— Photo courtesy tecksustainability.com Teck Resources Limited (TSX: TCK.A and TCK.B, NYSE: TCK) ("Teck") announced the release of its 2013 Sustaina
— Photo courtesy tecksustainability.com
Teck Resources Limited (TSX: TCK.A and TCK.B, NYSE: TCK) ("Teck") announced the release of its 2013 Sustainability Report, which covers 2013 sustainability performance and progress towards Teck's sustainability goals. This year's report marks Teck's thirteenth year of reporting on its annual sustainability performance.
"At Teck, we know that our commitment to sustainability is fundamental to our long term success as a resource development company," said Don Lindsay, President and CEO, Teck. "Sustainability continues to guide our approach to business as we look for new ways to enhance our competitiveness while minimizing our environmental footprint and creating benefits for communities."
"In 2013, we had a number of significant achievements in our work in sustainability that demonstrate how we can make a real difference in areas such as conservation, community development and energy efficiency," added Marcia Smith, Senior Vice President, Sustainability and External Affairs, Teck. "We will continue to build on these milestones and evolve our approach to sustainability as we work towards achieving our long-term goals."
Launched in 2011, Teck's sustainability strategy established short- and long-term goals under the following focus areas: Community, Our People, Water, Biodiversity, Energy, and Materials Stewardship.
2013 sustainability highlights include:
Community
-- Partnered with UNICEF Canada to improve access to and use of zinc as a treatment for diarrhea in India with the goal of saving the lives of 150,000 children by 2018 and 50,000 lives annually going forward by strengthening health care systems.
Our People
-- Achieved Teck's safest year on record, with a 5.6% decline in total reportable injury frequency from the previous year and a 26% decline in lost-time injury frequency.
Water
-- Continued to improve our management of water by establishing site-specific water balances and integrated water management plans at each of our operations.
-- Recycled or re-used the same water at our mining operations an average of five times.
Biodiversity
-- Purchased 7,150 hectares of private land near Teck's steelmaking coal operations in the East Kootenays of British Columbia for the purpose of conservation.
Energy
-- Implemented 650 terajoules of cumulative energy reductions since 2011 and achieved our 2015 goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent, primarily through greater use of natural gas in our steelmaking coal dryers and through our haul truck anti-idling program.
Materials Stewardship
-- Recycled 25,000 tonnes of material at our Trail Operations, including electronic waste and lead acid batteries.
Teck's full Sustainability Report is available.
In 2013, Teck was ranked as one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations by media and investment research firm Corporate Knights for the second consecutive year - and this year Teck was the only mining company to make the list. Teck was also named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the fourth year in a row, indicating that Teck's sustainability practices rank in the top 10 percent of the world's 2,500 largest public companies.
