Vancouver-based mining firm Teck Cominco Ltd. said Monday that its president was leaving the company to "pursue his interests in private and public company investment."
Teck Cominco said Steven Dean, who joined the firm in 1999, will hold his post until July 8.
"Steven was part of the founding teams, first of Normandy Mining and then Pacmin Mining Corporation, which on Steven's initiative became Teck's gold subsidiary in Australia, and I expect that he will continue to apply his entrepreneurial skills to build new businesses in the future," company chairman Norman Keevil, said in a statement.
Shares of Teck Cominco were down 34 cents or 2 per cent to $15.51 on the Toronto Stock Exchange at last check Monday. Its common shares, which trade under the symbol TEK.A on the TSX, have been as low as $11 over the past 52 weeks and as high as $18.
In April, the diversified mining giant said lower power sales and reduced metal prices sent profit in the first quarter plunging 96 per cent, prompting the company to look at restructuring its Ontario gold operations.
The company posted a profit of $2-million or 1 cent a share for the January-March quarter, down from $55-million or 51 cents in the same period last year and much weaker than analysts' forecasts.
For the quarter ended June 30, analysts see it making 10 cents a share, down 54 per cent from its year-earlier profit of 22 cents, according to tracking firm Thomson Financial/First Call.
It will report its second-quarter results on July 25.
Teck Cominco's assets include the giant Red Dog zinc mine in Alaska and a 22.5-per-cent stake in the Antamina copper zinc mine in Peru. It also has interests in metallurgical coal as well as gold.