Producer

Teck Resources

TECK.B.TOHQ CA · Vancouver, BCwebsite ↗

Teck Resources Limited (Vancouver; NYSE: TECK; ~$9B revenue) is one of the world's largest integrated zinc producers and a major Western indium producer. Indium is recovered as a byproduct at Teck's Trail Operations in Trail, British Columbia — one of the largest integrated zinc and lead smelting complexes in the world. Teck produces 99.995%-minimum-purity indium at Trail with an annual capacity of approximately 75 tonnes, representing ~22% of US import supply. Teck has expanded its indium processing capability to meet ITO manufacturer demand. Trail Operations processes zinc concentrates from Teck's Red Dog mine (Alaska) and third-party sources. Teck sold its steelmaking coal business to Glencore in 2024, sharpening its focus on copper and zinc — both critical mineral supply chains.

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Inputs supplied

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Goods downstream

4

Facilities

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Stories

Where it shows up

Goods downstream

Essential goods that depend on something Teck Resources makes, pick one to see the full supply chain.

Where they make it

4 facilities

Teck Elk Valley Coal Operations — British Columbia, Canada (→ Glencore 2024)

CA

British Columbia · mine

Former Teck Resources steelmaking coal operations in Elk Valley, BC (Fording River, Greenhills, Line Creek, Elkview, Cardinal River); acquired by Glencore for ~$9B in 2024 as Teck exited coal to focus on copper. ~26 MT/year of premium HCC. Sale completed Glencore's position as world's largest seaborne met coal exporter.

Teck Trail Operations

CA

Trail, BC · manufacturing

World's largest fully integrated zinc and lead smelter. Processes ~300K MT/yr zinc metal. Also produces sulfuric acid, ammonium sulfate fertilizer, indium, germanium, and bismuth. Operating since 1896 — one of the world's longest continuously operating metals facilities.

Teck Trail Operations (British Columbia)

CA

Trail, British Columbia · smelter

Teck's Trail Operations in Trail, BC — one of the largest integrated zinc-lead smelting complexes in the world. Recovers indium as a byproduct of zinc refining; capacity ~75 tonnes/year at 99.995% purity. Trail processes zinc concentrate from Teck's Red Dog mine (Alaska) and third-party sources. Approximately 75% of all indium used in the US could be supplied from Trail alone. Trail is the primary source of Canada's ~22% share of US indium imports. Source: Teck Resources; North of 60 Mining News.

Teck – Trail Operations Smelter (British Columbia)

CA

British Columbia

Trail Operations complex on the Columbia River in Trail, BC — North America's largest germanium producer (4th-largest globally). Feedstock: germanium-bearing zinc concentrates from Red Dog Mine (Kotzebue, Alaska, the world's largest zinc mine) shipped by sea to Trail for refining. Products: Fiber Optic Grade GeCl4, Technical Grade GeO2, Fast Dissolving GeO2, PET catalyst solution. ISO 9001:2015 certified. C$850M capital expansion underway with Canadian and US government discussions for critical minerals capacity increase.

What else they do

Business segments

The company's full revenue map, where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.

  • Zinc (Red Dog & Trail Operations)

    55%
  • Copper (Americas)

    35%
  • Energy (Steelmaking Coal -- divested)

    0%
  • Zinc Americas / Other

    10%

Intelligence

What's known

Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains, chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.

  • Did you know2024

    Teck Resources produces fiber-grade GeCl4 at Trail, British Columbia — as a by-product of smelting zinc concentrate from Red Dog Mine in Kotzebue, Alaska. Red Dog is the world's largest zinc mine. This means the germanium dopant that enables global fiber-optic broadband is literally a waste-stream recovery product from a zinc mine above the Arctic Circle in Alaska, shipped to a smelter in Canada, then refined into a specialty chemical for fiber optic cable manufacturers worldwide. Almost nobody outside the industry knows this supply chain exists.

    Teck Resources
  • Concentration2023

    Teck Resources' Red Dog zinc-lead-silver mine in northwest Alaska — located approximately 160 km north of the Arctic Circle near Kotzebue Sound — is the world's largest zinc mine by annual production (~590,000 tonnes of zinc in concentrate per year) and one of the world's most isolated industrial operations. Red Dog is accessible only by gravel road (the DeLong Mountain Transportation System, a 53-km private road) to a barge loading facility on Kotzebue Sound that can only operate during the approximately 100-day ice-free season (mid-July to mid-October). All zinc concentrate must be barged to a deep-water port during this window and stored for winter ocean shipping. If the 100-day shipping window is shortened by unusually early ice formation (as happened in 2012), Red Dog's production effectively sits stranded in Alaska until the following summer. Approximately 10% of global zinc mine supply — used in galvanizing construction steel, automotive parts, and center pivot irrigation towers — flows through a barge facility that is locked by Arctic ice for 8-9 months per year.

    Teck Resources Limited