Sites and Scenes
To augment our existing COVID-19 protocols and prevention measures and help manage the risk of transmission at our worksites and in the community, Teck has implemented a COVID-19 rapid screening program for employees and contractors in B.C. The screenin
The completion and opening of the Remote Integrated Operations Center (IOC) in Santiago represents a key milestone for our QB2 project. The IOC, which is Teck’s first remote operations centre, will be one of the most advanced in the world. The facility h
It was a cold morning in December 2020 when Sean Gibson, Survey, Engineering Technician at Line Creek Operations—and recent Excellence Award winner in the Cost Reduction and Productivity category—headed out to do some work at Burnt Ridge North, Line Creek
B.C. Premier John Horgan (bottom right) meets Kiara Herrera (bottom left), BC Children’s Hospital patient, along with her mother Claudia Herrera and father Omar Herrera; Karla Mills (top left), Mining for Miracles Co-Chair and Vice President, Project Deve
Worn-out haul truck tires are one of the largest sources of industrial waste generated by Teck’s operations. However, there are no national or international mining tire recycling programs or commercially viable recycling opportunities available. A single
Teck Alaska was the primary sponsor of the region-wide, NANA-led Share the Warmth project. With the help of the Northwest Arctic Borough School District, 2,022 gift bags that included hats, gloves, Christmas ornaments, crayons, bookmarks and snacks were d
In the last issue of Connect, you might have read about the 10 shovel at Fording River Operations being renamed in honour of Rhys Sarkany. Rhys (pronounced “Rise”) is a six-year-old boy from Elkford who was recently diagnosed with leukemia. His name was c
Teck has made a $10 million donation to help build the emergency department at the new St. Paul’s Hospital at the Jim Pattison Medical Centre. Named the Teck Emergency Department, it will be a transformative and innovative model of care to support improve
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To augment our existing COVID-19 protocols and prevention measures and help manage the risk of transmission at our worksites and in the community, Teck has implemented a COVID-19 rapid screening program for employees and contractors in B.C.
The screening is administered via a Health Canada-approved rapid antigen test, which involves a swab of both lower nostrils with a soft swab. The swabbing takes less than a minute and is processed on-site, with results typically known in under an hour.
Rapid screening programs at Teck sites in other jurisdictions, such as Chile and Alaska, have shown to be a very effective way of reducing the risk of COVID-19 in the workplace and in our community.
Pictured here from Teck Coal’s program is Dallas Cain, Director, Health and Safety, Coal, being tested by Melissa Kallies, Coordinator, Health & Hygiene, Fording River Operations.
For more information about the program, please visit www.teck.com/screening or review these FAQs.
The completion and opening of the Remote Integrated Operations Center (IOC) in Santiago represents a key milestone for our QB2 project. The IOC, which is Teck’s first remote operations centre, will be one of the most advanced in the world.
The facility has been designed so that multidisciplinary operations teams—including integrated planning, value chain optimization, process control, and reliability—will have real-time visibility and tools to remotely manage operations at QB2. As a result, hundreds of jobs that would have previously been based at the mine site, which is located at an elevation of 14,000 feet, will now be in the Santiago area.
Directly connected to the mine site, even though it is 1,700 kilometres away, the IOC will improve efficiency as we operate and monitor production and energy use in real time, helping us better control costs and improve our sustainability performance.
It was a cold morning in December 2020 when Sean Gibson, Survey, Engineering Technician at Line Creek Operations—and recent Excellence Award winner in the Cost Reduction and Productivity category—headed out to do some work at Burnt Ridge North, Line Creek’s next pit in development. It ended up being a particularly scenic morning with the sun rising over a blanket of low-lying clouds, so Sean captured these stunning images with a drone camera. The clouds were formed by a temperature inversion, which is when warm air at higher altitude traps colder air beneath, causing a spectacular cloud formation like the one pictured here.
P.S. Is it still considered a bluebird day if you’re above the clouds? We think so!
B.C. Premier John Horgan (bottom right) meets Kiara Herrera (bottom left), BC Children’s Hospital patient, along with her mother Claudia Herrera and father Omar Herrera; Karla Mills (top left), Mining for Miracles Co-Chair and Vice President, Project Development, Teck; Steven Krause (top right), Mining for Miracles Co-Chair and President of Avisar Chartered Professional Accountants; and Meghan McQuaid (top centre), Philanthropy Officer, BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, to kick off the 2021 Mining for Miracles campaign.
Karla Mills, Vice President, Project Development, Teck, attended the virtual launch for the 2021 Mining for Miracles fundraising campaign. This year’s campaign is raising funds to support the establishment of the Cellular and Regenerative Medicine Centre (CRMC) at the BC Children’s Hospital, a $3.385 million initiative.
The CRMC will give clinicians at BC Children’s the tools to better understand the genetic cause of heart arrhythmias so they can provide the best possible care to children in B.C. It will result in improved diagnoses, identification of optimal treatments—and, potentially, cures—improving and saving the lives of children across the province and beyond. In the future, the CRMC may also be used to provide answers for the thousands of children living with other life-altering conditions such as diabetes, cancer, bowel disease and epilepsy. Learn more about CRMC here, or by watching this video.
