thanks for the articles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thursday July 26, 6:28 pm Eastern Time
Teck-Cominco posts Q2 profit, eyes acquisition
biz.yahoo.com
By Lesley Wroughton
TORONTO, July 26 (Reuters) - A week after completing its merger with Cominco Ltd., Canada's Teck Corp. (Toronto:TEKb.TO - news) (Toronto:TEKa.TO - news), the world's largest zinc concentrate producer, said on Thursday it was already eyeing its first acquisition -- the rich Century zinc-lead mine in Australia.
The company also announced in its first joint earnings report with Cominco, now a wholly owned subsidiary, that second-quarter profits were higher on healthy revenues from power sales from Cominco's Trail, zinc refinery in southern British Columbia.
.........................................................................................................................
Zinc production in the quarter was 81,200 tonnes, down from 98,100 tonnes in the year-earlier period, while gold output was 164,000 ounces, up from 139,000 ounces. Combined, the company owns or has a stake in 12 mines and two refining complexes in Canada, Peru and the United States.
...........................................................................................................................
The company took advantage of soaring power prices in the United States, driven by higher demand and shortages in generating capacity, which averaged $232 per megawatt hour, up from $90 per megawatt hour a year ago. Sales from Trail's Waneta plant were 270,000 megawatt hours, up from 225,000 megawatt hours a year ago.
Refined zinc production at Trail was 53,400 tonnes in the second quarter, down from 68,000 tonnes a year ago, as the company cut back output by 25 percent to optimize electricity sales.
Thompson said the company intended to export about 750 gigawatts of power next year, with further cutbacks in Trail's production depending on electricity prices.
...........................................................................................................................
Teck said operating profits at its Cajamarquilla zinc mine in Peru, the Red Dog zinc mine in Alaska, and its Highland Valley copper mine in Canada, were lower due to weaker metals prices, with copper hitting historical lows and zinc prices slipping 18 percent in the quarter.
Cajamarquilla produced 27,800 tonnes of zinc in the quarter, Red Dog's zinc concentrate output declined to 130,100 tonnes from 135,000 tonnes, and Highland Valley's production was 26,800 tonnes of copper, down 8 percent on the 2000 quarter because of harder ore. |
