Teck Resources Limited, known as Teck Cominco until late 2008, is a diversified
natural resource
Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. ...
s company headquartered in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...
, that is engaged in
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...
and mineral development, including
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
for the
steelmaking
Steelmaking is the process of producing steel from iron ore and carbon/or scrap. In steelmaking, impurities such as nitrogen, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur and excess carbon (the most important impurity) are removed from the sourced iron, and alloy ...
industry,
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
,
zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
, and energy. Secondary products include
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
,
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
,
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
,
molybdenum
Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...
,
germanium
Germanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is lustrous, hard-brittle, grayish-white and similar in appearance to silicon. It is a metalloid in the carbon group that is chemically similar to its group neighbors s ...
,
indium
Indium is a chemical element with the symbol In and atomic number 49. Indium is the softest metal that is not an alkali metal. It is a silvery-white metal that resembles tin in appearance. It is a post-transition metal that makes up 0.21 parts p ...
and
cadmium
Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Like zinc, it demonstrates oxidation state +2 in most of ...
.
Teck Resources was formed from the amalgamation of Teck and Cominco in 2001.
In 2018, Teck Resources opened the C$17 billion Fort Hills oil sands project.
In 2020, Teck abandoned plans for a second, larger C$20 billion open-pit petroleum-mine proposal—Frontier Mine— south of
Wood Buffalo National Park
Wood Buffalo National Park is the largest National Parks of Canada, national park of Canada at . It is located in northeastern Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories. Larger in area than Switzerland, it is the second-largest national park ...
and north of
Fort McMurray
Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significant ...
in northeast Alberta.
In 2020, a number of new executives were appointed to the company: Harry Conger as chief operating officer, Jonathan Price as chief financial officer, and Nicholas Hooper as senior vice president, corporate development.
Overview
According to the company's 2018 annual report, the
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...
-headquartered Teck Resources is a "diversified resource company" that focuses on "steelmaking coal, copper, zinc and energy",
with ownership or interests in thirteen "operating mines, a large metallurgical complex, and several major development projects in the Americas."
, 44% of revenue was from steel-making coal, 34% of revenue was from zinc, and the remaining 21% was from copper.
In Alberta, Teck has one operational oil sands project at Fort Hills—a C$17.0 billion project.
Teck's application to develop a second larger C$20.0 billion open-pit petroleum mine—Frontier Mine—near
Wood Buffalo National Park
Wood Buffalo National Park is the largest National Parks of Canada, national park of Canada at . It is located in northeastern Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories. Larger in area than Switzerland, it is the second-largest national park ...
and north of
Fort McMurray
Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significant ...
, Alberta, was withdrawn by the company in 2020.
With its massive size——it may have been among the "largest oil sands mines ever proposed in Alberta."
[ Teck's board members include Chairman, ]Dominic Barton
Dominic Barton (born 1962), known as Bao Damin ( zh, 鲍达民) in China, is a Ugandan-born Canadian business executive, author, and diplomat. He is the current chairman of the private investment firm LeapFrog Investments as well as the chancellor ...
, President and CEO, Donald R. Lindsay, CFO, Jonathan H. Price, and Chairman Emeritus, Norman B. Keevil. In 2018, Teck had 10,700 employees worldwide. The net revenue in 2018 increased to a record high of C$12.6 billion. Teck credits this increase to "higher steelmaking coal and copper prices" as well as the "sale of blended bitumen from our Fort Hills oil sands mine".
Corporate history
The Teck Cominco Lead-Zinc Smelter operation in Trail, British Columbia
Trail is a city in the West Kootenay region of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It was named after the Dewdney Trail, which passed through the area. The town was first called Trail Creek or Trail Creek Landing, and the name was shorten ...
has its roots in the late 19th century. The smelter has been in operation for over a century.
Cominco (1906-)
Cominco started in 1906 as The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, formed by the amalgamation of several units controlled by the Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
. CM&S, or "Smelters" as it was often called by investors, changed its name to Cominco in 1966. Cominco's core Sullivan Mine
The Sullivan Mine is a now-closed conventional–mechanized underground mine located in Kimberley, British Columbia, Canada. The ore body is a complex, sediment-hosted, sedimentary exhalative deposit consisting primarily of zinc, lead, and i ...
in Kimberley, British Columbia
Kimberley is a city in southeast British Columbia, Canada along Highway 95A between the Purcell and Rocky Mountains. Kimberley was named in 1896 after the Kimberley mine in South Africa. From 1917 to 2001, it was the home to the world's largest ...
which began production of lead, zinc, silver and tin in 1909, would operate for more than 90 years until its ore reserves exhausted in 2001.
