The expansion of the Trail smelter to increase capacity for critical minerals won’t come all at once, the local general manager says.
Rather, as Matt Parrilla (pictured below) told city council Monday, the company is planning “10 to 12 different, discrete initiatives” that will be rolled out over the next five to six years.
“For the most part, locally, you won’t notice a difference in the landscape,” he said. “We’re not talking about constructing dozens of new buildings. We’re talking about enhancing and increasing capacity of products that we produce today.”
This month, the federal government announced it would put up $400 million toward the expansion, which has a total estimated price tag of $850 million. The government is taking an equity-like stake that would see it earn a royalty on production. The details are still being negotiated.
Parrilla said one of the later phase projects will be installing a new furnance. That is expected somewhere between 2030 and 2032. Everything before that will be smaller scale.
Over that time, the company will gradually increase its production of minerals including germanium. Parrilla said Teck is already the largest producer of germanium outside of China “and we have been for some time.” The company is also hoping to add gallium production.
During the recent announcement, Teck CEO Jonathan Price said the project would create “hundreds” of construction jobs, but Parrilla clarified that those jobs would be spread over several years.
“We’re trying not to have peaks and valleys,” Parrilla said. “Over that time we would envision a steady construction workforce.”
In the same time frame, he said there will “40 to 80” permanent jobs created in operations, maintenance, trades, and the technical side.
“This isn’t like September 2026, it’s go and a whole bunch of people are embarking into the region,” he said. “We will be slow and steady, but we will be increasing every year and looking to implement these initiatives.”
Parrilla said all of the sub-projects that are part of the broader expansion had already been advancing in different stages, regardless of the federal funding announcement. Some are further along than others, Parrilla said, and the first projects to be built within the existing smelter footprint are expected to begin late next year with an aim to be in service in 2028.
While not all of the details have been finalized, Parrilla said the federal government’s contribution to the project is a “significant investment” in the site and the region. “That was a pretty proud day and something that has not occurred at our site in the past,” he said.
