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Power outage at Teck leads to increase in smoke

A power outage at Teck Trail Operations sounded alarms and increased smoke released from the stacks Monday night.

A power outage at Teck Trail Operations sounded alarms and increased smoke released from the stacks Monday night.

An interruption of power in the lead smelter, just after 9 p.m., resulted in the venting of some in-process gases from the KIVCET furnace and slag fuming furnaces, according to Catherine Adair.

“Which was visible both on site and to the community,” continued Adair, Teck’s community relations leader, adding, “furnaces were immediately shutdown and plant personnel worked safely to resolve the issue.”

No injuries were reported and power was restored by 10:30 p.m.

“We are conducting a full investigation into why this power outage occurred in order to prevent it from happening again,” said Adair.

Almost three months ago to the day, a power outage in the zinc processing plant at the Trail site raised the sound of alarms and led to an increase in smoke  emissions.

During that event, sulphur dioxide (SO2) was monitored within the operation and the surrounding community, and although emissions were visible, Teck maintains SO2 concentrations remained within permitted levels.



Sheri Regnier

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