Teck Resources Ltd

There's no need to speak I'll be your belly dancer Prancer And you can be my sheep I know your dad is a something, a nomad known to all. With 50 girls to attend him, they all send him a jump mask and a car. But you won't need no harem, honey, when I'm by your side. And you won't need no camel, no, no, when I take you for a ride.

Thank you.

Thank you. We've got shadows painting our faces and tracing a romance in our head. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh. Ooh, ooh, ooh, yeah.

Hello darkness my old friend I've come to talk with you Because a vision softly creeping Left its scenes while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains within the sound of singing In restless dreams I walked alone Narrow streets of cobblestone Neath the halo of A-Street land I turned my color to the cold and damp When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light That split the night And touched the sound of silent wounds And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more

People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs that voices never share And no one dared disturb the sound of silence Fool said, I do not know Silence like a cancer grows Hear my words and I might teach you Take my oath and I might reach you But my words, thanks And the words of silence In the signs and the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls and whispered in the sound of silence.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for signing by. Welcome to Tech's third quarter 2025 earnings release conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. To join the question queue, press star then one on your touchtone phone. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may reach an operator by pressing star then zero on their telephone. This conference call is being recorded on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025. I would now like to turn the conference over to Emma Chapman, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for TEC's third quarter 2025 conference call. Today's call contains forward-looking statements. Actual results may vary due to various risks and uncertainties. TEC does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Please refer to slide two for the assumptions underlying our forward-looking statements. We will reference non-GAAP measures throughout this presentation. Explanations and reconciliations are in our MD&A and the latest press release on our website. On today's call, Jonathan Price, our CEO, will provide third quarter 2025 highlights. Crystal Presti, our CFO, will follow with further details on the quarter. Jonathan will then wrap up with closing remarks and an opportunity for Q&A. Over to you, Jonathan.

Thank you, Emma, and good morning, everyone. Starting with highlights from our third quarter 2025 results on slide four. The most significant highlight of the quarter was our September 8th announcement of a merger of equals agreements with Anglo-Americans. This is a unique opportunity to create a global leader in critical minerals and a top five copper producer, and I could not be more excited about it, particularly about the substantial value creation that could be generated. Anglo-Tech will have an industry-leading portfolio with more than 1.2 million tonnes of annual copper production, underpinned by six world-class copper assets and outstanding future growth optionality. This will make Anglo Tech one of the world's leading investable copper opportunities, offering both scale and quality with over 70% copper exposure. This transformative combination will unlock significant value for shareholders through compelling adjacencies generated by integrating the resources and infrastructure of QB and neighboring Koyawati and through meaningful corporate synergies. Anglo Tech will work with stakeholders to optimize the value of the adjacencies, We expect to produce 175,000 tons of incremental copper and generate an annual average underlying EBITDA uplift of at least 1.4 billion US dollars per year for at least 20 years on a 100% basis. Working together as Anglo Tech will materially de-risk and accelerate our ability to realize this value opportunity with aligned incentives on both the QB and Koyawati sites. Over US$800 million in recurring annual synergies have also been identified, and we expect approximately 80% of that to be achieved by the end of the second year following completion. In addition, the combined company is expected to have a strong balance sheet supported by a larger, more diversified asset and cash flow base, including premium iron ore and zinc. Anglo-Tech's scale and balance sheet will expand the opportunity set as we optimize the approach to growth through the combination of two significant project pipelines that will compete for capital based on risk-adjusted returns. Both Anglo-American and tech believe the merger will enhance portfolio quality, financial and operational resilience, and strategic positioning, and it will be highly attractive for our respective shareholders and stakeholders. Another key highlight of the quarter was completion of our comprehensive operational review. The focus of our review was on improving performance through a detailed QB action plan and identifying opportunities to enhance operational practices across the portfolio. This included a detailed assessment of operational plans for all our assets, with review and input from third-party technical experts and independent advisors, and with oversight by the Safety, Operations and Projects Committee of our Board of Directors. As a result, we now have updated, risk-adjusted operational plans that are reasonable, achievable and more conservative as we embed assumptions based on demonstrated performance rather than design rates. At QB, our revised operational plan reflects ongoing work on development of the tailings management facility, or TMF, and the resulting constraint on our mill. In the QB action plan, our near-tim priority remains enabling safe, unconstrained production by raising the crest height of the dam and working on solutions to improve sand drainage towards design targets. We are confident that we have thoroughly assessed and understood the issues at QB, and we have a defined and measurable path forward. and from the beginning of 2027 onwards, we expect that the TMF development work will no longer be a constraint on the mill. Overall in the third quarter, our profitability improved compared to the same period last year to $1.2 billion of adjusted EBITDA. Our established operations performed well, particularly Red Dog and Trail, with Red Dog sales exceeding guidance and continued improvement in Trail's profitability. Performance also improved at Highland Valley in CDA compared with Q3 2024. Excluding QB, our copper production increased from the same period last year. Our balance sheet remains very strong with $9.5 billion of liquidity, including $5.3 billion in cash. And the board sanctioned the Highland Valley mine life extension in July, which will extend production from a core asset to 2046. Turning to safety and sustainability on slide five. Year to date through September 30th, our high potential incident frequency rate was 0.06 at tech controlled operations. Safety performance is considered a key indicator of stable operating performance, and we have seen a strong improvement with our HPI rate trending 50% below the annual rate last year. And we were thrilled to see our Chilean operations reach 100% renewable power on October 1st, when our long-term clean power agreement for QB's electricity supply came into effect. We'd signed that agreement some time ago, when there was not enough renewable capacity in place in Chile to be able to make that switch. The agreement enabled our partner to put additional renewable capacity in place, and it's great to see the benefit of that come to fruition. And with that, I'll turn it over to Crystal.