Teck-Hughes (1913- )
Teck-Hughes Gold Mines Limited was established in 1913 in Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, following the discovery of gold in 1912 by prospectors Sandy McIntyre and James Hughes, in Teck Township—now known as Kirkland Lake
Kirkland Lake is a town and municipality in Timiskaming District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. The 2016 population, according to Statistics Canada, was 7,981.
The community name was based on a nearby lake which in turn was named after Winnifre ...
. An American group of investors led by Charles Land Denison, including International Nickel Company
Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco, CVRD Inco and Inco Limited; for corporate branding purposes simply known as "Vale" and pronounced in English) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian mining company Vale. Vale's nickel mining and ...
(INCo)'s Ashton W. Johnston, acquired two thirds of Teck-Hughes' shares. It was Ontario's first gold mine in commercial production. When the ore was exhausted in the 1960s, after 50 years of production, it had produced 3.7 million ounces of gold worth C$104 million. The Beaverdell Mine, purchased by Teck in 1969, went back even further to 1898, and produced silver until 1991. Norman B. Keevil (b.1910 in Pike Lake, Saskatchewan) a mining entrepreneur with a background in geophysics, acquired Teck-Hughes in the 1960s. In 1963, his son, geoscientist Norman Keevil Jr., then 25-years old, became vice-president of exploration at Teck. Keevil Jr. was named Mining Man of the Year in 1979 for having presided over a series of mine constructions in the 1970s. From 1979 to 2015, Keevil oversaw Teck's major mining projects including Hemlo, Voisey's Bay and Antamina. Over the same time period, Teck became "one of the world's largest producers of metallurgical coal
Metallurgical coal or coking coal is a grade of coal that can be used to produce good-quality coke. Coke is an essential fuel and reactant in the blast furnace process for primary steelmaking. The demand for metallurgical coal is highly coupled ...
." In 2012, as Chairman of Teck Resources Limited, Keevil Jr. was named as the Entrepreneur Of The Year for his significant contributions to British Columbia.
Teck Cominco
The association between Teck and Cominco
Teck Resources Limited, known as Teck Cominco until late 2008, is a diversified natural resources company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, that is engaged in mining and mineral development, including coal for the steelmaking indust ...
began in 1986, when Teck and two industry partners acquired a shareholding from CP Limited, and culminated with the merging of the two companies in July 2001.
On May 8, 2006, Teck Cominco offered to purchase Inco
Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco, CVRD Inco and Inco Limited; for corporate branding purposes simply known as "Vale" and pronounced in English) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian mining company Vale. Vale's nickel mining and ...
for $US16 billion, but CVRD eventually purchased it for $US17 billion.
On July 29, 2008, Teck Cominco announced an agreement with Fording Canadian Coal Trust
Fording Canadian Coal Trust (New York Stock Exchange, NYSE: FDG; Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX:FDG) was a Canada, Canadian-based royalty trust which owned a 60% stake in the Elk Valley Coal Partnership (EVCP), which in turn produced Coke (fuel), h ...
, which owned a 60% stake in the Elk Valley Coal Partnership, to purchase 100% of its assets. Teck Cominco had been the minority owner of the Elk Valley Coal Partnership, with a 40% stake. The facilities are located near Fernie, British Columbia
Fernie is a city in the Elk Valley area of the East Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia, Canada, located on BC Highway 3 on the western approaches to the Crowsnest Pass through the Rocky Mountains. Founded in 1898 and incorpora ...
. The purchase was closed on October 30, 2008, with a final cost of $US14 billion. Elk Valley Coal Corporation was renamed Teck Coal Limited. The purchase resulted in Teck taking on US$9.8 billion in debt; the company suspended dividend
A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-in ...
s, cut spending, and sold some assets to save money. On January 9, 2009, the company also announced a plan to cut 13% of their total workforce, amounting to 1,400 jobs, saving the company US$85 million. Coal production targets were also lowered by 20% in response to declining worldwide demand for steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
, in the midst of the global financial crisis
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
.
