WENDY STUECK & IAN BAILEY, Globe and Mail, Feb. 22, 2011
Emboldened by soaring copper and gold prices, Vancouver-based Taseko Mines Ltd. has submitted a revised proposal for its Prosperity Mine that would save Fish Lake and add about $300-million to the cost of the project, pushing it over the $1-billion mark.
But even as the federal government says it would be willing to consider the company’s revised proposal if it addresses environmental concerns, native groups that fought the company’s previous plan are giving the new one a frosty reception.
“There is much more at stake than just taking Fish Lake out of the equation,” Marilyn Baptiste, chief of the Xeni Gwet’in band, said on Tuesday. “Being revised – I don’t see how that addresses all the environmental impacts, irreversible impacts.”
The proposed Prosperity Mine, about 125 kilometres southwest of Williams Lake, became a sticking point between the federal and provincial governments last year, after B.C. approved the project and Ottawa subsequently said it could not go ahead. The Tsilqot’in National Government, including the Xeni Gwet’in band, has long opposed the project.
In its decision, announced last November, the federal government said the Prosperity project “as proposed” could not proceed because of significant adverse environmental effects.
Those effects included destroying Fish Lake – a trout-bearing lake once used for promotional images for a provincial tourism campaign – in the course of building the open-pit mine.
Taseko submitted its revised proposal on Monday, saying that copper and gold prices have nearly doubled since the company began detailed studies for the project – making it possible for the company to consider more expensive design alternatives.
The company has previously said that options that didn’t involve destroying the lake were not economically feasible.
The project had already edged back onto the political radar, with Liberal leadership candidate Christy Clark saying in early February that, if elected, she would push for the decision that scuttled the mine to be reviewed.
“This isn’t the final decision as far as I am concerned,” Ms. Clark said after outlining her Families First platform of policies, which includes a commitment to put the Prosperity Mine issue at the top of her federal-provincial agenda.
Supporters say the project would be a boon for a region hit hard by a downturn in the forest sector, create hundreds of jobs and generate millions in wages and taxes.
During a stop in Vancouver on Monday, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper was asked about the possibility of B.C.’s next provincial government pushing to save the project, he responded that he was not interested in “political bargaining over the project” and that the government’s decision is final.
The Prime Minister’s Office later clarified that he had been speaking about the original application, and that Ottawa had invited the proponent to redesign the project.
A spokeswoman for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency on Tuesday said the agency had received Taseko’s submission and is reviewing it.
Many other aspects of the proposal – including an access road and a new power line – remain unchanged from the previous proposal, said Taseko spokesman Brian Battison.
“The alternatives were never not technically feasible,” Mr. Battison said. “They were always technically feasible. They were just not economic.”
The company has asked to meet Tsilhqot’in leaders to discuss the proposal, he said, but so far those efforts have not resulted in a meeting.
In a statement, Ms. Clark said on Tuesday, “This project means jobs for families in Williams Lake and I am pleased the company is submitting a new proposal. As premier, I will work to bring the project to successful and environmentally sustainable conclusion.”
Taseko Mines Submits Revised Project Description For The Prosperity Project to Federal Government
News Release, Taseko Mines, Feb 21, 2011