Every year, volunteers from the mining community work together through Mining for Miracles to help improve the quality of healthcare for children in B.C. Through its support of the construction of facilities and the acquisition of specialized medical equipment at the hospital, Mining for Miracles is helping to keep BC Children's Hospital at the forefront of pediatric care excellence. Since 1988, Mining for Miracles has raised more than $34 million in areas of critical need at the BC Children’s Hospital.
COVID-19 meant that Mining for Miracles fundraising activities looked a little different this year, largely shifting to virtual or socially-distanced formats. As such, Buddy the Miner showed up at Trail Operations’ annual Boot Drive sporting a custom-made mask by Carol Vanelli Worosz, Community Engagement Leader, Trail Operations.
Click here to watch the Mining for Miracles “Pies will Fly” fundraising video. To learn more about Mining for Miracles and this year’s virtual campaigns, or to make a donation, visit miningformiracles.ca.
Worn-out haul truck tires are one of the largest sources of industrial waste generated by Teck’s operations. However, there are no national or international mining tire recycling programs or commercially viable recycling opportunities available. A single haul truck tire can weigh up to 4 metric tonnes (8,818 pounds) and stand over 12 feet tall, and they are critical to our heavy mobile equipment’s performance in a variety of conditions. Like all tires, they wear, and thousands of them need to be replaced annually at our operations.
In the absence of a recycling program, Teck’s Materials Stewardship Team set out to find a solution. The team has researched various options with tire and technology industry leaders in Canada, the United States and Chile, and is currently pursuing several trials to determine the best way to reduce Teck’s old tire volumes while creating useful products. For example, this may include reusing regenerated rubber products in Teck’s conveyor belting systems and retreading smaller support tires.
With zero waste in mind, the team worked with an employee-led sustainability initiative to use some of the residual regenerated rubber to manufacture hockey pucks to recognize this industry-leading work. The hockey pucks are made from mining haul truck tires previously used at Teck’s Cardinal River and Highland Valley Copper operations.
The hockey pucks were distributed to employees, who can act as ambassadors for Teck’s responsible production and sustainability goals, and who will use the hockey pucks to help educate the public about our commitment to reduce and reuse industrial waste.
For more information on this initiative, please contact Mario Talarico or Andrew Buddle. For materials stewardship inquiries, please contact Anne Chalmers.
Teck Alaska was the primary sponsor of the region-wide, NANA-led Share the Warmth project. With the help of the Northwest Arctic Borough School District, 2,022 gift bags that included hats, gloves, Christmas ornaments, crayons, bookmarks and snacks were distributed to students within all 11 communities.
Thank you to the other sponsors—Sivu, LLC; Bering; and Ryan Air—for helping make this wonderful program a reality.
In the last issue of Connect, you might have read about the 10 shovel at Fording River Operations being renamed in honour of Rhys Sarkany. Rhys (pronounced “Rise”) is a six-year-old boy from Elkford who was recently diagnosed with leukemia. His name was chosen as part of a naming contest for the 10 shovel.
His father Dan Sarkany, Teck employee and Lead Occupational Hygienist, is based in our Sparwood office. After the naming of the 10 shovel, Dan shared these pictures and the following message with the team:
A huge thank you again from my family to the FRO team! Naming 10 shovel “Rhys” has made a big impact on our son and definitely brightened his life.
Out of the blue the other day, while we were eating lunch, Rhys stated, “the two best memories of my life are when we came home to Elkford from treatment in Vancouver and when I got to go on my shovel!”
It was to Rhys’ delight when he removed the wrapping off of the framed 10 shovel pictures and signatures yesterday, that he now has something to remind him of that day, every day. Rhys immediately decided that the frame must be mounted in the hallway right outside his room, so he can see it all the time.
Please share this with the rest of the team since we would like to send a big thank you to everyone who made this happen. Rhys’ chemotherapy should be completed in November 2022. It’s a long road and it takes a team to get through this cancer journey. It really, really helps our family get through the toughest times knowing that we have one of the best and biggest teams supporting us along the way.
Teck has made a $10 million donation to help build the emergency department at the new St. Paul’s Hospital at the Jim Pattison Medical Centre. Named the Teck Emergency Department, it will be a transformative and innovative model of care to support improved health outcomes for British Columbians.
The new facility will address the most pressing issues facing emergency departments, including wait times for access to treatment, non-emergent illnesses and injuries, and the increasing trend of patients with complex mental health and substance use needs while also including improved protection from harmful bacteria and viruses through the innovative use of copper.
Pictured above at the site of the Teck Emergency Department at the new St. Paul’s Hospital: Fiona Dalton, President and CEO, Providence Health Care; Don Lindsay, President and CEO, Teck; and Dick Vollet, President and CEO, St. Paul’s Foundation.
