https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/teck-starts-quiet-dialogue-on-selling-some-copper-projects-1.1248193

Teck Resources Ltd., focusing on its massive expansion of the Quebrada Blanca mine in Chile, expects to sell some or all of its stakes in two smaller Latin American copper projects by next year, Chief Executive Officer Don Lindsay says.

The Zafranal and San Nicolas projects could be sold by early 2020, Lindsay said Tuesday on the Vancouver-based company’s first-quarter earnings call. The deliberations are part of a larger internal process to decide which of eight copper projects are worth building, selling or developing with a partner.

In the meantime, Teck is managing the expansion of Quebrada Blanca, known as QB2, and considering the next stage, QB3, which Lindsay calls the company’s “best project.”

A feasibility study on Zafranal, a copper-gold project in Peru, is almost finished and a pre-feasibility study on San Nicolas, a Mexican copper-zinc project, will be done this year, Lindsay said, noting a formal sales process has not yet started.

“It is a logical time for us to start discussions on those projects,” Lindsay said. “We’ve had approaches and we’ve started a quiet dialogue on what may be possible.”

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