Teck Resources

Teck Resources Limited
Public
Traded as TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B
NYSE: TECK
S&P/TSX 60 component
Industry Metals and Mining
Founded 1906 Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada
Headquarters Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Key people
 Norman B. Keevil, Chair
Donald R. Lindsay, President & CEO
Ronald A. Millos, CFO
Products Coal, Zinc, Copper
Revenue C$9.3 Billion (2016)
C$1.04 Billion (2016)
Total assets C$35.6 Billion (2016)
Total equity C$17.4 Billion (2016)
Number of employees
 13,500 (2011)[1]
Divisions Teck Metals Ltd.(since July 20, 2001, Vancouver)
Teck Cominco Peru S.A (Lima)
Minera Torre de Oro, S.A. de C.V(Mexico)
Website www.teck.com

Teck Resources Limited known as Teck Cominco until late 2008, is a Canadian metals and mining company. Canada's largest diversified resources company, it was formed from the amalgamation of Teck and Cominco in 2001.[2]

Teck's principal products at 2017 are coal, copper, zinc, with secondary products including lead, silver, gold, molybdenum, germanium, indium and cadmium.[3]

History

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. CM&S, or "Smelters" as it was often called by investors, changed its name to Cominco in 1966. Cominco's core Sullivan Mine in Kimberley, British Columbia 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 began as Teck-Hughes Gold Mines Limited in 1913, to develop a gold discovery by prospectors Sandy McIntyre and James Hughes at Kirkland Lake, Ontario.[4] The Teck-Hughes Mine would produce for 50 years until 1965. The Beaverdell Mine, purchased by Teck in 1969, went back even further to 1898, and produced silver until 1991.

The association between Teck and Cominco 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 for $16 billion, but CVRD eventually purchased it for $17 billion.

On July 29, 2008 Teck Cominco announced an agreement with Fording Canadian Coal Trust, 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. The purchase was closed on October 30, 2008, with a final cost of $14-billion USD. Elk Valley Coal Corporation will be renamed Teck Coal Limited. The purchase resulted in Teck taking on $9.8-billion USD in debt; the company has suspended dividends, cut spending, and is selling some assets to save money.[5] 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 $85 million. Coal production targets were also lowered by 20% in response to declining worldwide demand for steel, in the midst of the global financial crisis.[6]

Teck Cominco logo before 2008 rebranding.

Beginning October 1, 2008, Teck Cominco began rebranding itself as Teck.[7] The legal name of the company was changed to Teck Resources Ltd. on 23 April 2009 after being approved by shareholders the previous day.[8]

In 2008, its $25 million donation to BC Children's Hospital Foundation earned its name attached to the Teck Acute Care Centre expected to complete construction in 2017.[9]

In July 2009, China Investment Corporation bought a 17% stake in Teck for C$1.74bn.[10]

In 2012, the Company announced record earning, record profit and record production, thus ending the year 2011 with $4.4 billion in cash. Besides expanding into Energy sector, the company was also executing two major projects in Chile and planning a $600 million restart of its Quintette Mine near Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia.[11]

Operations

Teck's principal products are steel-making coal, copper, and zinc. As of 2016, 44% of revenue was from steel-making coal, 34% of revenue was from zinc, and the remaining 21% was from copper.[12] Teck also has interests in oil sands projects in Northern Alberta.

Coal

In 2016, Teck produced 27.6 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.[12] The coal is transported to ports and destinations in Eastern Canada through rail lines owned by Canadian Pacific. Teck's coal mines:

Zinc

In 2016, Teck produced 662,000 tonnes of zinc in concentrate, and 311,000 tonnes of refined zinc.[12] It was the world's third largest producer of mined zinc.[12] Almost all of its mined zinc comes from the Red Dog mine 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. In addition to Zinc, the Trail complex produces other byproducts, including 99,000 tonnes of refined lead, and 24.2 million ounces of silver, as of 2016.

Copper

In 2016, Teck produced 324,200 tonnes of copper from mines in North and South America.[12] Its largest mine is the Highland Valley Copper mine near Logan Lake, British Columbia, with 119,000 tonnes of copper and 3.4 million pounds of molybdenum in 2016.[12] 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.