Teck Resources (2008-)
Beginning October 1, 2008, Teck Cominco began rebranding itself as Teck. The legal name of the company was changed to Teck Resources Ltd. on April 23, 2009, after being approved by shareholders the previous day.
In 2008, Teck's $25 million donation to BC Children's Hospital Foundation
BC Children's Hospital Foundation (BCCHF) is a Canadian non-profit registered charity that raises money to support the British Columbia Children's Hospital. The Foundation works with communities to raise funds for essentials including: life-savin ...
earned its name attached to the Teck Acute Care Centre expected to complete construction in 2017.
In July 2009, China Investment Corporation
China Investment Corporation (CIC) (Chinese: 中国投资有限责任公司; pinyin: ''zhōngguó tóuzī yǒuxiàn zérèn gōngsī'') is a sovereign wealth fund that manages part of the People's Republic of China's foreign exchange reserves. C ...
bought a 17% stake in Teck for C$1.74 billion.
In 2012, the Company announced record earning, record profit and record production, thus ending the year 2011 with C$4.4 billion in cash. Besides expanding into the energy sector, the company was also executing two major projects in Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
and planning a C$600 million restart of its Quintette Mine near Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia
Tumbler Ridge is a district municipality in the foothills of the B.C. Rockies in northeastern British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Peace River Regional District. With a population of 2,399 (2021) living in a townsite, th ...
.
In 2021, Teck Resources was ranked no. 60 in the Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index (AERI) that includes 120 oil, gas, and mining companies involved in resource extraction north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden.
Operations and major projects
Teck's principal products are steel-making coal, copper, and zinc. , 44% of revenue was from steel-making coal, 34% of revenue was from zinc, and the remaining 21% was from copper. Teck also has interests in oil sands
Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and wate ...
projects in Northern Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
.
Coal
In 2018, Teck produced 26.2 million tonnes of coal from six mines in southeastern British Columbia and western Alberta, with most of it exported to countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The coal is transported to ports and destinations in Eastern Canada through rail lines owned by Canadian Pacific
The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
. There is one in Alberta—Cardinal River Mine in Hinton, Alberta
Hinton is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada.
It is located in Yellowhead County, northeast of Jasper and about west of Alberta's capital city, Edmonton, at the intersection of Yellowhead and Bighorn Highway
The bighorn sheep (''Ovis ...
, and four steelmaking coal operations in British Columbia: Fording River coal mine
The Fording River Coal Mine is a coal mine located in British Columbia, Canada. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 263.8 million tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Canada and the world. The mine has an annual production ...
in Elkford
Elkford is a district municipality in the southeast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia in the Rocky Mountain range. It is north of the junction at Sparwood, on provincial Highway 43. Outdoor recreational activities take place ...
, Elkview Mine in Sparwood
Sparwood is a district municipality in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the second-largest community on the Elk River.
Located approximately 30 kilometres from Fernie, the District Municipality of Sparwood has approximately 4,2 ...
, Greenhills Mine in Elkford
Elkford is a district municipality in the southeast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia in the Rocky Mountain range. It is north of the junction at Sparwood, on provincial Highway 43. Outdoor recreational activities take place ...
and Line Creek Mine in Sparwood.
Zinc
In 2016, Teck produced 662,000 tonnes of zinc in concentrate
A concentrate is a form of Chemical substance, substance that has had the majority of its base component (in the case of a liquid: the solvent) removed. Typically, this will be the removal of water from a Solution (chemistry), solution or suspens ...
, and 311,000 tonnes of refined zinc. It was the world's third largest producer of mined zinc. Almost all of its mined zinc comes from the Red Dog mine
The Red Dog mine is a large zinc and lead mine in a remote region of Alaska, about north of Kotzebue, which is owned and operated by the Canadian mining company Teck Resources. It is located within the boundaries of the Red Dog Mine census-des ...
in Alaska, one of the largest zinc mines in the world. It also produces refined zinc at its smelting and refining complex in Trail, British Columbia
Trail is a city in the West Kootenay region of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It was named after the Dewdney Trail, which passed through the area. The town was first called Trail Creek or Trail Creek Landing, and the name was shorten ...
