Teck Resources’ sale of Waneta Dam gets approval nod
06 Feb 2010
Canada's mining major, Teck Resources Ltd (Teck) has received the approval of British Columbia Utilities Commission for the sale of its one-third interest in the Waneta Dam to British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro) for C$825 ($768 million).
The commission had concluded that the expenditure proposed by BC Hydro in connection with the transaction is in the public interest, a statement issued by Teck yesterday said.
This approval was a condition of closing of the transaction. Teck expects to complete the transaction within the next 10 business days.
The Waneta Dam is located on the Pend d'Oreille River near the city of Trial in southern British Columbia near to the US border, and houses a 490 megawatt (MW) power plant.
Through the deal, BC Hydro expects to get about 1,000 gigawatt-hours per year of power as part of the province's campaign to make itself energy self-sufficient by 2016.
Vancouver-headquartered Teck is Canada's largest mining, mineral processing and metallurgical company and a dominant global player in the production of copper, zinc, molybdenum, gold, specialty metals and metallurgical coal, apart from its interests in oil sands.