I would think that a big player like Teck always keeps a good amount (on paper that is) of cash on their financial reports for M&A activities.

My point is that they are not reporting their budget for 2013 yet and this is a departure from their normal reporting. It could be meaningless, but when there is a break in their pattern then it is time to pay attention.

Here is the line from Q32012 results: "Our annual budgeting cycle occurs in the fourth quarter of each year and our capital and operating budgets for 2013 have not yet been finalized." This statement does not appear on the Q32011 results and it details some planned spending.

The year-end results, Q42012 are to be released on February 7. Presumably they should be disclosing the 2013 budget at that time.