Mining company Teck released their fourth quarter financial results for 2015, reporting a loss of $459 million. Comparatively, Teck reported a $129 million profit at the end of 2014. The loss is blamed on low commodity prices.
The financial loss equates to $16 million profit that is attributable to shareholders, or three cents earnings per share. This is down from 20 cents per share, or $116 million, at the fiscal end of 2014.
“We were pleased with our operating performance in 2015, meeting our guidance, reducing our costs and raising nearly $1 billion through two streaming transactions to strengthen our balance sheet,” said Don Lindsay, President and CEO in a statement. “However, the commodity cycle continues to provide us with a very challenging environment such that our near-term priorities are to keep all of our operations cash flow positive, meet our commitment to Fort Hills with internal sources of funds, evaluate options to further strengthen our liquidity and maintain a strong financial position by ending the year without drawing on our lines of credit.”
In relation to the steelmaking coal quarterly results, sales have remained flat compared to the 2014 numbers, while the revenue, realized price and production have all decreased. Revenue from steelmaking coal is down, 15 per cent, ending at $701 million, and production is down 0.4 per cent. Due to cost-saving measures, the unit costs of coal have decreased by 14 per cent, costing $78 per tonne. Steelmaking coal gross profit decreased 16 per cent when compared to the same quarter in 2014.
Teck reported that the majority of their mines, with the exception of Quebrada Blanca and Pend Oreille, remained cash positive in the last quarter. They are projecting coal sales in the first quarter of 2015 to be at least 5.5 million tonnes of steelmaking coal.
