Coal – Page 12 – Republic of Mining

Tracing the toxic impact of B.C. coal mining – by Corey Bullock (CBC British Columbia – May 17, 2023)

May 17, 2023

https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/

Concern is mounting over the effects of B.C. mines on aquatic life, with Indigenous groups, scientists and environmentalists in Canada and the U.S. saying action cannot be delayed.

South of the border, in Bonners Ferry, the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho is working to restore the population of Kootenai River white sturgeon. The landlocked species, found in B.C., Idaho and Montana, are in decline due to human activity, as are resident burbot populations.

“That’s why I’m here,” said David R. Weaselhead Jr., a technician at the tribe’s hatchery. “To restore the population of sturgeon and get it off of the endangered list.” However, while the tribe has had some success, there is growing concern about the effect that mining in B.C. is having on aquatic life.

Glencore bid for Teck faces stiff Canuck rules, pride as mining M&A activity triples – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – May 11, 2023)

May 12, 2023May 12, 2023

https://www.northernminer.com/

Glencore (LSE: GLEN) faces an uphill battle to buy Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A/TECK.B; NYSE: TECK) because of Canadian nationalism despite surging mergers and acquisitions in the critical minerals space.

The mining industry’s M&A activity is up 283% to US$66 billion so far this year compared with the same period last year while dealmaking across all industries is down 38% to US$1.2 trillion, according to Bloomberg data presented on Wednesday at the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration’s eighth annual Trends in Mining Finance Conference in New York.

Consortium led by mining veteran Pierre Lassonde is proposing buying Teck’s coal business in bid to thwart Glencore – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 10, 2023)

May 11, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A consortium led by Canadian mining veteran Pierre Lassonde is proposing to buy Teck Resources Ltd.’s coal operations, a deal that could stop Swiss giant Glencore PLC in its tracks, and offer a made-in-Canada solution that may be palatable to Ottawa.

Mr. Lassonde is co-founder and chair emeritus of Franco-Nevada Corp., the world’s biggest mining streaming and royalty firm. He has also been an outspoken critic against the incursion of foreign mining companies into Canada over the past two decades.

OPINION: Ottawa may bluster but there is no ‘Canadian’ solution for Teck – that ship has sailed – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – March 6, 2023)

May 6, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Any unfriendly international takeover attempt is like a long, exhausting soccer game as executive teams and their hired guns, shareholders, the quick-buck hedge funds, and politicians all try to manoeuvre for the best positions. The process can take months as each of the players look for weaknesses to exploit, hurl insults at each other and place their bets.

And so it is with Teck Resources, Canada’s last big diversified mining company. In its effort to fend off mighty Glencore of Switzerland, Teck has in effect recruited allies in the form of the federal and provincial governments while it scrambles to concoct a value-creation plan that is not dead on arrival.

Why is Ottawa playing games in the takeover fight for Teck Resources and the future of the critical minerals we need? – by David Olive (Toronto Star – May 4, 2023)

May 4, 2023

https://www.thestar.com/

The federal government’s likely blocking of the foreign takeover of Teck Resources, writes David Olive, would achieve nothing for Canada’s goal to increase production of the materials we need to decarbonize our economy.

There is a growing likelihood that Ottawa will block the foreign takeover of Teck Resources Ltd., a diversified mining company based in Vancouver. But that would achieve nothing for Canada in our goal to increase production of critical minerals to decarbonize economies in the fight against climate change.

What is required of Canada is that we extract more critical minerals from the ground. And that we build more processing facilities — refineries, smelters, and the like — to turn those minerals into the refined components that go into smartphones, electric vehicles (EVs), wind turbines, solar panels, and upgraded electricity grids.

Teck needs to figure out how to transition out of the coal business – by Eugene Ellmen (Corporate Knights – May 3, 2023)

May 3, 2023

https://www.corporateknights.com/

It has been an intense few weeks for Teck Resources, as Canada’s largest diversified mining company faces an existential fork in the road. With a takeover lurking in the wings, the company must now figure out how to transition out of its 20-million-tonnes-a-year coal business.

The proposed takeover of Vancouver-based Teck, a company recognized as a sustainability leader, by Swiss mining giant Glencore PLC, a company saddled with a history of human rights, bribery and environmental problems, has attracted the attention of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The government is looking at the deal “very, very carefully,” he told Bloomberg last week.

OPINION: Who owns Teck – its shareholders, or the government? – by Andrew Coyne (Globe and Mail – May 3, 2023)

May 3, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

It’s unclear what the next step in the Glencore-Teck takeover saga will be. Teck’s shareholders having lately rejected the company’s plan to split itself in two – a plan designed to stave off the Swiss-based Glencore’s advances – Glencore has vowed to come back with another offer, even richer than the US$23-billion bid the board has twice rejected. Only this time it says it will take its pitch directly to the shareholders.

That’s nice. Only the company appears to be under the mistaken impression that Teck’s shareholders are in fact the company’s owners. Whatever it may say on their share certificates, they are not. The government of Canada is.

