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Taseko Mines Ltd. is taking the federal government to court for the second time in four months, claiming its rejection of the New Prosperity project was based on a highly unfair process that included inappropriate meetings with opponents of the mine that it only learned about through Facebook.
The Vancouver-based miner said these meetings were documented in Facebook posts by a First Nations chief. It claims the government declined to talk about them or let Taseko respond to what was discussed.
Taseko filed an application for a judicial review on Wednesday to try to force the government to reconsider New Prosperity, based on its belief that Ottawa did not run a fair process. It launched a separate judicial review in federal court back in December, claiming there was a key technical error in a review of the British Columbia project that influenced Ottawa’s decision.
“The process was flawed,” said Brian Battison, Taseko’s vice president of corporate affairs. “The findings were wrong and the decision to deny the project was certainly wrong. We expect to prove that in court.” The $1.5-billion New Prosperity has been controversial from the start.
The government of British Columbia approved the mine in 2010, but Ottawa blocked it later that year, citing concerns about environmental damage due to Taseko’s plan to drain the nearby Fish Lake.
Taseko came up with a new plan that would save Fish Lake at an additional cost of $300-million. But Ottawa blocked that proposal last month after a federal panel warned of “significant adverse environmental effects” from the mine. Stephen Harper called the panel report “damning” at a conference earlier this month.
Last summer, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) held hearings around Taseko’s updated mine plan for New Prosperity. Stakeholders around the project made numerous submissions.
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