Copper miner Teck defers major project approvals amid operations review

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By Divya Rajagopal and Sumit Saha

(Reuters) -Canadian miner Teck Resources announced on Wednesday that it has undertaken a company-wide operations review and would defer approving major growth projects until its Quebrada Blanca (QB) copper mine in Chile achieves steady operations and target output.

The company also said in a statement that it has appointed Daniel Malchuk, former senior operations executive at BHP as a special advisor to CEO Jonathan Price to assist with QB’s tailings management and drive operational performance. 

The company’s shares rose 3.7% on the Toronto Stock Exchange. 

Teck said that it began the review process in August to improve performance across the company and is expected to conclude by October, with an updated forecast by its third-quarter results. In a separate email, Teck told Reuters that the company will continue with the Highland Valley Mine extension project in Canada, and the construction is proceeding as announced.

QB is Teck’s flagship mine, but a tailings issue that relates to the disposal of mine waste has dragged down the company’s shares after it missed production guidance.   

RBC Capital Markets said in an analyst note that the tailings issue could linger into 2026 and drag down production. 

“We expect a negative reaction to Teck’s operations review and management changes, as while these changes could ultimately lead to better operational performance, they create uncertainty until the October guidance update”, RBC Capital Markets analysts wrote.

The QB mine, located in Chile’s northern Tarapaca Region, is 60% indirectly owned by Teck.

The review from Teck comes just a year after the company closed the sale of its steel-making coal business to Swiss miner Glencore, after the company rejected the offer to sell its entire operations.

(Reporting by Sumit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)