Teck Resources Limited (TSX: TECK.A and TECK.B) (NYSE: TECK) announced its unaudited third quarter results for 2022.

“In the third quarter, we delivered another consecutive quarter of strong financial results, while returning cash to shareholders and maintaining a robust balance sheet. We also recently announced three value generating transactions that advance our strategy of pursuing industry-leading copper growth and rebalancing our portfolio of high-quality assets to low carbon metals,” said Jonathan Price, Chief Executive Officer. “Thanks to our resilience and financial strength, we remain well-positioned to manage through any near-term pressures arising from an overall economic slowdown, while staying focused on advancing our copper growth strategy and returning cash to shareholders.”

Highlights

• Adjusted profit attributable to shareholders¹ was $923 million or $1.77 per share in Q3 2022.
• Our strong financial results in Q3 2022 were offset by the impairment of our interest in Fort Hills, described below, and as a result, we recorded a loss attributable to shareholders of $195 million or $0.37 per share.
• On October 26, 2022, we announced an agreement to sell our 21.3% interest in the Fort Hills Energy Limited Partnership (Fort Hills) and certain associated downstream assets to Suncor Energy Inc. (Suncor) for gross proceeds of approximately $1 billion in cash, subject to customary closing adjustments reflecting a November 1, 2022 effective date. The transaction value is consistent with the current outlook for the Fort Hills business reflected in the most recent in-depth review of Fort Hills conducted by Suncor and the resulting long-range plan for the project. As a result of the sale agreement, we recorded an after-tax, non-cash impairment charge of $952 million in the third quarter of 2022.
• Adjusted EBITDA¹ was $1.9 billion in Q3 2022. We recorded a loss before taxes of $76 million in Q3 2022. Over the last twelve months we have generated $10.8 billion in adjusted EBITDA¹ and $7.2 billion of profit before taxes.
• In Q3 2022, we completed $730 million (US$564 million) in Class B subordinate voting share buybacks pursuant to our normal course issuer bid. We also returned $64 million to shareholders in Q3 through our regular quarterly base dividend.
• At QB2, we continue to focus on system completion and handover to support pre-operation and commissioning work, with a focus on the sub-systems required to produce first copper from Line 1 which we continue to target for late this year. However, if productivity impacts persist this will be delayed into January 2023.
• Our revised QB2 capital cost guidance is US$7.4 to US$7.75 billion based on our current foreign exchange assumptions, cost pressures related to weather and subsurface conditions, COVID-19 impacts and other factors. This is an increase from our prior guidance of US$6.9 to US$7.0 billion.
• Executing on our copper growth strategy, in Q3 2022, we announced agreements with PolyMet Mining Corporation (PolyMet) to advance PolyMet’s NorthMet Project and our Mesaba mineral deposit in a 50:50 joint venture, and with Agnico Eagle Mines Limited to form a 50:50 joint venture to advance the San Nicolás copper-zinc project.
• Our copper business unit gross profit declined by 50% from a year ago, primarily due to an 18% decrease in average realized copper prices to US$3.49 per pound and a 12% decrease in sales volumes to 67,300 tonnes due to the timing of shipments.
• Our zinc business unit gross profit increased 9% from a year ago primarily reflecting a 45% increase in zinc sales volumes of 235,200 tonnes from Red Dog, and a 6% increase in average realized zinc prices of US$1.44 per pound.
• Our steelmaking coal business unit gross profit increased by 37% from a year ago primarily as a result of favourable steelmaking coal prices. Realized steelmaking coal prices averaged US$304 per tonne in Q3 and sales volumes were 5.6 million tonnes. Our significant investment in Neptune Bulk Terminals materially reduced the impact that the recently-resolved labour action at Westshore Terminals would otherwise have had on our Q3 steelmaking coal sales volumes.
• While our underlying key mining drivers remain relatively stable, like others in the industry, we continue to face inflationary cost pressures. Inflationary pressures have increased our operating costs by 14% compared to the same period last year, approximately half of which relates to an increase in diesel costs.
• In late September, our Elkview steelmaking coal operation experienced a structural failure of its plant feed conveyor and as a result, we estimate a reduction in our 2022 steelmaking coal production of approximately 1.5 million tonnes. We have substantially completed the sourcing of materials and labour to conduct the replacement and expect the Elkview plant to restart production in late November.
• Our liquidity is strong at $8.3 billion as at October 26, 2022, including $2.9 billion of cash. Our US$4.0 billion sustainability-linked revolving credit facility is undrawn, and there are no major debt maturities until 2030.

