Study Enumerates Coal Benefits to British Columbia, Canada.

Coal and Related Carbon Resources / Economics

Date posted: 11/18/15

Greg Klein opines that coal might be perceived as a dirty 19th-century throwback but it is hard to imagine life without steel. For British Columbians, it might be hard to imagine life without the provinces traditional industries. To underscore that point, Resource Works released a study on the economic benefits of five B.C. metallurgical coal mines operated by Teck Resources. Among the findings, the five mines supported 3,993 jobs in 2014 with a payroll totalling $457.6 million. Teck spent another $1.02 billion on goods and services for the quintet in 2014. Also attributed to the mines that year from a small sample of six suppliers were 345 jobs with a payroll totalling $34.5 million. With about 1,400 suppliers in B.C. and Alberta, it is reasonable to deduce that the actual full benefits are much larger, wrote author Marlyn Chisholm. Her study did not consider taxes or royalties. Although the five mines are concentrated in the southeastern B.C.Elk Valley, the spinoffs spread widely. Nearly 60% of goods and services spending went to the Vancouver region, largely to shippers and suppliers. Even during the downturn, B.C. two largest revenue-generating commodities are metallurgical coal and copper, according to a May report from PwC. The Teck five B.C. coal operations continue to operate, to help cut Q3 production by 19%, each of them underwent three-week suspensions this year. In last month Q3 results, Teck reported an average price of $88 per tonne, 20% lower than the same period in 2014, reflecting oversupplied steelmaking coal market conditions and a decline in spot price assessments. Prices reached as high as $300 a tonne in 2011, but the company long-term assumptions foresee $130 per tonne.