Teck Resources Ltd has announced that its Red Dog Operations, one of the world’s largest zinc mines, has been awarded the Zinc Mark in recognition of environmentally and socially responsible production practices. The mine is located about 170 km north of the Arctic Circle in northwest Alaska, near Kotzebue.

“Zinc plays an important role in enabling a low-carbon future and our people are focused every day on responsibly producing this critical mineral that the world needs,” said Jonathan Price, President and CEO, Teck. “With Red Dog being awarded the Zinc Mark, all of Teck’s managed base metals operations are now verified and recognised for strong environmental and social performance, illustrating our focus on responsible production for the benefit of our customers, and for the environment and people where we operate.”

Michèle Brülhart, Executive Director of the Copper Mark, said: “Teck’s Red Dog Operation is the first mining site to receive the stand-alone Zinc Mark. We are excited to see the standard applied to other metals operations, and congratulate Teck on the initiative and Red Dog on its achievement.”

The Copper Mark multi-metals approach includes the Zinc Mark as well as Molybdenum Mark and Nickel Mark. Producers of these metals are able to use the Copper Mark assurance framework to achieve their respective ‘Mark.’ The Copper Mark assurance framework aims to promote responsible production practices along the value chains of the covered minerals.

To be verified for Copper Mark, operations are assessed and independently verified against 32 responsible production criteria including greenhouse gas emissions, community health and safety, respect for Indigenous rights and business integrity.

In 2023, Teck’s Trail Operations was the first smelting and refining facility globally to achieve the Zinc Mark verification and Teck’s newly expanded Quebrada Blanca Operations (QB) and Carmen de Andacollo Operations (CdA) were awarded the Copper Mark. In 2022, Teck’s Highland Valley Copper Operations was the first mine in Canada to achieve Copper Mark verification.