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By: Henry Lazenby

17th October 2012

Updated 3 hours ago

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TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – A report published by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and global consulting firm Accenture named Canada’s biggest diversified miner Teck Resources and the world’s largest gold producer Barrick Gold in the top ten of the 2012 'Canada 200' Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index.

Accenture Canadian sustainability lead Losel Tethong told Mining Weekly Online three significant themes were apparent in the 2012 'Canada 200’ study of the carbon management activity of the largest publicly traded Canadian companies, which held true for Canada’s top miners.

The top climate-change concern being discussed in miners’ boardrooms was the threat of regulatory burdens, such as cap-and-trade programmes and carbon taxes. Of the 18% of respondents that had identified regulatory risks, 60% expected such risks to take effect within the next five years.

Companies expected regulatory risks to impact the bottom line. Of the regulatory risks identified, 66% of these risks were expected to increase operational costs, such as the increasing cost of energy and fuel, payment of carbon taxes and the operational cost of complying with emissions regulations obligations.

Teck Resources reported that should a cap-and-trade regime be implemented in British Columbia, its current estimates around cost suggested a range similar to that of the carbon tax it currently paid, which amounted to between $40-million to $45-million a year.

CDP North America carbon disclosure project manager Stephen Donofrio pointed out to Mining Weekly Online that companies across the board, and especially in the materials (mining) and energy sectors showed a significant increase in appreciating the value of responding to the CDP.

Responding to the CDP allowed companies to meet demand for transparency from investors, consumers and the general public.

Anouther reason why Teck would want to buy us out. Once the NLT hooks into CUU, thier would be very little carbon tax paid out. CUU also would be much cheaper to mine. If you take to 4 year to put CUU into a production mod...Teck could save 160 million to 180 million just in carbon tax