https://www.teck.com/media/Q4-2019-Quarterly-NR.pdf

Our loss in the fourth quarter included non-cash, after-tax impairments charges of $999 million, including $910 million relating to our interest in Fort Hills (resulting from lower market expectations for future oil prices), $75 million relating to our Cardinal River Operations and $14 million relating to the remaining assets of the cathode operations at Quebrada Blanca. For 2019, total non-cash, after-tax impairment charges were $1.1 billion.

Our liquidity remains strong at $5.8 billion, including $532 million in cash at February 20, 2020, of which $270 million is on deposit in Chile for the development of the QB2 project. We paid our regular base dividend of $0.05 per share, which totaled $27 million in the quarter.

The copper market remained under pressure during the fourth quarter from macroeconomic concerns and global trade disputes. Copper prices were relatively flat during the quarter and remained below the annual average price. Concerns over global trade disputes appear to be moderating as we move into 2020 and stronger demand growth combined with a challenging supply environment should be supportive of copper prices in 2020. We believe the fundamentals for the global copper market remain supportive over the long-term, as copper will play an important role in the new energy economy while the development of new supplies of copper around the world will remain challenging. 

Other Copper Projects

During the quarter, NuevaUnión continued to advance its feasibility study, which will be completed during the first quarter of 2020. Work in 2020 will focus on a review of study results and assessment of optimization opportunities.

Teck and our partners continue to advance the development of five substantial base metals projects, Zafranal, San Nicolás, Galore Creek, Mesaba and Schaft Creek; collectively referred to as the Project Satellite assets. Work in 2020 at Zafranal will focus on advancing permitting efforts, whereas San Nicolás and Galore Creek efforts will be focused on advancing prefeasibility study work and associated environmental and social baseline studies.

As a result of current market conditions and our focus on optimization work, expenditures on NuevaUnión and the Satellite assets are expected to be significantly reduced in 2020. Our 2019 capital expenditures for the Satellite assets were $78 million and funding to NuevaUnión, which is accounted for as an equity investment, was $67 million. Capital expenditures in 2020 for the Satellite assets are expected to be $38 million and funding to NuevaUnión is expected to be $17 million.