Teck Resources Ltd. is parting ways with Harry “Red” Conger, one of the executives who oversaw the company’s cost overruns at its QB2 copper mine.
The Vancouver-based miner announced on Monday that Mr. Conger, who is chief operating officer (COO) and president, is retiring effective Wednesday.
Teck chief executive Jonathan Price is taking over as president, while the company searches for a permanent COO replacement for Mr. Conger.
Just last week, Teck announced that the capital cost estimate at QB2, its flagship copper mine, had spiraled to roughly $8.7-billion, or 85% higher than a $4.7-billion estimate in 2019.
Mr. Conger started as COO of Teck in 2020 and was named president last year.
QB2 was sanctioned in 2018, started production earlier this year and is in the early stages of ramping up to full output. The mine is located high up in the mountains of northern Chile.
When Teck announced the latest $600-million capital cost escalation on Q2B last week, its shares fell by nearly 9%.
Teck has revised the construction costs of the mine upward multiple times over the past few years, blaming engineering problems, challenges in building its associated port and the inflationary impact of the covid-19 pandemic among many other issues.
Teck is increasing its exposure to copper as the metal trades at a significantly higher valuation to coal, owing to its usage in lower carbon energy sources, and its designation in Canada as a critical mineral. At the same time, the company wants to divest its coal business because of the fossil fuel’s poor environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials.
Since the spring, Vancouver-based Teck has been in talks with companies interested in buying its core metallurgical coal business, after it failed in an earlier attempt to spin it off to shareholders. Among the parties interested in the unit are Glencore PLC of Switzerland, Japan’s Nippon Steel, Indian conglomerate JSW Steel and a consortium led by Canadian mining veteran Pierre Lassonde.
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