The battle over Taseko Mines Ltd.’s (TSX: TKO) proposed $1.1 billion New Prosperty Mine continues today as Tsilhqot'in chiefs and community members plan to rally outside Taseko’s annual general meeting between noon and 2 p.m. in downtown Vancouver.
The Tsilhqot'in have called for support from their allies as they fight the proposed mine near Williams Lake, the tailing ponds for which they say will destroy bodies of water in the Fish Lake area.
Taseko says it will not drain Fish Lake itself. But according to Chief Marilyn of the Tsilhqot'in National Government (TNG), which represents six First Nations, "Fish Lake will still be on life support and die a slower death.
“It is unimaginable that a company is allowed to threaten [Fish Lake] in pursuit of a proposal that Taseko has acknowledged is more environmentally damaging than the proposal that was already rejected last year.”
The protest is the latest in a long-running fight between the TNG, supported by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC), and Taseko over the environmental impact of the planned gold and copper mine.
The original mine proposal was rejected by Ottawa in November 2010, citing environmental concerns and the destruction of Fish Lake. Taseko resubmitted the proposal, adding some $300 million in costs and the assurance that Fish Lake would not be drained. The new proposal is subject to an ongoing environmental review.
Communications between the TNG and Taseko reopened in February but relations seem to have deteriorated again since then.
In March, Taseko filed a defamation suit against the WCWC and its outreach director Sven Biggs for what it called defamatory statements authored by Biggs and posted on the WCWC’s website. The WCWC had criticized the revised New Prosperity mine proposal as being worse than the original plan from an environmental standpoint.
Taseko CEO Russ Hallbauer said at the time that the company had filed the civil claim only after “repeated requests … to correct the record” had failed.
Taseko said last year the project would have a significant impact on B.C.’s economy, generating some 71,000 jobs over a 20-year mine life and feeding $5.52 billion into provincial coffers.
