Two things I got from this article. 1. China is becoming an importer of zinc in late 2004. 2. Combination of strong metal prices really improved results for Teck. Hoping for similar improvements for bwlrf.ob.
In Feb. 3 VANCOUVER story headlined "UPDATE 1-No expansion plans for world No. 1 zinc mine - Teck"... please read in paragraph 9..."UBS analyst Brian MacArthur"...instead of... "UBS analyst Tony Lesiak". (Corrects analyst's name)
A corrected repetition follows.
By Nicole Mordant
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Teck Cominco Ltd. (TEKsvb.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) has no near-term plans to expand production at its Red Dog mine in Alaska, the world's biggest zinc mine, despite the best prices for the galvanizing metal in almost a decade, the large Canadian miner said on Thursday.
Capacity at Red Dog, which Teck Cominco said would produce 580,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate this year out of the 670,000 tonnes the whole group expects to churn out, was doubled at the end of the 1990s.
"We are looking at our long-term plans for Red Dog but I don't see a short-term, that is in the next three to four years, increase in Red Dog production," said David Thompson, Teck Cominco's chief executive.
"To go there again is not so easy. There are a number of constraints. The permitting process can take a long time in Alaska," he told analysts on a conference call to discuss the zinc, copper and gold miner's fourth quarter results.
Zinc prices, a late starter in the current metals price boom, started taking off last year and hit a 7-1/4 year high of $1,307 a tonne last week on strong demand, especially from China.
Thompson said Teck Cominco was seeing "continuing strength" in the zinc market, especially in Asia where China turned into a small net importer of zinc metal in the last four months of 2004. Even though it imported only 3,000-4,000 tonnes a month, Thompson said China hadn't bought metal since 1991.
"All our discussions with Asian refineries indicate that they are now beginning to get inquiries from southern China for zinc... It is not huge quantities but the trend is that they are starting to bring metal in," he said.
Teck Cominco's shares hit a record high of C$42.65 on Thursday, and were last C$1.25 up at C$41.55 in good volumes on the Toronto Stock Exchange after the miner reported fourth quarter earnings that blew past analysts' forecasts.
"An exceptional fourth quarter" was how UBS analyst Brian MacArthur described results from the Vancouver, British Columbia based company, which attributed the nearly threefold increase to higher commodity prices and an increase in the production and sale of copper, zinc, coal and molybdenum.
A flood of cash coming in wiped out Teck Cominco's C$538 million of debt, replacing it with net cash of C$240 million -- a position Thompson said he could not recall the company ever being in.
Thompson would not be drawn on whether the company had any acquisition or special dividend plans for its cash.
"We are obviously looking for opportunities all the time and we have always found them... We really want to have a situation where we don't have to rush to the bank as we did so often in the past to do things," he said.
Please post stock symbols first in all your posts. If it's a foreign stock, please list the US pk equivalent symbol.
If the Commodities Boom is Over, I am just a Gold Bug headed for the Windshield of LIFE
