The roughly
The company completed all major construction at the project in the quarter, including a molybdenum plant and a ship loader that allowed it to start shipping mine concentrate, chief executive
"It was a beautiful sight," said Price, who was in there to see the second shipment of concentrate loaded onto a ship.
Price made the comments the same day as news broke that
BHP said a key reason for the acquisition attempt was to increase its exposure to "future facing" commodities through Anglo's copper assets, a premise that Price said validates Teck's own strategy.
"The proposed or potential takeover here, of Anglo by BHP, just reinforces the attractiveness of the long-term fundamentals for copper markets. And, you know, long-term fundamentals around which we have centred our strategy for the years ahead."
Copper is expected to be in high demand in the energy transition as everything from electric vehicles to wind turbines to the power grid to connect them will all require reams of the red metal.
"It's an exciting time in the copper market," said Price, as copper prices have recently jumped up past
"The world is fast turning from debating whether demand for copper would really rise so quickly, to wondering where and how we're going to find more."
RBC analyst
Total copper production was still up 74 per cent to 99,000 tonnes from the first quarter last year, thanks both to the Quebrada Blanca ramp-up and strong performance at its Antamina mine, the company said.
While the copper production ramp up at the mine in
The company also kept its latest capital cost guidance unchanged, something analysts have been watching as the original estimate for the Quebrada Blanca expansion project was around
Teck is working to increase copper production as it moves away from its steelmaking coal business that it has a deal to sell to Glencore. The company received
The company's steelmaking coal business was hit by freezing weather in January that led to some equipment failures that contributed to a drop in sales, while its zinc business has been suffering from low prices for much of the past year.
Overall, the
Revenue totalled
On an adjusted basis, Teck says it earned
This report by The Canadian Press was first published
Companies in this story: (TSX:TECK.B)
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