2007 Sustainability Summary Elk Valley Coal Operations letter from the President and CEO in 2007 Elk Valley Coal embarked on a Sustainability includes being transparent process to ensure sustainability is a core about our corporate goals and challenges. value affecting everything we do. Our goal is Preventing injuries and maintaining a healthy for our grandchildren to be proud of us fifty workplace is front and centre. attraction and years from now, because of the manner in retention of quality people for all facets of which we do things today. the activities of our business is a key challenge. being more our Operations are already industry‑leading. proactive in our relationships with our many in February, we were honoured to receive stakeholders through community engagement the 2007 mining and Sustainability award programs is of increasing importance. Public from the mining association of british support through a continued social license to Columbia and the Citation for Excellence in operate and a license to grow is vital to our Coal mine reclamation from the ministry planned extensions of the Elkview, line Creek, of Energy mines and Petroleum resources Fording river and Coal mountain Operations. for the commitment to sustainability principles demonstrated by our Fording river to define our commitment to sustainability Operations. Our challenge is to ensure our as a core business value, we developed six mine Operations consistently perform to Vision and mission statements. Our Vision a uniform standard of excellence, and that is that “Elk Valley Coal will be a leader in we are recognized as a visionary corporate the steelmaking coal industry; trusted and citizen for how we conduct our business. valued by our customers, our investors, our employees and our communities.” to meet Our Vice President of Human resources and that vision, our mission is “… to deliver a legal affairs took on the challenge of ensuring standard of product and service excellence the activities of all six of our Operations that is highly valued by our customers. We will align with our core value of sustainability. shape our destiny by harnessing knowledge throughout the year several steps were and innovation, operational excellence and taken, including commissioning a consultant visionary corporate citizenship. leadership and to do a full‑scale review and evaluation of integrity will provide safety, opportunity and all Corporate Social responsibility related reward for all Elk Valley Coal stakeholders.” activities, resourcing our community relations function to be able to effectively focus on We look forward to participating in stakeholder engagement and community teck’s future sustainability reports relations, and collecting data compliant with to highlight our continued success in Global reporting initiative (GRI) guidelines. achieving our goals in this area. For the purpose of this 2007 sustainability summary, Elk Valley Coal’s combined Sincerely, operations data is rolled‑up as one number with examples drawn from our six minesites to underscore our challenges and activities. boyd Payne President and CEO 2007 SuStainability Summary Overview • Environmental research, including Elk Valley Coal Corporation is the world’s Selenium and its possible effects second largest producer of steelmaking • Improving working relations with First coal, supplying about one sixth of the global nations in the areas where we operate. seaborne steelmaking coal market. the company is owned by teck and Fording Environmental Management Canadian Coal trust. teck is the managing three of the six Elk Valley Coal Operations partner and holds a 40% partnership are iSO: 14001 certified, which means they interest and an additional 19.95% have been audited and approved as operating indirect interest through its investment within an internationally recognized standard of in Fording Canadian Coal trust. environmental management. Of the three not yet certified, line Creek Operations is seeking Elk Valley Coal has six open‑pit mining iSO:14001 certification in april 2008, Cardinal Operations. the Coal mountain, Elkview, river is building its Environmental management Fording river, Greenhills and line Creek System with the goal of iSO certification Operations are located in the Elk Valley in 2009, and Elkview is also working region of southeast british Columbia. the towards certification under iSO 14001. Cardinal river Operation is located in west‑central alberta. Elk Valley Coal also Fording river Operations was awarded owns numerous coal resources in british the 2007 mining and Sustainability award Columbia as well as a 46% interest in neptune presented by the mining association of bulk terminals, a coal loading facility located british Columbia and the ministry of Energy, in north Vancouver, british Columbia. mines and Petroleum resources. this award recognized the Operation’s commitment to Goals and Objectives protecting its employees and the environment Elk Valley Coal’s primary goals with they work in, as well as its commitment regard to sustainability are to: to local communities and developing relationships with area First nations. • Prevent injuries and maintain healthy workplaces an example of an environmental management • Attract, train and retain quality people challenge for us is a dusting event at our • Achieve continuous improvement in Elkview Operation in 2007. ‘Fugitive’ coal environmental stewardship through dust was blown off a lagoon near the town energy conservation and by reducing of Sparwood, due mainly to an extreme regulatory excursions, fuel consumption, and early snow melt which left a coal pile spills, and waste entering landfills exposed. Coal dust on the lagoon is usually • Actively track, report and search covered by a tackifying agent that seals it for innovative ways to reduce off from wind, but in this case the tackifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions agent wasn’t applied because of an earlier • Obtain iSO:14001 environmental snowfall. residents impacted by this event management standards for all sites had their homes cleaned by Elkview and the • Pursue community engagement initiatives site’s air monitoring program was revisited. to proactively respond to stakeholders the result has been to increase the number • Produce a Global reporting initiative (GRI) of air monitors and refine protocols to ensure compliant sustainability report in 2009 problems are identified earlier and response • Self‑report under the mining association times are decreased to prevent reoccurrence. of Canada’s (MAC) toward Sustainable mining initiative beginning in 2008 another example of challenge occurred • Progressive reclamation to at Cardinal river. Cardinal river’s coal haul previously existing land uses road runs adjacent to a river and crosses • Ongoing environmental assessments two creeks. these water bodies are home to important habitat for animals and birds in the area, including Harlequin Ducks which are listed as a species‑at‑risk by the Elk VallEy coal | 3 alberta government. the Operation initiated Elk Valley Coal’s lost‑time injury rate for an extensive project in 2007 to perform employees was a record low of 0.45 in 2007, maintenance and do further enhancements and two Operations, Elkview and Greenhills, to haul road water management structures. were recognized by the british Columbia maintaining these structures is critical to the ministry of Energy mines and Petroleum continued health of the areas watersheds. resources for outstanding safety performance. Elkview received the John ash award for its research is an essential part of progressive second year in a row. this award is given to a environmental management. an example of large bC open‑pit mine working more than an initiative to reduce unnecessary emissions one million person‑hours per year and having was undertaken at Greenhills. they tested the lowest lost time injury Frequency. the use of solar lights to replace ‘flare pots’ for the purpose of illuminating haul roads. Greenhills received the Edward Prior award the solar lights were well received and are which is awarded to the bC open‑pit being implemented at all Elk Valley mines. mine that works between 200,000 and 1,000,000 person‑hours and has the Safety and Health lowest lost time injury Frequency. Our goal is to prevent injuries and maintain a healthy workplace. Every employee is an Tailings Management essential contributor to Elk Valley Coal’s tailing management is a significant part of the success, and safety is one of our core environmental management process in any values. Elk Valley Coal is committed to mine site. all Elk Valley Coal Operations must involving and engaging all employees to help have effective tailings management systems achieve its goal of zero harm. Each mine to operate. Specific new activities in 2007 has comprehensive safety and loss control included the draining and decommissioning programs that incorporate the prevention of lagoon C at the Elkview Operation in of accidents, injuries and illnesses into all anticipation of reclamation in 2008. also, work routines. Effective use of personal at Cardinal river the fine tailings produced protective equipment and employee training at the coal processing plant are currently in safe work practices and procedures are pumped to an abandoned pit, immediately to significant components of these programs. the south of the plant. this pit is expected to reach capacity in 2008 and the Cardinal at the corporate level, the Environment, river Operation is currently assessing the Health, Safety