Taseko Mines Ltd. called on First Nations leaders

TASEKO MINES LTD. CALLED ON FIRST
Nations leaders to take another look at its Prosperity mine in BC and work with the company as it tries to revive its proposal after a federal environmental review rejected it. President and chief executive Russell Hallbauer acknowledged the concerns raised by Ottawa and the First Nations about the mine and the company has revised its plan for the project. The Tsilhqot’in Nation has called on Ottawa and the provincial government to reject the revised project because it does not address the issues around Fish Lake raised in the first review. “The lake’s cultural and ecological values will not be ‘saved’ by this proposal and none of the other significant adverse affects identified by the Review Panel have been resolved by the ‘New Prosperity’ proposal,” the group MiningWatch Canada said. While the lake will no longer be drained under the new plan, it will remain within the mine site and will be inaccessible to other users. “This equally damaging proposal was submitted with zero consultation with the Tsilhqot’in Nation who in fact received the submission after it had already been sent to both governments,” said Chief Joe Alphonse, tribal chairman of the Tsilhqot’in Nation and Chief of Tl’etinqox-t’in. The British Columbia New Democrats say improved consultation with First Nations and an enhanced environmental assessment process will be better for mining in the province than the Liberal record of confrontation. “Governments have a legal and moral obligation to consult with First Nations on significant projects proposed for their traditional territory,” said ND Aboriginal relations critic Scott Fraser. “But as we’ve seen with previous decisions, working with First Nations is also a way of ensuring that projects that are in the best interests of all parties move ahead.” He said one of the reasons that the Mount Milligan project in northern B.C. went ahead was because some of the First Nations in the region were brought onside early in the process. “Contrast that with Taseko’s gold-copper mine in the Cariboo, where the B.C. Liberals have poisoned the relationship with the Tsilhqot’in by pushing ahead without adequate consultation. That’s a big part of the reason that project is stalled.” Fraser said newly elected Premier Christy Clark had barely finished her acceptance speech at the Liberal convention before she was trying to get the Prime Minister to change the federal government’s mind on the mine,” said Deputy energy and mines critic Doug Donaldson. “British Columbians want a healthy mining industry, but they also want good environmental protection. By using her first conversation with the prime minister to try to overturn the review, the premier dismissed the legitimate environmental concerns that the Tsilhqot’in and others had expressed,” he said.