Note:
1.  This is a non-GAAP financial measure or ratio. See “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Ratios” for further information.

Financial Summary Q3 2022

Note:
1. This is a non-GAAP financial measure or ratio. See “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Ratios” for further information.

Key Updates

Executing on our copper growth strategy – QB2 a long-life, low-cost operation with major expansion potential

• Focus continues to be on sub-system handover and pre-operational testing across all areas.
• Completed commissioning of the 220kV transmission line and final testing of the main sub-station switchgear at the Concentrator.
• Well advanced in commissioning of the pre-treatment area of the desalination plant and well advanced in pre-operational testing of the reverse osmosis units in the desalination plant.
• Completed hydrotests of the water supply pipeline and hydrotesting of the pump stations where pre-operational testing is underway.
• All sub-systems for Ball Mill No. 1 and SAG Mill No. 1 are in in pre-operational testing.
• Completed the ore stockpile dome and installation of all the in-plant conveyor belts.
• Completed the 12km long tailings launder and commenced hydrotesting of the water pipelines in the tailings management facility.
• Click here for a photo gallery and click here for a video of construction progress on QB2.

Steelmaking Coal Strategy

• Our annual steelmaking coal production capacity across our four operating mines in the Elk Valley is approximately 26 to 27 million tonnes, and we operated at those levels for most of the period from 2014 to 2019. Over the past three years, external challenges, and more recently, reliability issues at Elkview, have impacted our ability to operate at those levels. These include severe weather-related events including rain, flooding, extreme cold and wildfire events in 2021, and the COVID-19 pandemic and associated ongoing global disruption to supply chains and labour availability. As a result, to better reflect the increasing frequency of these adverse events and associated risk of impacts to our operations we have reduced our three-year production guidance commencing in 2023 from 26 to 27 million tonnes to 25 to 26 million tonnes.

Safety and sustainability leadership

• Our High Potential Incident Frequency remained low at a rate of 0.10 year to date in 2022.
• We announced a $5 million investment to expand our partnership with UN Women, providing economic empowerment and training for Indigenous women and youth in northern Chile.
• We recently reached an agreement with SAAM Towage to deploy two electric tug boats at Neptune Bulk Terminals, which will reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions and will mark the first electric tugs operating in Canada.

Guidance

• We have updated our 2022 annual guidance for steelmaking coal production volumes to reflect the impact of the plant feed conveyor failure at Elkview, outlined above. We have also updated our 2022 annual guidance for transportation unit costs¹ for our steelmaking coal business unit, our copper and refined zinc production guidance, and our capital cost guidance for QB2, as outlined in summary below. Our usual guidance tables, including three-year production guidance, can be found on pages 31 – 36 of Teck’s full third quarter results for 2022 at the link below.
• QB2 copper production is expected to ramp up during 2023 following commissioning of the QB2 project. We now expect copper production to be in the range of 170,000 and 300,000 tonnes per year for 2023 to 2025, from the previously disclosed range of 245,000 to 300,000 tonnes per year, with 2023 at the lower end of the guidance range.
• Like others in the industry, we continue to face inflationary cost pressures, which have increased our operating costs by 14% compared to the same period last year. Approximately half of the operating cost increase relates to diesel costs at our operations and in our transportation costs. The increases in the cost of certain key supplies, including mining equipment, fuel, tires and explosives, are being driven largely by price increases for underlying commodities such as steel, crude oil and natural gas. While our underlying key mining drivers such as strip ratios and haul distances remain relatively stable, inflationary pressures on diesel prices and other key input costs, as well as profit-based compensation and royalties continue to put upward pressure on our unit cost¹ guidance through the balance of 2022.
• As a result of the agreement to sell our interest in Fort Hills to Suncor with an effective date of November 1, 2022, we will no longer provide guidance for our Energy Business Unit. We expect the results from our interest in Fort Hills to be reported as a discontinued operation beginning in the fourth quarter of 2022.
• While we continue to expect our capital expenditures for 2023 to be lower than 2022, with the increase in QB2 capital guidance and continued inflationary pressures, we no longer expect a reduction of $2 billion compared to 2022 projected spending levels. We will issue 2023 capital expenditure guidance with our usual annual guidance in February, 2023.

Note:
1. This is a non-GAAP financial measure or ratio. See “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Ratios” for further information.

Note:
1. This is a non-GAAP financial measure or ratio. See “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Ratios” for further information.

Click here to view Teck’s full third quarter results for 2022.

