The Financial Post reports in its Saturday, Jan. 20, edition that United Steelworkers Local 9705 was in the middle of labour negotiations with Teck Resources last spring when the company proposed a $1.2-billion deal to sell its hydroelectric dam in British Columbia that powers the lead and zinc smelter where union members worked. The Post's Gabriel Friedman writes that union local president Mike Mozak wonders how the sale could affect the smelter's future. The smelter complex is the largest in Canada where it supplies 1,400 jobs and props up the regional economy. The British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) has started studying whether to give final approval on the sale of Waneta dam to B.C. Hydro. The transaction, however, is already raising questions about whether Teck Resources is laying the groundwork to eventually pivot away from its smelting business, and possibly devote more resources to some of its newer energy and mining projects located elsewhere in Canada as well as the United States, Peru and Chile. So far, Teck has said the sale does not signal any changes in its strategy. It notes the deal includes a 20-year leaseback of the electricity from the dam at "below-market" rates.