WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — The company behind a rejected billion-dollar gold and copper mine in the British Columbia Interior has been lobbying for the federal government to change the environmental assessment process that previously rejected the project, documents show.
And Taseko Mines Ltd. likes what it’s heard, according to documents obtained by The Canadian Press.
“I believe that yourself and the government of Canada are showing great leadership by taking an unapologetic approach to the responsible development of this country’s natural resources,” John McManus, senior vice-president of operations for Taseko Mines Ltd. (TSX:TKO), wrote to Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver following a January 2012 meeting in Vancouver.
The proposed New Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine was rejected by a federal environmental assessment panel in 2010 over concerns about the environmental impact, specifically the plan to drain a nearby lake for use as a tailings pond. Public hearings before a new panel are to begin this week in Williams Lake, B.C., for a revised mine proposal. The planned site is located about 125 kilometres southwest of Williams Lake.
A spokesman for Taseko Mines Ltd. suggested this time, the outcome may be different.
“We feel very optimistic,” Brian Battison, vice-president of corporate affairs, said in a recent interview.
The mine proposal has been revised to save Fish Lake, a lake of cultural significance to local First Nations and the primary concern of the last environmental assessment panel.
But while the project has been revised, the company made it clear to the federal government that it was not happy with the outcome of the previous panel.
“Even though the leaders have a clear vision of what they believe should happen, that vision becomes less and less clear the deeper you go into the organization,” McManus said in his Jan. 26, 2012 letter obtained by The Canadian Press using Access to Information laws.
The letter outlines several specific issues with process, including panels that go outside their mandate and “overzealous individuals in government (who) will tend to make statements and information requests either outside their ministry’s authority, outside their own area of expertise, or insignificant in terms of environmental effect.”
“As I said at the meeting on Monday, we applaud your courage in calling it the way you see it and in moving strongly not just to get the job done well, but also to get the job done period,” McManus wrote.
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