. The Trail complex also produces zinc refining byproducts, which included 99,000 tonnes of refined lead and 24.2 million ounces of silver.
Copper
In 2016, Teck produced 324,200 tonnes of copper from mines in North and South America. Its largest mine is the Highland Valley Copper mine
The Highland Valley Copper mine is the largest open-pit copper mine in Canada, located near Logan Lake, British Columbia. It is an amalgamation of three historic mining operations: Bethlehem (later Valley Copper), Lornex and Highmont.
History
E ...
near Logan Lake
Logan Lake is a district municipality in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada.
History
It was founded in the 1960s and 1970s to support copper, molybdenum and other mineral mining operations located south of the town. The Villag ...
, British Columbia, with 119,000 tonnes of copper and 3.4 million pounds of molybdenum
Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...
produced in 2016. Teck has a 22.5% interest in the Antamina mine in Peru, one of the largest copper/zinc mines in the world. Teck also runs the Carmen de Andacollo and Quebrada Blanca mines in Chile.
Solar
In 2020, Teck announced an agreement to purchase the city of Kimberley, British Columbia
Kimberley is a city in southeast British Columbia, Canada along Highway 95A between the Purcell and Rocky Mountains. Kimberley was named in 1896 after the Kimberley mine in South Africa. From 1917 to 2001, it was the home to the world's largest ...
's debt stake in the SunMine solar electricity
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic e ...
generating station. The 1.05 MW facility was constructed in 2015 on land reclaimed from Teck's Sullivan Mine, which had produced zinc, lead, and silver until its closing in 2001. CEO Don Lindsay explained that the company planned to use SunMine to develop expertise in solar power and renewable energy development.
Oil sands open-pit mining operations
Fort Hills
In 2018, Teck Resources opened the C$17-billion Fort Hills oilsands project, which will produce 194,000 barrels
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...
per day (bbl/day). Teck Resources has a 21.3 per cent stake. "Suncor Energy Inc.
Suncor Energy (french: Suncor Énergie) is a Canadian integrated energy company based in Calgary, Alberta. It specializes in production of synthetic crude from oil sands. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Suncor Energy was ranked as the 48th-l ...
and Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
-based Total SE
TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and ...
have a 54.1 per cent and 24.6 per cent ownership of the project, respectively."
At the September opening of Fort Hills, Calgary-based Suncor Energy
Suncor Energy (french: Suncor Énergie) is a Canadian integrated energy company based in Calgary, Alberta. It specializes in production of synthetic crude from oil sands. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Suncor Energy was ranked as the 48th-lar ...
's CEO Steve Williams said that, "It's unlikely there will be projects of this type of scale again...What Fort Hills gives us is a strategic anchor in a vast reserve up here." Williams was optimistic about the future of the oil sands for years to come, but at a different scale.
Teck sold their interest in Fort Hills to Suncor Energy Inc in October 2022.
Frontier Mine
In 2009, for the first time since the 1980s, what is now known as the Alberta Energy Regulator
The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) is an Alberta corporation, with its main office in Calgary, Alberta
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. ...
(AER) changed the oil sands mining boundaries in the Athabasca oil sands in northeastern Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, partly in response to successful exploratory work that Teck and others had launched "north of the known limits"—on the west and east sides of the Athabasca River
The Athabasca River (French: ''Rivière Athabasca'') is a river in Alberta, Canada, which originates at the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park and flows more than before emptying into Lake Athabasca. Much of the land along its banks is pro ...
. When they "discovered a sizable resource", the AER extended the "boundaries" of the "surface mineable oilsands area" to include 14.5 townships. Teck and UTS, who had done the exploratory work together, initiated the regulatory process for Frontier in March 2008.
Frontier Mine is considered to be one of the largest oil sands mines ever proposed in Alberta. The " open-pit petroleum-mining operation" was to be located about north of Fort McMurray, Alberta. The estimated cost of developing the Frontier operation was C$20 billion. According to ''Financial Post'', this was more than "Teck's own market capitalization of C$18 billion."
