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)

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.

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Nickel Rim South Mine wins national safety award – by Len Gillis (Sudbury.com – May 9, 2023)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Sudbury INO Nickel Rim South Mine named as winner of the National Metal Mine John T. Ryan Award for mine safety

Another major Sudbury mining operation has been recognized for a national mine safety achievement. Nickel Rim South Mine (Sudbury INO) has been named as winner of the John T. Ryan National Metal Mine safety award for 2022.

This follows the equally positive announcement that came out last week that Vale’s Coleman Mine won the regional Ryan Award. It was at the same time that Vale revealed the national John T. Ryan Trophy for 2022 in the Select Mines category for outstanding safety was awarded to the Voisey’s Bay Mine.

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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)

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.

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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)

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.

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Teck needs to figure out how to transition out of the coal business – by Eugene Ellmen (Corporate Knights – 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.

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

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Pierre Poilievre urges Trudeau government to block Glencore’s bid to buy Teck – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – 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.”

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

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

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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)

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.

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

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Controlling Teck shareholder Keevil left in the dark over which way CIC voted in failed split plan – by Naill McGee (Globe and Mail – April 26, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Teck Resources Ltd.’s controlling shareholder Norman B. Keevil was in the dark about which way China Investment Corp. (CIC) voted in its proposed split vote, with only about 12 hours to go before the start of the shareholder meeting, a source familiar with the matter said.

The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source as the person was not authorized to speak publicly. Mr. Keevil declined to comment. Mr. Keevil, along with Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., controls the super voting A shares. CIC is Teck’s biggest B shareholder with a 10.3-per-cent stake.

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OPINION: Teck isn’t falling into Glencore’s arms and Ottawa isn’t offering its blessing either – by Andrew Willis (Globe and Mail – April 25, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

If Glencore PLC’s pursuit of Teck Resources Ltd. was a Hollywood romantic comedy, we could all write the ending. After a period of high-spirited sparring, this corporate rom-com would climax this week with two crazy kids realizing what the rest of us recognized from the start: that their copper and coal belong together. Harry marries Sally. Glencore merges with Teck. Cue rave reviews.

But mining isn’t the movies. Teck is not falling gracefully into Glencore’s waiting arms, even if the Vancouver-based company’s shareholders turn down the proposed spin-out of Teck’s massive coal business in Wednesday’s vote.

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ANALYSIS: How China could determine the outcome of Teck’s crucial vote Wednesday to split itself into two companies – by Eric Reguly (April 25, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

As the resources industry becomes less local and more global, crucial investment decisions are often determined in far-flung capitals. Such is the case with Teck Resources, Canada’s largest diversified mining company. Sometime in the next two days, possibly the next few hours, an investment committee in Beijing will make a decision that will greatly influence – perhaps even determine – Teck’s future.

China Investment Corp., one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, owns 10.3 per cent of Teck’s single-vote class B shares, making it the largest shareholder of that class. It is on course to become the key vote Wednesday when Teck’s proposal to hive off its coal business from its base-metals operations goes to a shareholder vote in Vancouver.

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Glencore CEO’s First Big Move: Chasing Mining’s Toughest Prize – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – April 23, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Glencore Plc’s attempt to seal mining’s biggest deal in a decade has thrust new Chief Executive Officer Gary Nagle into center stage. Little known outside Glencore before taking the job nearly two years ago, the energetic South African is pursuing one of mining’s most unattainable targets, in a bitter brawl that’s headed for a potential climax this week.

While the bid for Canada’s Teck Resources Ltd. is Nagle’s first major move as CEO, the deal itself was dreamed up under his predecessor Ivan Glasenberg, who privately tried and failed to get it done in 2020. Nagle was involved in those efforts too, according to people familiar with the matter, as head of Glencore’s coal business and already earmarked to replace the man that hired him two decades earlier.

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