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Teck’s zinc and lead smelting and refining complex in Trail, B.C., in 2012.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
The federal government is investing hundreds of millions of dollars into Teck Resources Ltd.’s TECK-B-T Trail metals complex in British Columbia to boost production of germanium in a push to firm up the North American supply of defence metals.
The federal funding will be spread among Natural Resources Canada, Canada Growth Fund and Export Development Canada, two sources familiar with the transaction told The Globe and Mail.
The Trail facility, located in the small city of Trail in southern B.C., is one of world’s largest integrated zinc and lead smelting operations. It produces refined zinc and lead, as well as specialty metals such as germanium, indium and antimony.
Trail has been in continuous operation since 1896. Its owners have included American businessman Frederick Augustus Heinze, Canadian Pacific Railway, Cominco Ltd. and most recently Teck, which took over the operation after its acquisition of Cominco in 2001. Roughly 1,400 people work at Trail.
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The investment from Ottawa will be announced Tuesday by Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson in Trail. Teck CEO Jonathan Price will also be in attendance.
Both Mr. Hodgson’s office and Teck declined comment.
Vancouver-based Teck produces germanium dioxide at the Trail facility and is the only Canadian supplier to the United States. Germanium is used in fibre optics, infrared night-vision systems and solar panels.
China in 2024 banned exports of some specialty metals, including germanium and antimony, to the U.S., citing national security concerns. That raised fears of possible shortages for the clean energy and defence sectors in the U.S., which has no domestic production of germanium.
While China in late 2025 temporarily suspended the U.S. export ban, anxiety over security of supply persists. The U.S. is keen to diversify its supply to friendlier jurisdictions such as Canada and Teck’s Trail facility, which is near the border with Washington State.
Canada has been ramping up the amount and frequency of its investments into the critical-minerals sector over the past 18 months, as the Mark Carney-led government doubles down on its strategy to both diversify away from the U.S. during the trade war and fight off Chinese dominance.
Last year, Export Development Canada said it facilitated roughly $8.7-billion in business in Canada’s critical-minerals sector, up from $7.9-billion in 2024. EDC has also been evolving to take on more risk, and has been putting larger amounts of money into earlier stage investments.
Among its investments this year was teaming up with Canada Infrastructure Bank to invest in graphite development company Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. to advance the company’s Quebec mine. The combined debt deal from CIB and EDC was $459-million.
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A Canadian federal investment at Trail had been floated by former natural resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson in early 2025. Back then, he proposed a joint investment with the U.S. as a way for the Trump administration to source more of its supply from Canada and wean off its reliance on China.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, from 2021 to 2024, Canada supplied 17 per cent of the U.S.’s germanium, compared with 23 per cent that came from China. While China is a much bigger global producer of germanium metal, Canada excels in producing germanium dioxide.
Over the past year and a half, Teck has improved the profitability of Trail considerably. The complex generated a gross profit of $281-million in 2025, compared with a loss of $66-million the year before. The bottom-line improvements stemmed from higher prices commanded by germanium, indium and silver, as well as producing more byproducts from processing stockpiled materials.
Teck last year agreed to a US$20-billion takeover by British mining giant Anglo American PLC. London-based Anglo won approval from Ottawa late last year and made several legally binding commitments, including maintaining Teck’s employment levels in Canada and increasing critical-minerals processing at Trail.
Some of the germanium at Trail is produced as a byproduct from zinc that is mined by Teck at its Red Dog mine in Alaska.