The Frontier mine south of Wood Buffalo National Park
Wood Buffalo National Park is the largest National Parks of Canada, national park of Canada at . It is located in northeastern Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories. Larger in area than Switzerland, it is the second-largest national park ...
and north of Fort McMurray
Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significant ...
in northeast Alberta, was projected to produce 260,000 bbl/day every year for more than 40 years. Its first phase in 2026 would produce 85,000 bbl/day. The second phase would begin in 2036. The mine would potentially result in "billions of dollars of federal and province taxes".[
In the summer of 2019, a federal-provincial review concluded that Frontier Mine would be "in the public interest, even though it would be likely to harm the environment and the land, resources and culture of Indigenous people."] Teck would use the paraffinic froth treatment (PFT) for the Frontier project, a technology that is already in use at Fort Hills, Imperial Oil
Imperial Oil Limited (French: ''Compagnie Pétrolière Impériale Ltée'') is a Canadian petroleum company. It is Canada's second-biggest integrated oil company. It is majority owned by American oil company ExxonMobil with around 69.6 percent ...
's Kearl Oil Sands, and Canadian Natural Resources
Canadian Natural Resources Limited, or CNRL or Canadian Natural is a senior Canadian oil and natural gas company that operates primarily in the Western Canadian provinces of British Columbia,
Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, with offshore op ...
's (CNRL) Athabasca Oil Sands Project
Albian Sands Energy Inc. is the operator of the Muskeg River Mine and Jack Pine Mine, an oil sands mining project located north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. It is a joint venture between Shell Canada (10%), CNRL (70%) and Chevron Canad ...
(AOSP). This technology, which eliminates the use of an upgrader, has a "lower GHG intensity than about half of the oil currently refined in the U.S.", according to Teck. The federal Environment Minister, Jonathan Wilkinson
Jonathan Wilkinson (born June 11, 1965) is a Canadian politician who has served as the minister of natural resources since 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, Wilkinson was elected as the member of Parliament (MP) for North Vancouver in 2015 ...
, told Canadian Press
The Canadian Press (CP; french: La Presse canadienne, ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for the time's Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Pre ...
on January 28, 2020, that the federal cabinet's decision...will weigh what the province is doing to help Canada achieve its climate goal of net zero
Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the " ...
emissions by 2050. In a statement, Jason Nixon
Jason John Nixon (born May 26, 1980) is a Canadian politician and current Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the electoral district of Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre.
He was first elected as a member of the Wildros ...
, Alberta's Environment Minister said that " l 14 First Nation groups in the region of the proposed mine have economic agreements of support with Teck." At a CIBC
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC; french: Banque canadienne impériale de commerce) is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered at CIBC Square in the Financial District of Toronto, Ontario. T ...
investor conference in Banff, Alberta
Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise. At above Banff is the community with the second highest e ...
, CEO Don Lindsay said that the Frontier mining project could only go ahead if the "economics of the project make sense", according to a January 29, 2020 ''Globe and Mail'' article. Lindsay told the government that Teck will only proceed with the project if the pipeline is finished, "not just started, finished"; if Teck can find a partner; and if the price of oil makes the project viable.
The decision on regulatory approval by the federal government cabinet was expected in February 2020,[ but on February 23 Teck withdrew its application for the mine in advance of the decision.] In a statement, Teck said that it had already invested $1.13 billion and 10 years in the project, waiting for regulatory and local approval. It stated, "The promise of Canada's potential will not be realized until governments can reach agreement around how climate policy considerations will be addressed in the context of future responsible energy sector development. Without clarity on this critical question, the situation that has faced Frontier will be faced by future projects and it will be very difficult to attract future investment, either domestic or foreign.... Teck has not taken this decision lightly. It is our hope that the decision to withdraw will help to create both the space and impetus needed for this critical discussion to take place for the benefit of all Canadians."
Carbon footprint
Teck Resources reported Total CO2e emissions (Direct + Indirect) for 31 December 2020 at 2,795 Kt (-440 /-13.6% y-o-y).[Alt URL]
/ref>
Controversies
Contamination of the Columbia River
In 2004, in response to the decades of heavy contamination of the Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...
by Teck, a citizen lawsuit was filed against Teck, under the 1980 (CERCLA)—now known as the Superfund. Teck fought the case for years and finally lost in a 2018 ruling which fined Teck US$8 million for pollution. From 1930 and 1995, the "Canadian mining giant Teck Resources Ltd." had "discharged about 400 tons of slag daily — an estimated 9.97 million tons in total" — directly into the Upper Columbia River.