thanks Jonathan good morning everyone I will start with our third quarter 2025 financial performance on slide seven our adjusted EBITDA increased by 19 in the quarter compared to a year ago to 1.2 billion driven by higher base metals prices byproduct revenues and significantly stronger copper significantly lower copper smelter processing charges, as well as strong performance across our established operations, most significantly in our zinc business. Red dog zinc sales and another profitable quarter from trail operations drove an increase in our adjusted EBITDA, although this was partially offset by higher operating costs at QB. And while we completed 144 million of share buybacks in July, we have not executed share buybacks since July 25th and will not be permitted to execute further buybacks through the closing of our proposed merger with Anglo American. Importantly, we will continue to return cash to shareholders through our annual base dividend of 50 cents per share, which is paid quarterly. slide 8 summarizes the key drivers of our financial performance in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2024. our adjusted ebitda increased by 185 million to 1.2 billion in q3 we realized higher copper and zinc prices as well as higher byproduct revenue lower smelter processing charges and an increase in sales volumes This was partially offset by an increase in royalties at Red Dog due to strong profitability and higher operating costs at QB. Our Q3 2024 EBITDA was impacted by a post-tax impairment charge on trail operations. Now looking at each of our reporting segments in greater detail and starting with copper on slide nine. In the third quarter, gross profit before depreciation and amortization from our copper segment improved 23% to $740 million compared with the same period last year, primarily due to higher base metals prices and lower smelter processing charges. QB production was constrained due to TMF development work, but we expect to see less downtime impacting performance in the fourth quarter. Excluding QB, our production increased from Q3 2024, driven by higher throughput and grades at Highland Valley and higher grades and recoveries at Carmen de Andocoyo. Antamina's production reflects a higher proportion of copper zinc ore this year, as expected in the mine plant. Our copper net cash unit costs improved by 16 cents US per pound, despite higher operating costs at QB, primarily due to lower smelter processing costs and increased byproduct credits, including QB molybdenum. Following board sanction of the Highland Valley Mine Life Extension in July, the project has entered the execution phase. Engineering and procurement activities are well underway and site mobilization has begun. Our outlook for our copper segment is aligned with our October 7th news release. For 2025, we expect annual copper production of 415,000 to 465,000 tons and copper net cash unit costs of US $2.05 to $2.30 per pound. Turning to our zinc segment on slide 10. In the third quarter, gross profit before depreciation and amortization for our zinc segment improved 27% to $454 million compared with the same period last year. This was primarily due to higher byproduct revenues, higher zinc prices, and lower zinc treatment charges, partially offset by higher adjusted cash costs of sales and higher royalties tied to Red Dog's profitability. Red Dog and Trail Operations both had a strong quarter of performance. At Red Dog, zinc sales of 273,000 tons were above our guidance range of 200 to 250,000 tons following a successful shipping season as we experienced favorable weather conditions. Production reflected lower grades as expected in our mine plant. In the third quarter, Red Dog inventories were drawn down by approximately 200 million US. However, this was more than offset by elevated trade receivables of 570 million US at quarter end due to the volume of sales in Q3 and higher zinc prices. We expect Red Dog's trade receivables will be substantially reduced in the fourth quarter, providing a source of cash through the reduction in working capital. as of october 21st approximately 350 million u.s of red dog receivables were collected driving an increase in our cash balance post q3 our zinc net cash unit costs improved by eight cents u.s per pound driven by lower smelter processing charges and higher byproduct credits We reported another quarter of profitability at trail operations, reflecting our focus on improving trails profitability and cash generation through prioritizing processing of residues over maximizing refined zinc production. Processing residues enables us to reduce concentrate purchases in the low treatment charge environment. Looking forward, we expect Red Dog zinc sales to be between 125 to 140,000 tons in the fourth quarter, reflecting normal seasonality. Red Dog shipping season commenced on July 11th and was completed yesterday. Our outlook for our zinc segment is aligned with our October 7th news release. For 2025, as a result of Red Dog's strong year-to-date performance, we expect Red Dog zinc production to come in towards the top end of our guidance range of 430,000 to 470,000 tons. We continue to expect our total zinc production to be 525,000 to 575,000 tons, including Antamina. We also expect to be at the high end of our annual refined zinc production guidance range for trail operations. we continue to expect zinc net cash unit costs of 45 to 55 cents us per pound with red dog strong performance we continue to build the nano royalty accrual which is expected to be a source of working capital in q4 and a use of working capital in q1 2026 when paid turning to our balance sheet on slide 11. We have maintained a strong balance sheet and currently have liquidity of $9.5 billion, including $5.3 billion of cash. Our cash balance has increased by approximately $500 million in the month of October so far, particularly due to the collection of Red Dog receivables built in Q3. Our use of cash through the end of September reflects significant cash returns to shareholders of over $1.2 billion, as well as the payment of taxes related to the sale of the steelmaking coal business and the advancement of our copper growth options, including the start of the execution of the Highland Valley Mine Life Extension. And while we completed 144 million of share buybacks in July, we have not executed buybacks since July 25th and will not be permitted to execute further buybacks through the closing of our proposed merger with Anglo American. Importantly, though, we will continue to return cash to shareholders through our annual base dividend of 50 cents per share, which is paid quarterly. Overall, our very strong balance sheet ensures we maintain our resilient position. Back to you, Jonathan.