Environmental record

In the past, Teck Cominco has been criticized and sued for violating environmental laws and standards. Teck Resources, however, has made "best in class" environmental and social performance a priority of late, and is getting recognized for its efforts; awards for safety, reclamation and sustainable development are all available for public scrutiny on their website, as is their sustainability report.[13]

Cominco Tank Car

The company's smelter in Trail, British Columbia was blamed in 2003 for heavily contaminating the Columbia River.[14] Legal action taken by American citizens living in settlements downriver progressed to the U.S. Supreme Court and was recently denied certiorari, solidifying the Appellate Court's holding that Teck is subject to U.S. jurisdiction even though it is a Canadian company.

A refinery belonging to Teck in Trail, British Columbia was the site of a lead spill into the Columbia River on May 28, 2008.[15]

The company's Red Dog mine operation in north-western Alaska has been ranked by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as one of the most polluting facilities in the United States based on output tonnage of toxic waste, largely (over 99%)in the form of blasted and moved, but otherwise unprocessed, waste rock from mining operations.[16][17] 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, of risks of dust escaping from traffic along what is officially known as 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.[18]

The Colville Confederated Tribes filed a lawsuit against Teck Cominco in 2004 claiming the company had dumped 140,000 tons of slag directly into the river, polluting the surface water, ground water and sediment of the upper Columbia River and Lake Roosevelt with hazardous metals including arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead, copper and zinc.[19]

Indigenous rights

After a long running court case filed by Washington state’s Native American Colville Confederated Tribes over environmental damage from smelter effluents, Teck Resources confessed to polluting the upper reaches of the Columbia River for nearly a century.[19] According to reports, the Teck smelter in the city of Trail disposed of hazardous effluent in adjacent river systems between 1896 and 1995.[19]

In 2016, Teck Alaska was ranked as the best of 92 oil, gas, and mining companies on upholding indigenous rights in the Arctic.[20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Company Profile for Teck Cominco Ltd (TCK)". Retrieved 2011-12-31.
  2. ↑ http://www.teck.com/Generic.aspx?PAGE=Teck+Site/Diversified+Mining&portalName=tc
  3. ↑ Teck Resources http://www.teck.com/products/other-metals/. Retrieved 21 February 2017. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ Pain, S.A. (1960). Three Miles of Gold: The Story of Kirkland Lake. Toronto: The Ryerson Press. p. 29.
  5. ↑ Bouw, Brenda. "Teck Cominco cuts dividend, spending plan." Toronto Star/Canadian Press. November 21, 2008.
  6. ↑ Koven, Peter. "Teck Cominco cuts 1,400 jobs." Financial Post. January 09, 2009.
  7. ↑ Staff Writer. "Teck scraps Cominco brand." Toronto Star/Canadian Press. October 01, 2008.
  8. ↑ Teck Shareholders Approve Name Change to Teck Resources Limited Archived 2010-01-04 at the Wayback Machine.. Teck Resources Press Release 09-11-TC.
  9. ↑ "News Release: Teck Acute Care Centre Major Milestone" (PDF). BC Ministry of Health & Provincial Health Services Authority. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  10. ↑ marketwire.com: "China Investment Corporation Announces Investment in Teck Resources Limited" 3 Jul 2009
  11. ↑ https://vancouversun.com/business/Teck+reports+record+earnings+record+revenues+record+production/6129624/story.html
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Teck Annual Report 2016" (PDF).
  13. ↑ "Environmental, health, safety and social responsibility awards presented to Teck". Teck Cominco. 2008-01-17. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. Retrieved 2008-01-17.
  14. ↑ Brown, Chris (2003-12-15). "A century of slag". CBC News. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  15. ↑ Lead from Teck Cominco spilled into Columbia River
  16. ↑ "Red Dog top toxic polluter". Siku News. 2007-03-31. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  17. ↑ Pollution Rankings by Facility. Scorecard.org
  18. ↑ Staff, Sounder (2007-12-27). "Red Dog road study declares subsistence foods safe". The Arctic Sounder. Archived from the original on 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2008-01-17.
  19. 1 2 3 Teck confesses to a century of US river pollution, International: mining.com, 2012, retrieved 3 October 2012
  20. ↑ Overland, Indra (2016). "Ranking Oil, Gas and Mining Companies on Indigenous Rights in the Arctic". ResearchGate. Arran. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
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