The company's smelter in Trail, British Columbia
Trail is a city in the West Kootenay region of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It was named after the Dewdney Trail, which passed through the area. The town was first called Trail Creek or Trail Creek Landing, and the name was shorten ...
was blamed in 2003 for heavily contaminating the Columbia River. Legal action taken by American citizens living in settlements downriver progressed to the U.S. Supreme Court and was denied certiorari
In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...
, solidifying the Appellate Court's holding that Teck is subject to U.S. jurisdiction even though it is a Canadian company.
The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation is the federally recognized tribe that controls the Colville Indian Reservation, which is located in northeastern Washington, United States. It is the government for its people.
The Confederate Tr ...
filed a lawsuit against Teck Cominco in 2004, claiming the company had dumped 140,000 tons of slag
Slag is a by-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and used metals. Broadly, it can be classified as ferrous (by-products of processing iron and steel), ferroalloy (by-product of ferroalloy production) or non-ferrous/base metals (by-prod ...
directly into rivers adjacent to its Trail smelter between 1896 and 1995, polluting the surface water, ground water and sediment of the upper Columbia River and Lake Roosevelt with hazardous metals including arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...
, cadmium
Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Like zinc, it demonstrates oxidation state +2 in most of ...
, mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
, lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
, copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
and zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
.
The Trail smelter was also the site of a lead spill into the Columbia River on May 28, 2008.
A September 2012 ''Globe and Mail'' article reported that the day the 2012 trial, "Canadian mining giant Teck Resources Ltd." had admitted in a U.S. court that effluent from its smelter in southeast British Columbia ha polluted the Columbia River in Washington state for more than a century." The agreement, reached on the eve of the trial initiated by the Colville Confederated Tribes, stipulates that some hazardous materials in the slag discharged from Teck's smelter in Trail, B.C., ended up in the Upper Columbia River south of the border.
In his 2018 ruling in ''Pakootas, Michel and Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation is the federally recognized tribe that controls the Colville Indian Reservation, which is located in northeastern Washington, United States. It is the government for its people.
The Confederate Tr ...
v. Teck Cominco Metals'', the United States District Judge for the District of Oregon, Michael J. McShane, agreed with the lower courts against Teck, and fined Teck US$8 million for pollution.
Selenium contamination
According to a March 8, 2021 article in '' The Narwhal'', concerns have been raised about selenium
Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellurium, ...
pollution leaching from Teck Resources' Elk Valley open pit coal mines' waste rock, which is upstream from the Lake Koocanusa
Lake Koocanusa () is a reservoir in British Columbia (Canada) and Montana (United States) formed by the damming of the Kootenai River by the Libby Dam in 1972. The Dam was formally dedicated by President Gerald Ford on August 24, 1975.
The la ...
water system. Lake Koocanusa is in both British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...
, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
, United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. A September 24, 2020 Montana Department of Environmental Quality presentation to the Board of Environmental Review Meeting, reported that the 95% of the selenium
Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellurium, ...
coming into Lake Koocanusa originates from the Elk River "which has been contaminated by current and historic coal mining in the Elk Valley." By September 2020, the average selenium levels in Lake Koocanusa were 1 part per billion, while Montana had established new standards for selenium of 0.8 parts per billion. Because of the high bioaccumulation
Bioaccumulation is the gradual accumulation of substances, such as pesticides or other chemicals, in an organism. Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a substance at a rate faster than that at which the substance is lost or eliminated ...
of selenium in fish, excessive levels of selenium in an aquatic ecosystem has implications for human health. In the spring of 2020, Teck Resources had "reported a dramatic decline in adult westslope cutthroat trout
The cutthroat trout is a fish species of the family Salmonidae native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. As a member of the genus '' Oncorhynchus'', it is one of the Pacific tro ...
in Elk Valley waterways closest to its mines". Since 2015, British Columbia and Montana have agreed to adopt aligned standards for selenium levels by 2020. Montana's has been in force since the fall of 2020, but British Columbia has not aligned their standards yet.
