Teck Trail snapshot - #1 in a series

Richard Deane, manager of energy & public affairs with Teck. — Tanya Laing Gahr photo

Teck Trail employs 1,585 employees and produces 18 metal and chemical products. Its main competitive advantage is its established location and secure power source, as Teck owns two-thirds of the Waneta Dam. It also is unique in its leading-edge Kivcet lead smelting process, which the company installed several years ago.

Most of its raw ore comes from Teck’s huge Red Dog mining operation in Alaska. The ore is shipped from the Red Dog mine to tidewater, barged down the B.C. coast, transported by rail to Waneta and trucked to the Trail smelter.

Though Teck does not produce its famous bags of Elephant brand fertilizer anymore, it does continue to see demand grow for its commercial fertilizer production out of its Warfield Fertilizer Plant. Worldwide demand for fertilizer has spiked in recent years.

Zinc, lead and silver are the three main components produced in Trail and produce the majority of the profit for the company.