Thanks, Crystal. Looking forward on slide 30, our priorities are disciplined execution across our operations and projects and on progressing our transformative merger of equals with Anglo American. We are advancing approvals for the transaction and both Anglo American and tech strongly believe it is a significant value creation opportunity for our respective shareholders and stakeholders. At the same time, we are laser-focused on delivering against our operational guidance, provided following completion of the comprehensive operational review. This includes continuing to progress the QB action plan and the necessary work on QB's tailings management facility to complete the ramp-up of the operation. At QB, there are multiple paths to value and significant upside potential beyond our current guidance, and we aim to realise the full value of this Tier 1 asset. And finally, our Highland Valley Mine Life Extension project to extend production from a core asset to 2046 has moved into the execution phase, and we are progressing early works. Turn into the outlook for QB on slide 14. Significant work has been undertaken to improve SAM drainage times and complete the TMF development work. We have started the implementation of the new cyclone technology in one of the cyclone stations, and we are seeing positive early results. We have finished the construction of the new paddock designs, where we are also seeing improvements in sand drainage. Collectively, these results give us confidence that we are on the right track to finding solutions to improve sand drainage. We currently expect to be well positioned to catch up on the construction of the sand dam, and we aim to install the permanent infrastructure that will hydraulically deposit tailings and sand, replacing the current mechanical process by the end of 2026. This will allow us to push QB to run at steady state from the beginning of 2027 onwards. Turning to slide 15. Importantly, QB remains a world class tier one asset. The foundation of QB's potential is its large long life deposit with around 10 billion tons of reserves and resources. The operation has the advantage of a very low strip ratio, which enables competitive all in sustaining costs. And QB has a tax stability agreement in place through 2037. QB has previously demonstrated that it is capable of operating at design recovery and throughput levels when there is no constraint on the mill. The design, construction and operational capability of the plant was previously validated by independent specialists through completion testing and found to be robust. Beyond our current guidance for QB, there is significant upside potential. Optimization and de-bottlenecking offers the potential for efficient near-term throughput uplift to at least 165,000 tons per day with a potential to go to 185,000 tons per day. We are working on improving recoveries towards our design recovery rates of 86% to 92% with more consistent plant online time and geometallurgical testing to optimize reagents and drive improvements in recovery rates. And while we expect 2028 to be impacted by transition ores, average grades are expected to improve on average for the five years thereafter. Overall, we have multiple potential paths to create value for our shareholders through QB, including the potential adjacencies with neighbouring Coyowassie, and the value of QB continues to be validated by Anglo-American through their due diligence for our merger of equals. We look forward to welcoming many of you to QB on November 3rd and 4th, and we are confident that you will see the significant progress that has already been made and that QB remains a world-class tier one asset. Turning to slide 16, I'll wrap up where I started with the merger of equals with Anglo American. The combination is truly compelling and will lead to significant value creation opportunities for shareholders. Together, we will become a leading critical minerals producer with a top five global copper portfolio. We will deliver tangible corporate synergies of 800 million US dollars per year with a roadmap to unlock an additional 1.4 billion US dollars of annual underlying EBITDA uplift from the substantial adjacencies between QB and Koyawati. and we will have the resilience and enhanced financial capacity to balance shareholder returns with valuable investment opportunities from this incredible suite of assets. The scale of the combined entity will increase the company's relevance in the global capital markets and could see a significant multiple re-rating that will further increase the value generation of the combined Anglo tech. Slide 17 is a reminder of the expected timeline and required approvals for the transactions. We expect completion within 12 to 18 months from announcement. Both boards support and recommend this merger, and there will be concurrent, separate votes by the shareholders of Tech and Anglo American on December 9th. We expect to publish our circular in mid-November, and it will be available on our website at tech.com. The transaction will then be subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions, including approval under the Investment Canada Act, competition and antitrust approvals, and various other applicable regulatory approvals globally. We are excited at the potential of Anglo Tech to create a global leader in critical minerals with substantial value creation opportunity for shareholders. With that, operator, please open the line for questions.

