It is reported that Vancouver Teck Resources will retire all of its original USD 9.8 billion Fording Coal acquisition debt this week.

As per report in the 18 months since the Fording Trust acquisition, Teck will have reduced its total debt from USD 13.4 billion to USD 5.4 billion.

Since April 1st 2010, Standard & Poor, Dominion Bond Rating Services and Fitch Ratings have rated Teck investment grade."

In recently published research, S&P said it based the upgrade on Teck materially improved financial risk profile following the accelerated debt repayment in the past year. It said "The stable outlook reflects our opinion that Teck will maintain relatively stable credit metrics in the medium term, despite inherent volatility in the commodities market."

During the Q1 of this year, Teck completed the sale of a number of non-core assets including the sale of one-third interest in the Waneta Dam to BC Hydro, an interest in future gold production from Carmen de Andacollo copper mine in central Chile, and Turkish gold properties for total proceeds of USD 1.1 billion. Meanwhile the first ore was delivered on January 19, 2010, at the Carmen de Andacollo concentrator project. The new plant is expected to produce 80,000 tonnes of copper and 55,000 ounces of gold in concentrate over the first 10 years of the project. The first shipment of concentrate is scheduled for April 29th.

Teck also announced that the company has agreed on coal prices with the majority of its customers for the second quarter, ranging from USD 200 per tonne for highest quality coal, as well as recent settlements of USD 235 per tonne.

(Sourced from http://www.proactiveinvestors.com)