F
or 20 days this past
summer, the haul-
trucks, draglines
and belts of surface
explosives went quiet at Teck
Resources' open-air coal pits
in the Kootenays. The price of a
ton of metallurgical coal—used
in the production of steel—had
fallen below $100 in the spring,
down from $300 in 2011. In
three-week shifts at each of its
five mines—Fording River, Coal
Mountain, Greenhills, Elkview,
Line Creek—Vancouver-based
Teck cut production by 1.5
million metric tons, representing
around five per cent of the
projected 27 million tons of
metallurgical coal it expects
to mine in B.C. in 2015.
While the size of the shut-
down may seem insignificant,
it signals broader troubles for
B.C.'s dominant resource com-
pany—which cut dividends by
two-thirds in 2014 and is facing
an uncertain future in the wake
of declining coal prices and a
glut of product on world mar-
kets. Between 2013 and 2014,
Teck's revenues from its coal
operations fell from $4.1 billion
to $3.3 billion.
The fundamental problem
Teck faces: it can't produce coal
as cheaply as its competition,
and with declining prices, it's
proving uneconomical to do
so. Australian coal giant
BHP
(ABOVE) GArth LEnz SEPtEMBEr 2015 BCBusiness 17
t he mon t hly in for mer
TMı
"Steve Wynn said,
'There's only two places
in North America I would
open another casino
outside of Las Vegas:
Boston and Vancouver'"
–p.23
"A lot of us have been
here for a lot of years
and been through
shutdowns, mine
closures and layoffs–
but the town keeps
bouncing back."
– Norma McDougall,
manager of the
Sparwood & District
Chamber of Commerce
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 15
Teck's Coal Problem
N a t u r a l R e s o u r c e s
It's been a tough year for teck resources. But in the Elk Valley,
people remain hopeful that coal–teck's bread and butter–will
bounce back by Jacob Parry
INSIDE
Building a better yelp ... your gambling dollars at work ... independent contractors + more ...
COAL CAPITAL
Elkview coal mine,
Teck's biggest,
employs 1,200
three-week shifts at each of its
five mines—Fording River, Coal
Mountain, Greenhills, Elkview,
down may seem insignificant,
it signals broader troubles for
B.C.'s dominant resource com
pany—which cut dividends by
two-thirds in 2014 and is facing
an uncertain future in the wake
of declining coal prices and a
glut of product on world mar
kets. Between 2013 and 2014,
Teck's revenues from its coal
"A lot of us have been
here for a lot of years
and been through
sources. But in the Elk Valley,
ck's bread and butter–will
