Book: Never rest on your ores

Author

Norman B. Keevil

Summary

The history of Teck Resources, Canada’s largest diversified mining company, from 1912 to 2023.

Takeaways

Commodity prices can fluctuate widely through economic cycles. It is important for a mining company to retain a strong balance sheet to survive tough times and be ready to act on opportunities when they arise.

The mining business is characterized by frequent mergers and acquisition and often complex financing arrangements involving multiple mining and investment companies. Teck’s philosophy has been to position itself to be a partner of choice for other mining companies and developers, i.e. a preferred developer through demonstrated expertise in building new mines and respectful business conduct.

Quotes

“I’ve never forgotten that. The willingness to pass ideas and information freely back and forth can often lead, synergistically, to two or more people coming up with even better ones. Hording ideas and information is the dystopian practice of the bureaucrat."

“We have said many times: ‘A mining company without ore reserves is an oxymoron,’ and ‘The three key elements of a successful resources company are its ore reserves, the right people to develop and operate them, and the financial strength to pull it off.’ It can never be said too often."

“Doing a few things very well with your nose to the grindstone always beats spinning wheels on too many things. Challenges and delays are just that, meaning one needs to put in even more effort to get past them. One should never accept easily that it is so much harder this time. It was seldom as easy as, looking back, it may now seem."