NEW FRONTIERS IN MINING — With money, mines and projects,

With various mining assets, cash in the bank and two new projects coming on stream this year, Teck (TSE) appears well positioned to reap the benefits of projected improvements in the gold and base metal markets.

Having begun life as a gold company in 1913, Teck now operates several mines in Canada, producing not only gold, but silver, copper, zinc, lead, molybdenum, niobium and coal, as well. The company also holds a 22% interest in Cominco (TSE).

One of Teck’s main assets is a 50% joint-venture interest in the David Bell and Williams mines near Hemlo, Ont. Toronto-listed Homestake Mining owns the other half. In addition, the partners share a 50% net profits royalty in the Quarter Claim, being mined by Hemlo Gold Mines (TSE).

Teck has a 44.4% equity interest in Golden Knight Resources (TSE), which itself has a 40% stake in the Golden Pond East and West mines within the Casa Berardi area in northwestern Quebec.

The company also operates the small seasonal Klondike placer gold operation in the Yukon.

Gold accounts for a significant proportion of the company’s operating earnings, with production for the first nine months of 1993 totaling 281,000 oz. (compared with 290,000 oz. in the same period in 1992). The average gold price realized was US$355 per oz. compared with US$345 in the first nine months of 1992. The company engages in a limited amount of gold hedging. In addition to the gold operations, the company has the following interests: * 61% of the Bullmoose and 45% of the Quintette coal mines, both in British Columbia;

* half of the Niobec niobium mine in Quebec; and

* 11% of the Polaris lead-zinc mine in the Canadian Arctic.

Teck has significant interests in two development projects which are expected to come on stream later this year. In Chile, the 29.25%-owned Quebrada Blanca copper deposit is expected to enter production in the first half of 1994 at a cost of US$328 million. And by mid-year, production is expected from the $350-million Louvicourt copper-zinc property, near Val d’Or, Que. Teck owns 25% of Louvicourt directly and has a 10.5% stake in Aur Resources (TSE), which controls 30% of the project.

To fund development of the two projects, Teck is selling 4.5-5.5 million new Class B shares at $23.25 each. In doing so, it hopes to raise $104.6-$127.9 million.

On the exploration front, activities fall under the auspices of Teck Exploration.

According to Barry Simmons, vice-president of exploration for Eastern Canada and the Caribbean, expenditures in his region will total about $4 million this year. “One of our most active programs will be in the Bathurst camp,” he told The Northern Miner. Simmons likens the Maritime base metal camp to the prolific Noranda camp but concedes that the former has seen little deep exploration by comparison.

Teck also has several gold and base metal projects in Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec. In addition, work is planned on a base metal project near Great Slave Lake, N.W.T., and on a gold and base metal project in the Caribbean. Although not active in Europe and Africa, the Eastern Canada office does monitor projects and activities in these regions.

In the Northwest, expenditures for the year are budgeted at about $2 million, most of which will be spent on base metal plays in British Columbia, the Yukon and Alaska.

Wayne Spilsbury, vice-president of exploration for Western Canada, said about $1 million will be spent on and near the Driftpile zinc-lead project in northeastern British Columbia. During the past summer, 10 of 13 holes drilled on that property intersected a zone of stratabound mineralization, with the best intersection yielding 20.67% zinc and 8.3% lead over a core length of 5.2 metres. Four additional targets will be drill-tested this spring. In northwestern British Columbia, the company has a deal with a junior which will reactivate the Red-Chris copper-gold porphyry deposit where, in 1976, Texasgulf Sulpher outlined 45.2 million tons grading 0.56% copper and 0.01 oz. gold per ton.

In a recent transaction, Teck and Cominco each bought a 25% stake in two lead-zinc properties formerly owned by Curragh — the Cirque deposit in northern British Columbia and the Sa Dena Hes mine in the Yukon. Spilsbury said the company has no immediate plans for either project.

To manage exploration in the U.S. and Mexico, Teck operates an office in Reno, Nev. An office in Santiago, Chile, covers activities in South America.