Environmental record: Airborne Lead
Trail, the home of Teck's large lead-zinc smelter, has an extensive history of smelting. This has resulted in above-limit levels of lead, arsenic, zinc, and cadmium in soils in certain parts of the city. Starting in 2007, a free soil-testing program (paid for by Teck via the Trail Area Health and Environment Program) was instituted, with the priority being the removal of above-limit topsoils in residential yards of families with young children.[Trail Area Health and Environment Program. Soil Management Program. https://thep.ca/soil/ Accessed December 17, 2020.] The existing contamination has been attributed to the smelting activities that pre-date the 1997 advent of newer technologies at the smelting operation.
The Trail Area Health and Environment Program is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, with the ultimate goal entailing soil sampling (with remediation on an as-needed basis) on all properties in Trail.
Red Dog Mine toxic waste
In 2007, the company's Red Dog mine
The Red Dog mine is a large zinc and lead mine in a remote region of Alaska, about north of Kotzebue, which is owned and operated by the Canadian mining company Teck Resources. It is located within the boundaries of the Red Dog Mine census-des ...
operation in north-western Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
has been ranked by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon pro ...
as one of the most polluting facilities in the United States based on output tonnage of toxic waste
Toxic waste is any unwanted material in all forms that can cause harm (e.g. by being inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the skin). Mostly generated by industry, consumer products like televisions, computers, and phones contain toxic chemi ...
, largely (over 99%) in the form of blasted and moved, but otherwise unprocessed, waste rock from mining operations. Residents living downstream from the mine launched a lawsuit against Teck Cominco, demanding that the Red Dog mine complies with its environmental obligations and that it pay fines for continuing to violate its water permit requirements. On November 30, 2007, the company released the final report of its six-year study, with the oversight of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) is the state of Alaska's environmental regulatory agency. The Alaska Legislature established ADEC in 1971, and the agency's responsibilities were transferred from the Alaska Department ...
, of risks of dust escaping from traffic along the DeLong Mountain Regional Transportation System Road. The final report incorporates formal comments and input from a wide range of government agencies and stakeholders, including local village residents. The risk assessment concludes it is safe to consume subsistence foods in all areas without restrictions.
Chinese government ties
In 2016, Teck Resources shareholders elected deputy to China's National People's Congress
The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China.
With 2, ...
, Quan Chong, to Teck's board of directors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
. Executive director of IntegrityBC, Dermod Travis, said: "When I saw this, it completely jumped out. It is wrong at so many levels. I think we need to look at how we engage with foreign entities, whether they're governments or companies, in terms of buying our natural resources and ensure we are not also giving up part of our boardroom sovereignty."
Indigenous rights
In 2016, Teck Alaska Inc., a subsidiary of Teck Resources Ltd., was ranked as the best of 92 oil, gas, and mining companies on upholding indigenous rights in the Arctic.
Awards and recognition
On their 2007 web page, Teck Resources listed over two dozen awards that the company had received from 2004 through 2007, for specific mines and operations. This includes awards for individual operations that had low accident frequency, good underground safety, volunteerism, conservation, reclamation, and excellence in business.
Teck Resources is the number one sponsor for the twenty-team ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
league, the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League
The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) is a Junior "B" Ice Hockey league in British Columbia, Canada sanctioned by Hockey Canada. The winner of the Teck Cup competes with the champions of the Pacific Junior Hockey League (PJ ...
with the KIJHL Championship named the Teck Cup.
See also
* List of coal mines in Canada
According to the Coal Association of Canada, there are 24 permitted coal mines throughout Canada, 19 of which currently operate. The vast majority of the country's coal deposits can be found in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scot ...
* Trail Smelter dispute
The Trail Smelter dispute was a trans-boundary pollution case involving the federal governments of both Canada and the United States, which eventually contributed to establishing the harm principle in the environmental law of transboundary polluti ...
* Teck Cominco smelter
The Teck Cominco smelter, also known as the Teck Cominco Lead-Zinc Smelter, Cominco Smelter, and Trail smelter located in Trail, British Columbia, Canada, is the largest integrated lead-zinc smelter of its kind in the world. It is situated approxi ...
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
*
Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange
S&P/TSX 60
Non-renewable resource companies established in 2001
Kirkland Lake
Gold mining companies of Canada
Copper mining companies of Canada
Zinc mining companies
Canadian companies established in 1906
Canadian companies established in 2001
Lead mining companies
Mining companies of Canada