These are the most polluting industries in Canada and the U.S. – by Daniel Otis (CTV News – May 2, 2023)

May 3, 2023May 3, 2023

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

Mining creates more pollutants than any other industry in North America, according to a new report. By analyzing data from approximately 24,000 industrial facilities in Canada, Mexico and the United States, the report, published Tuesday by the Montreal-based Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), tracked over five billion kilograms of industrial pollutants created on the continent each year.

Together, the three countries reportedly released or transferred more than 5.2 billion kilograms of industrial pollutants in 2020 alone, with 46 per cent, or 2.4 billion kg, coming from Canada. Only 18 million kg (0.35 per cent) were reported from Mexico, while 2.7 billion kg (53 per cent) came from the U.S.

Country singer Corb Lund wants strong stance against coal mines in Alberta election – by Bob Weber (Canadian Press/Global News – May 3, 2023)

May 3, 2023May 3, 2023

https://globalnews.ca/

As Albertans begin what could be a bitter and divisive provincial election campaign, one of the province’s most popular musicians wants to remind them of an issue that brought everyone together a couple years ago.

“All candidates should be unanimous in saying they’ll enact strong legislation to protect anywhere in the Rockies from any coal mines, period,” said Corb Lund. “That’s what Albertans want.” Lund was one of the most prominent opponents of coal mining after the United Conservative Party government revoked the policy that protected the eastern slopes.

Pierre Poilievre urges Trudeau government to block Glencore’s bid to buy Teck – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – April 28, 2023)

April 28, 2023

https://financialpost.com/

Conservative leader says ‘hostile foreign takeover’ would threaten jobs and critical resources

Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative party, is calling for the federal government to block Glencore Plc’s bid to buy Canada’s largest diversified miner, Teck Resources Ltd., adding yet another political voice against the potential takeover.

The leader of the opposition in a statement on April 27 said that the Glencore takeover would put thousands of jobs at risk and threaten the local critical minerals supply chain. Poilievre highlighted past fines and charges that Glencore has faced and said that his government would have used the Investment Canada Act to stop the “hostile foreign takeover and take into account Glencore’s previous unethical behaviour.”

New Teck Resources bid could go directly to shareholders, Glencore says – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – April 28, 2023)

April 28, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Glencore, the Swiss commodities giant in pursuit of Teck Resources Ltd. has threatened to take any new offer directly to Teck shareholders unless the board of the Canadian company opens negotiations that might lead to the merger of the two companies.

In a statement issued Thursday morning, one day after Teck withdrew a shareholders’ vote to split the company in two, Glencore reiterated its willingness to improve its opening, US$23-billion all-share merger offer.

Canadian Conservatives want proposed Glencore takeover of Teck blocked – by Randy Thanthong-Knight (Bloomberg News – April 27, 2023)

April 28, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Canada’s main opposition party called for the government to block Glencore Plc’s proposed takeover of Teck Resources Ltd.

Thousands of jobs would be at risk if the Swiss commodities firm were to succeed in its unsolicited US$23 billion bid for the Vancouver-based miner, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in a statement Thursday. He warned it would also mark the loss of Canada’s last remaining major diversified base-metals miner owned and headquartered in the country.

[Coal Mining] In the dark – by Greg Mercer (Globe and Mail – April 28, 2023)

April 28, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

There’s a small resurgence in Canadian coal mining, but with limited data and testing, compensation boards are ill-prepared for the harm to workers’ lungs

It’s deathly quiet this far underground, except for two things: the steady drip of water, echoing down the dark mine shaft, and the rattle from deep inside Wish Donovan’s chest.

Mr. Donovan, a former Nova Scotia coal miner who spent most of his life below the surface, is used to both sounds. Water is everywhere down here, and so are the constant reminders that his lungs are slowly choking him. At 79, he understands that pneumoconiosis – better known as black lung, an incurable and often fatal sickness – is just a part of life for an old miner.

OPINION: Teck’s ambitious break-up proposal crashes and burns. Mistakes were made that worked in Glencore’s favour – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – April 27, 2023)

April 28, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Norman B. Keevil’s nightmare is becoming a reality. On Wednesday, Teck Resources cancelled a proposal to split the company in half, a transformational move that would have created two Canadian mining champions. One would produce the metals needed for the energy revolution, while the other would dig up the type of coal used to make steel.

Teck presumably withdrew the plan after learning it lacked the shareholder votes to put it into action. It is thought the company was unable to convince its biggest shareholder, China Investment Corp., with 10 per cent of the common class B shares, to reverse its “no” vote and endorse the split proposal.

B.C. coal towns lament potential Teck connection with Glencore’s thermal coal – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – April 25, 2023)

April 26, 2023

https://financialpost.com/

Takeover by foreign company would be ‘devastating’ to region and make it difficult to communicate, mayors say

Set in British Columbia‘s southeastern Kootenay region, the scenic towns of Sparwood and Elkford are where adrenaline junkies often go to hike while skiers and snowmobilers hit the fresh snow on the Canadian Rockies.

The surrounding Elk Valley area, often called Canada’s Serengeti, is filled with wildlife, wildflowers and, of course, the majestic snow-covered mountains. The valley also has a history of coal mining that stretches back for more than a century and is currently home to four steelmaking coal mines run by Teck Resources Ltd.