021
Teck Resources Ltd. (TECK.B-TSX, TECK.A-TSX, TECK-NYSE) closed out 2021 by setting a number of financial performance records, including the company’s highest ever quarterly and annual adjusted [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization EBITDA].
“Teck’s record-setting performance was driven by the ongoing positive commodity prices environment and made possible the tremendous resilience of our people, who persevered through heatwaves, wildfires, floods, freezing temperatures and the global pandemic to continue safely and sustainably producing the essential resources the world needs,” said Teck President and CEO Don Lindsay.
Adjusted profit attributable to shareholders was a record $1.4 billion or $2.58 per share in the fourth quarter of 2021. Profit attributable to shareholders was $2.9 billion or $5.39 per share for the year.
Adjusted EBITDA was a record $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, more than three times higher than the same period last year, and $6.6 billion for the year. Profit before tax was a record $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter and $4.5 billion for the year.
Teck is a diversified miner with coal, copper, zinc, and oil sands operations in Canada, the U.S., Chile and Peru.
It ranks as the world’s second-largest seaborne exporter of steelmaking coal, with six operations in Western Canada and significant steelmaking coal reserves. They include Elkview, Fording River, Greenhills and Line Creek in southeastern British Columbia.
Steelmaking coal – or metallurgical coal – is a higher-grade coal which is a necessary component in the chemical reactions that transform iron into steel.
Realized steelmaking coal prices of US$352 per tonne drove a $1.4 billion gross profit increase in the company’s steelmaking coal business unit.
Teck’s copper business unit gross profit increased 20%, supported by an average realized copper price of US$4.46 per pound and copper production of 72,600 tonnes.
Teck is a top three zinc miner. The company ‘s zinc business unit posted a profit increase of 48%, supported by an average realized zinc price of US$1.52 a pound.
Teck is developing the QB2 operation in the Tarapaca Region of northern Chile. QB2 is essentially a continuation of the existing Quebrada Blanca open pit operation, which is expected to produce up to 8,000 tonnes of cathode copper this year.
QB2 will boast an initial mine life of 28 years, the company has said. Project highlights include 316,000 tonnes of copper equivalent production per year for the first five full years of mine life, putting QB2 among the world’s top 20 copper producers.
The first production is currently planned for the second half of 2022. On Thursday, Teck said overall progress on the QB2 project has reached 77% completion.
On February 23, 2022, Teck Class B common shares closed at $45.21 and currently trade in a 52-week range of $47.07 and $21.86.