Teck aims to be nature positive by 2030

Teck Resources Ltd. (TECK.B-TSX, TECK.A-TSX, TECK-NYSE) is aiming to become a nature positive company via a series of initiatives that include conserving or rehabilitating at least three hectares for every one hectare affected by its mining activities.

The company said it is taking immediate action towards achieving this goal through land conservation investments that will project 14,000 hectares of wildlife habitat and ecosystems in Canada and Chile.

“This is the equivalent to over 40% of our current mining footprint and equal to 35 Stanley Parks in Vancouver; 40 Central Parks in New York; more than the size of Manhattan; or 20,000 football (soccer) fields,” the company said in a press release.

“We are committed to working with local partners, communities and Indigenous Peoples to conserve ecologically and culturally significant lands and work towards the goal of becoming a nature positive mining company by 2030,” said Teck President and CEO Don Lindsay.

“Nature loss is a serious global challenge that we are all called on to do our part to halt and reverse,” he said. “Working towards being nature positive in each region we operate builds on Teck’s long-standing commitment to biodiversity and reflects the passion of our employees for caring for the land where they live and work.”

Teck is a diversified miner with coal, copper, zinc, and oil sands operations in Canada, the U.S., Chile and Peru.

It ranks as the world’s second-largest seaborne exporter of steelmaking coal, with six operations in Western Canada and significant steelmaking coal reserves. They include Elkview, Fording River, Greenhills and Line Creek in southeastern British Columbia.

Teck said its new conservation initiatives (announced Monday) protect over 14,000 hectares and include:

• A $2 million donation to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) for the purchase and ongoing management of the nearly 8,000-hectare Next Creek Watershed in the East Kootenays of British Columbia.
• Donation to NCC of approximately 162 hectares of Teck-owned land in the Wycliffe Wildlife Corridor, also known as the Luke Creek Conservation Corridor, near Kimberley, B.C. and further donation of $600,000 for the ongoing management of land.
• 5,800 hectares of unique and high-value wetland ecosystems near Teck’s Quebrada Blanca Operations in Chile will be protected in partnership with the Ollague Quechua community.
• $10 million to create an Indigenous Stewardship Fund that will support Indigenous communities and partners in the development of Indigenous-focused environmental stewardship initiatives as well as environment, education, capacity-building and participation in support of conservation objectives in the regions where Teck operates.
• $12 million in new funding to the Nature Conservancy of Canada to support future high priority conservation projects in B.C., in addition to those announced on Monday.

On June 3, 2020, Teck Class B common shares closed at $55.30 and currently trade in a 52-week range of $57.21 and $24.84.