Certainly. To join the question queue, please press star then one on your touchtone telephone. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. We ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If you're using a speakerphone, please ensure you lift the handset before pressing any keys. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star then two. The first question comes from Liam Fitzpatrick with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Good morning, Jonathan. Sorry, good afternoon. It depends where you're based. Jonathan and team, I've got two questions. The first one is just on the deal and whether any preliminary discussions have started with Glencore over the JV of the two assets, and if not, any rough guidance on when that could begin. And the second question, just on the guidance or the updated guidance for 2025, it looks like you're tracking towards... the low end across unit cost guidance and capex guidance. I just wanted to check if that's the case or whether there's something we should be looking out for in Q4. Thank you.

Thanks, Liam. It is indeed morning here in Vancouver. Starting with your first question just on the QB Koyawase synergies. Of course, with this being structured as a friendly deal between ourselves and Anglo-American, it did give us significant ability to understand the capability of both assets and comprehensively assess the potential opportunities that could be generated from cooperation, both through the operations and, of course, through the extensive infrastructure. As we've said, much of that value comes from the processing of the higher-grade, softer koiwassi ore through the QB plant, and it's a very capital-efficient way to add low-cost production into the combined. portfolio. These synergies, of course, were also reviewed and validated by external advisers in order for them to be published. So there's a good deal of rigour that's been put around that. But, you know, we think this will be the benefit to significant benefit of the owners of QB and of Koyawase and we expect all parties to be motivated to work together to generate this value for their shareholders. And of course, you know, much of that work in terms of the commercial agreements and the structure of the agreements going forward remains ahead of us. But as I said, we think this is a compelling opportunity and we do expect all shareholders to be engaged here to capture that value for their shareholders. Crystal, maybe if you'd just like to comment on Liam's second question in terms of where we're trending on guidance.

Yeah, sure. Hi, Liam. Good morning. Just in the context of CapEx first, I think the guidance ranges remain reasonable as we look at where we're trending with our growth capital as we you know continue to progress the hvc my life extension program through through the fourth quarter uh i'd expect us to come in within that that range similarly on the capitalized stripping side of things and then on the sustaining capital side of the guidance we are obviously continuing to progress the work on the tmf and expect that spending to continue into the fourth quarter so i would i would suggest you continue to use a midpoint on the on the capex aspects uh similarly on unit costs uh for the copper business i would i would expect us to come in uh towards the middle of of the range so i wouldn't be using the the low point uh and for zinc i think you're probably it's probably reasonable to be using somewhere between the low and the mid mid case just based on where where we're tracking there But there isn't anything anomalous in those numbers.

Okay. Jonathan, if I could briefly follow up, just point take and read, the discussions are ahead of you. Should we be thinking that the discussions will get going post-deal completion, which is well into next year, or is the plan to begin those earlier? Yeah.

Look, there's nothing that requires the deal to be completed to enable discussions between QB and Koyawase. I mean, I think over the past couple of months, since the announcement of the merger of equals with Anglo American, we've clearly surfaced the value here that's available to all of the owners of both QB and Koyawase. And I think that creates a good platform for engagement.

OK, thank you.

Thanks, Liam.

The next question comes from my author with UBS. Please go ahead.

Great, thank you. Maybe just bring up slightly on Liam's question first on QB Koloase. I presume that all shareholders need to agree to the joint venture to be able to execute it. If Glencore or another shareholder gets difficult, you can't force them into a joint venture.

