Teck halts Chile copper mine for one month

[Redator]

Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A; NYSE: TECK) said a mechanical issue at its Carmen de Andacollo open-pit mine in Chile will force production to be halted for about a month.

The unplanned downtime – caused by a maintenance shutdown of the SAG mill – will have no material impact on 2025 output, Teck said Monday in a statement. Carmen de Andacollo will mitigate the effect of the interruption by rescheduling some plant maintenance work to coincide with the halt, Teck said.

Teck said it expects Carmen de Andacollo, which accounts for about 10% of consolidated 2025 copper output, to produce 45,000 to 55,000 tonnes of the metal this year as forecast.

One month of unplanned downtime could reduce 2025 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by less than C$20 million, National Bank Financial mining analyst Shane Nagle said in a note. Rescheduling the planned maintenance should help to make up the shortfall in the second half, he said.

QB port

Teck also announced an unrelated temporary outage of the shiploader at the Quebrada Blanca port facility in northern Chile. Repairs to the shiploader should also take about a month, Teck said.

Operations at the Quebrada Blanca mine and plant continue normally, Teck said. Since the operation can ship via alternative ports, there should be no material sales impact from the outage, the company said.

Teck has said it expects Quebrada Blanca to produce 230,000 to 270,000 tonnes in 2025. Overall, the company is aiming to produce between 490,000 and 565,000 tonnes of copper this year.

“Demonstrating operational improvements at Quebrada Blanca throughout the second half is required to support a re-rating,” Nagle said.

Teck’s Class B shares were little changed at C$50.93 apiece in morning trading Monday in Toronto. That gave the company a market capitalization of about C$25 billion.