Copper and zinc miner Teck Resources is considering building a lithium-ion battery recycling facility in British Columbia, CEO Jonathan Price said on Tuesday.

If constructed, Vancouver-based Teck's recycling facility would be the largest recycling plant on North America's western coast and have the capacity to recycle the equivalent of 35 000 metric tons annually of battery material each year, Price told the SAFE Critical Minerals Summit in Washington, DC.

He declined to estimate the facility's potential cost, but said the facility would process batteries from roughly 140,000 electric vehicles each year.

"There's a big opportunity for us to play a bigger role in the circular economy," Price told the conference, a gathering of policymakers, executives, investors and politicians to discuss critical minerals supply for the energy transition.

Mining companies are increasingly eyeing the recycling space as a potential growth area, especially as consumers and regulators increasingly advocate for the circular economy, in which materials and minerals are recycled and used again in a continuous manufacturing loop.

For example, Albemarle, the world's largest mining company, has announced plans to incorporate recycling into its planned North American processing hub. And metals trading and mining giant Glencore is a major investor in Ontario battery recycler Li-Cycle Holdings.