No, there's no way of forcing anybody into a joint venture. I think it will require the agreement of all parties. Of course, you know, Koyawati is an incorporated entity. So unlike QB, which is unincorporated, where tech, you know, is clearly the operator and takes the lead. Koyawase has to engage as a consolidated entity. As we've said before, we think there's a significant advantage from the cross ownership that will be created through this merger of equals with 60% of QB being owned by Anglo Tech and 44% of Coyowati being owned by Anglo Tech. And we consider that to be a significant de-risking and accelerating factor in capturing the synergies over time. But again, as I've just said, you know, all shareholders of both assets should be highly motivated to work together to capture what we think is significant new value for our shareholders.

Yeah, and it wasn't that long ago they were quite excited about it. Could you, just on QB, where should we think, I guess it's hypothetical now, but when production normalizes in 27, 28, where will unit costs normalize? What's your best guess? Is it in the $1.50 or $1.52? What's the kind of new norm based on your current best guess? Yeah.

So, Miles, there's no structural change to the asset based on the guidance we've previously given for QV. Of course, there's the impact of inflation that is across the whole of the industry at the moment. So we would expect that to develop over time. But structurally, as we've said, we see the asset capable of performing at the levels that we'd used previously to define unit cost guidance. And I think that's probably the best indication I can give you at this stage.

What were the original normalised unit costs when you did the feasibility and stuff?

So we were using 140 to 160 US dollars per pound previously. Obviously, that's predicated on the plant running at full capacity, on hitting the design recovery rates on the full production of molybdenum, and of course, operating the port through our shiploader, which is a situation we expect to return to in the first quarter of next year. And of course, as I mentioned before, they are unescalated numbers, as in they don't reflect the impact of inflation. over the coming years.

Yeah. Cool. That's clear. Thank you.

Thanks, Miles.

The next question comes from Anita Soni with CIBC. Please go ahead. Good morning, Jonathan and team.

Thanks for taking my question. The first one, I just wanted to see if you could give us some more color in terms of the improvement in sand drainage rates. Could you quantify that? I think previously it was

um like speaking about seven days for the the uh uh the santa drain is that has that improved from could you quantify it in the number of days uh hi anita thanks for the question um i'll hand this over to dale we we won't quantify that but i can get dale to give a description of the the work that's ongoing and some of the progress that we have seen uh particularly in the underlying drivers of sand drainage

Thank you very much, Jonathan, and thank you for the question. I think as Jonathan mentioned earlier, we've made a few changes to the operation since our start-up in October. One, we have started the replacement of cyclone technology, and with that change, we are starting to see improvements in sand drainage in the paddocks. And that, at the same time, is changing some of our operational practices and design of the paddocks as well. And those together are indicating some good initial results. but it's still too early to tell in terms of what magnitude of improvement it is, other than we're on the right track, and that's giving us some confidence on the path we're going forward. So that's where we sit today.

Yeah, and I would say, Anita, of course, an awesome opportunity to see this up close in two weeks' time with far more detail around the work that's ongoing and how we see this developing.

Yeah, I will be attending the tour. And then my second question is with respect to the mill productivity rates. I think previously you talked about, well, I can't remember off the top of my head, but the utilization and the availability. Could you put it in context of what you've seen over, you know, up to October, October to date in terms of, you know, when you provided the guidance for Q3 results. I don't want to say incorrectly, but I think it was like 61% availability and 70% utilization. But can you just tell us what the old one was and what you've seen to date in October?

Yeah, so year to date, when we communicated a couple of weeks ago, we'd seen 87% availability in the mill, but only 70% utilization because of the constraint put on the mill by the downtime associated with the TMF. Since starting up in early October, we've seen very good availabilities. I won't quantify that right now, but very strong.

Okay. And then am I correct in thinking when you're looking at the 87 and the 70, you should be multiplying those to get to your total capacity? Is that correct?

No, it doesn't quite work like that. I mean, the utilization is, you know, a function ultimately of that availability. But, you know, we were only able to utilize the mill 70% of the time. Ultimately, you don't need to multiply the two things.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Thanks very much for clarifying that.

Thanks very much.

The next question comes from Lawson Rinder with Bank of America Securities. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much, operator. Good morning, Jonathan and Crystal. Thank you for today's update. If I could come back to the merger, could I ask to what extent tech and or Anglo-American have engaged with Investment Canada on the transaction? And is there any indication that moving the combined head office is sufficient. And then just a follow-up to that, if you could address what you would perceive as sort of the bottleneck from an antitrust and other approval point of view.