USE OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES AND RATIOS

Our financial results are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. This document refers to a number of non-GAAP financial measures and non-GAAP ratios which are not measures recognized under IFRS and do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS or by Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States.

The non-GAAP financial measures and non-GAAP ratios described below do not have standardized meanings under IFRS, may differ from those used by other issuers, and may not be comparable to similar financial measures and ratios reported by other issuers. These financial measures and ratios have been derived from our financial statements and applied on a consistent basis as appropriate. We disclose these financial measures and ratios because we believe they assist readers in understanding the results of our operations and financial position and provide further information about our financial results to investors. These measures should not be considered in isolation or used in substitute for other measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.

Adjusted profit attributable to shareholders – For adjusted profit attributable to shareholders, we adjust profit (loss) attributable to shareholders as reported to remove the after-tax effect of certain types of transactions that reflect measurement changes on our balance sheet or are not indicative of our normal operating activities.

EBITDA – EBITDA is profit before net finance expense, provision for income taxes, and depreciation and amortization.

Adjusted EBITDA – Adjusted EBITDA is EBITDA before the pre-tax effect of the adjustments that we make to adjusted profit attributable to shareholders as described above.

Adjusted profit attributable to shareholders, EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA highlight items and allow us and readers to analyze the rest of our results more clearly. We believe that disclosing these measures assists readers in understanding the ongoing cash generating potential of our business in order to provide liquidity to fund working capital needs, service outstanding debt, fund future capital expenditures and investment opportunities, and pay dividends.

Gross profit before depreciation and amortization – Gross profit before depreciation and amortization is gross profit with depreciation and amortization expense added back. We believe this measure assists us and readers to assess our ability to generate cash flow from our business units or operations.

Unit costs – Unit costs for our steelmaking coal operations are total cost of goods sold, divided by tonnes sold in the period, excluding depreciation and amortization charges. We include this information as it is frequently requested by investors and investment analysts who use it to assess our cost structure and margins and compare it to similar information provided by many companies in the industry.

Adjusted site cash cost of sales – Adjusted site cash cost of sales for our steelmaking coal operations is defined as the cost of the product as it leaves the mine excluding depreciation and amortization charges, out-bound transportation costs and any one-time collective agreement charges and inventory write-down provisions.

Total cash unit costs – Total cash unit costs for our copper and zinc operations includes adjusted cash costs of sales, as described below, plus the smelter and refining charges added back in determining adjusted revenue. This presentation allows a comparison of total cash unit costs, including smelter charges, to the underlying price of copper or zinc in order to assess the margin for the mine on a per unit basis.

Net cash unit costs – Net cash unit costs of principal product, after deducting co-product and by-product margins, are also a common industry measure. By deducting the co- and by-product margin per unit of the principal product, the margin for the mine on a per unit basis may be presented in a single metric for comparison to other operations.

Adjusted cash cost of sales – Adjusted cash cost of sales for our copper and zinc operations is defined as the cost of the product delivered to the port of shipment, excluding depreciation and amortization charges, any one-time collective agreement charges or inventory write-down provisions and by-product cost of sales. It is common practice in the industry to exclude depreciation and amortization as these costs are non-cash and discounted cash flow valuation models used in the industry substitute expectations of future capital spending for these amounts.

Adjusted operating costs – Adjusted operating costs for our energy business unit is defined as the costs of product as it leaves the mine, excluding depreciation and amortization charges, cost of diluent for blending to transport our bitumen by pipeline, cost of non-proprietary product purchased and transportation costs of our product and non-proprietary product and any one-time collective agreement charges or inventory write-down provisions.

Adjusted basic earnings per share – Adjusted basic earnings per share is adjusted profit attributable to shareholders divided by average number of shares outstanding in the period.

Adjusted diluted earnings per share – Adjusted diluted earnings per share is adjusted profit attributable to shareholders divided by average number of fully diluted shares in a period.

Adjusted site cash cost of sales per tonne – Adjusted site cash cost of sales per tonne is a non-GAAP ratio comprised of adjusted site cash cost of sales divided by tonnes sold. There is no similar financial measure in our consolidated financial statements with which to compare. Adjusted site cash cost of sales is a non-GAAP financial measure.

Profit (Loss) Attributable to Shareholders and Adjusted Profit Attributable to Shareholders

Reconciliation of Basic Earnings (Loss) per share to Adjusted Basic Earnings per share

Reconciliation of Diluted Earnings (Loss) per share to Adjusted Diluted Earnings per share

Reconciliation of Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA Ratio

Reconciliation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA

Reconciliation of Gross Profit Before Depreciation and Amortization