UPDATE 3-Teck Resources writes down assets by C$2.2 bln on weak commodity prices

(Recasts with analyst, CEO comment)
By Nicole Mordant
Oct 22 (Reuters) - Canadian miner Teck Resources Ltd
TCKb.TO TCK.N , buffeted by weaker commodity prices, said on
Thursday it had written down the value of its steel-making coal
and other assets by C$2.2 billion ($1.68 billion), pushing it to
a quarterly loss.
However, excluding the non-cash writedown, its earnings were
better than the market expected due to a stronger operating
performance in its coal and zinc businesses.
Teck, which shut down its six Canadian coal operations for
three weeks in the third quarter due to weaker demand and
prices, said it expected production rates will be "aligned" with
sales volumes in the fourth quarter.
Vancouver-based Teck is the largest producer of steel-making
coal in North America.
"We are taking significant steps to meet the challenge of
low commodity prices," Teck Chief Executive and President Don
Lindsay said in a statement.
The company earlier reported a net loss attributable to
shareholders of C$2.1 billion, or C$3.73 per share, in the three
months to September. That compared with earnings of C$84
million, or 14 Canadian cents a share, a year earlier.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nCCN6fxtng
Excluding the C$2.2 billion impairment charge, Teck earned 5
Canadian cents per share. Analysts had expected it to earn 1
Canadian cent, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The better-than-expected performance was due to "much
stronger zinc results than expected, as well as better results
in coal, offset by weaker results in copper," RBC Capital
Markets analyst Fraser Phillips said in a note to clients.
Teck left unchanged its coal production forecast for this
year at 25.0 million to 26.0 million tonnes, but lowered its
operating cost forecast to between C$83 and C$86 per tonne from
C$86 a tonne before.
The writedown comes as Teck reduced the long-term commodity
price assumptions it was using to value its assets.
Teck's debt was little changed at $7.26 billion at the end
of September. The company said its cash balance of C$1.8 billion
as of Oct. 21 is more than its C$1.5 billion share of costs
required to complete development of the Fort Hills oil sands
project.
Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service have downgraded
Teck's credit rating to junk in the past two months, blaming
weak commodity prices and heavy capital spending. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N11K1MP urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFIT936977
Up to Wednesday's close, the company's Toronto-listed shares
had fallen nearly 54 percent in the past 12 months.
($1 = 1.3119 Canadian dollars)