Teck Resources Limited is setting a goal to become a “nature positive” company by 2030, including through conserving or rehabilitating at least three hectares for every one hectare affected by its mining activities.

Teck says it is taking immediate action towards achieving this ambitious goal through land conservation investments that will protect 14,000 ha of wildlife habitat and ecosystems in Canada and Chile. This is equivalent to over 40% of its current mining footprint and equal to 40 Central Parks in New York.

“We are committed to working with local partners, communities and Indigenous Peoples to conserve ecologically and culturally significant lands and work towards the goal of becoming a nature positive mining company by 2030,” Don Lindsay, President and CEO of Teck, said. “Nature loss is a serious global challenge that we are all called on to do our part to halt and reverse. Working towards being nature positive in each region we operate builds on Teck’s long-standing commitment to biodiversity and reflects the passion of our employees for caring for the land where they live and work.”

Teck’s new conservation initiatives announced today protect 14,000 hectares and include:

• C$2 million ($1.6 million) donation to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) for the purchase and ongoing management of the nearly 8,000-ha Next Creek Watershed in the East Kootenays of British Columbia. Next Creek was the last remaining unprotected land within the Darkwoods Conservation Area and this purchase protects the ecological integrity of a conservation network that has national and international significance;
• Donation to NCC of approximately 162 ha of Teck-owned land in the Wycliffe Wildlife Corridor, also known as the Luke Creek Conservation Corridor, near Kimberley, British Columbia, and further donation of C$600,000 for the ongoing management of the land;
• Some 5,800 ha of a unique and high-value wetland ecosystem near Teck’s Quebrada Blanca Operations in Chile will be protected in partnership with the Ollagüe Quechua community, Teck says. Known as the Salar de Alconcha, or Alconcha Salt Flat, the lands are located northwest of the village of Ollagüe near the Bolivian border at 4,123 m above sea level. The initiative is the first of its kind in Chile;
• An investment of C$10 million to create an Indigenous Stewardship Fund that will support Indigenous communities and partners in the development of Indigenous-focused environmental stewardship initiatives as well as engagement, education, capacity-building and participation in support of conservation objectives in regions where Teck operates; and
• Some C$12 million in new funding to the NCC to support future high priority conservation projects in British Columbia, in addition to those announced today.

The conservation investments announced today build on Teck’s purchase of over 7,000 ha of private lands in the Elk and Flathead River Valleys of British Columbia, set aside for conservation. Teck’s purchase of these lands in 2013 was one of the single biggest private sector investments in land conservation in British Columbia history. In 2021, Teck and the Ktunaxa Nation announced the signing of a Joint Management Agreement to ensure the protection of the area’s social, cultural and ecological value.

“The World Economic Forum ranks biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as one of the top threats humanity will face this decade and global leaders, including the G7, are calling for the world to become both net zero and nature positive,” the company said.

“For Teck, working to become nature positive means that, by 2030, our conservation, protection and restoration of land and biodiversity will exceed the disturbance caused by our mining activities from a 2020 baseline.”