The REAL Teck Resources Story Worth Noting
Teck Resources has clearly been caught between a rock and a hard place given the news about their withdrawal from the Frontier Mine project.
Why? About a month ago, Teck Resources announced that they would increase their participation with a renewable project at the Kimberly, BC mining site.
The project is called ‘SunMine’.
Maybe we didn’t hear about this because it’s an efficient use of old mining spaces or maybe because it was really only a few million invested by Teck (beyond what they already spent on the mine) or maybe it just wasn’t politically expedient to talk about their progressive and passive projects as opposed to the massive earth-moving disasters like the Frontier Mine might have been.
I don’t know the answer, but I’m alarmed but what we’re seeing from this resource giant in context of the Frontier Mine. Are they a pawn in a big game of ‘climate change chess’ that Jason Kenney insists on keeping alive?
To be honest, it’s the first I’ve heard about this great story, and here are a few quotes related to the project:
SunMine is located on fully reclaimed land at Teck’s former Sullivan Mine site. The 1.05 MW (megawatt) solar facility, operational since 2015, is the first grid-connected solar facility in British Columbia and the first built on a reclaimed mine site, and has potential for future expansion.
“Our involvement with SunMine is part of our commitment to taking action on climate change, advancing renewable energy development, and supporting the global transition to a low-carbon economy,” said Don Lindsay, President and CEO. “SunMine will help us gain firsthand experience with solar power generation as we advance the use of solar power at other operations.”
Teck has been involved with SunMine from its beginning, having provided the land and site infrastructure for development of the solar facility. Teck’s former Sullivan mine was a major producer of zinc, lead and silver, operating for nearly 100 years before closing in 2001 and close to 1,100 hectares of former mining area being reclaimed. Development of SunMine aligns with Teck’s approach to working with stakeholders to develop post-mining land uses, from wildlife habitat to economic diversification.
It’s a VERY different and respectable tone being delivered by Teck as opposed to what we’re getting from Alberta. The whole thing has me scratching my head a little.
Why are we not hearing more about these projects as opposed to the massive trainwreck that’s coming out of Alberta?
To be honest, it just alienates me from Alberta. I know a lot of good people there, but they support the Jason Kenney UCP, so I’ve grown apart from them because Jason Kenney and his Carbo-creeps are trying to villify everyone but themselves and it’s just sad.
I’d like a single day to go by without hearing about Alberta and their fight to keep carbon alive in an age when it’s no longer wanted. This news from Teck – even though it was released a month ago – is a nice release from that death grip.