Teck Cominco Ltd., Canada's largest diversified mining company, said second-quarter profit rose 2.5 percent because of higher copper and coal sales.

    Net income rose to C$497 million ($492 million) from C$485 million a year earlier, Vancouver-based Teck Cominco said today in a statement. Sales rose 20 percent to C$1.87 billion. On a per-share basis, profit fell to C$1.12 from C$1.14 as the company issued more equity as part of an acquisition last year.

    Chief Executive Officer Donald Lindsay is trying to reduce the company's dependence on zinc, which has tumbled as global supplies exceed demand, by boosting copper output and increasing stakes in coal projects. Copper revenue accounted for the largest share of second-quarter sales, followed by coal. Zinc brought the most revenue a year earlier.

    ``The tight coal market over 2008-2009 will benefit the company,'' and Teck's copper production will increase through 2011, TD Newcrest Inc. analyst Greg Barnes said in a July 17 note. ``Our least-favoured commodity remains zinc, which should continue to underperform the other base metals,'' said Barnes, who recommends buying Teck shares.

    Most of the copper increase came from the Quebrada Blanca and Andacollo projects in Chile and the Duck Pond mine in Newfoundland, which the company gained through its C$3.92 billion ($3.91 billion) purchase of Aur Resources Inc. in September. The average price of copper traded on the London Metal Exchange was 9.8 percent higher in the second quarter than in the same period last year while zinc fell 42 percent.

    `Favorable' Outlook``Our outlook for the rest of 2008 looks favorable as the copper price remains high and we will have a much higher percentage of coal sold at the significantly higher 2008 coal year prices,'' Lindsay said in today's statement.

    Operating profit from zinc fell about 60 percent in the quarter to C$99 million, the chief executive said.

    On Sept. 24, Teck increased its stake in Fording Canadian Coal Trust to about 20 percent for C$599.4 million. Fording is the world's second-biggest producer of coking coal, used in making steel.

    Teck was expected to earn C$1.04, the average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

    Teck fell 92 cents, or 2.3 percent, to C$39.18 as of 4:10 p.m. in Toronto Stock Exchange trading, before the results were released. The shares have risen 11 percent this year.