Taseko To Launch Review of Federal Rejection of Prosperity Proposal
Prince George, B.C. – Taseko Mines has issued a statement in the wake of the decision by the Federal Government to reject Taseko`s proposal for the New Prosperity Mine southwest of Williams Lake,
In the statement, Taseko Mines says it “fundamentally disagrees with the decision the federal government has made and believes they based their decision on a panel report which contains serious flaws. New Prosperity can be built to a high standard of environmental integrity, including the full protection of Fish Lake.”
The company says it will launch a judicial review of the Federal Government’s decision, a review which may be combined with the one already launched into the decision of the Review Panel which also recommended the project be rejected because of the potential for environmental damage. Taseko maintains that the Panel based it’s decision on flawed information and that the panel failed to comply with principles of procedural fairness.
In the release issued this morning, Russell Hallbauer, President and CEO of Taseko, comments, "We are not alone in our disappointment. Many others, including the Government of British Columbia and the thousands of Cariboo residents who have worked hard to support New Prosperity will be similarly discouraged. We thank each of them for the confidence they have placed in us and wish to assure them that our commitment to the Cariboo remains strong. We will continue to support the excellent work of our 700 employees at Gibraltar, Canada's second largest open pit copper mine and the largest employer in the Cariboo region."
While the Federal Government did invite Taseko to submit another proposal on the copper-gold mine, Taseko’s Vice President Corporate Affairs, Brian Battison, spoke with 250News about taking up that offer. “One should never say never” says Battison, “But we have been down this road before and we found a way to save Fish Lake. We committed $300 million dollars to a new plan that was designed by some of the finest engineers in the world, a plan based on solid science, but the Panel rejected that science. So at the moment, this invitation from the Federal Government rings a little hollow.”
Taseko says it will “take the necessary steps to protect this valuable asset, but at the same time, will also look at other opportunities to increase shareholder value.” Those other opportunities include projects in other parts of Canada and in other countries.
The New Prosperity mine would have created about 550 direct jobs in a region which has been hit hard by the mountain pine beetle epidemic, leaving it with a dwindling fibre supply in a forest industry dependent region. Earlier today, MP for Cariboo-Prince George, Dick Harris said the decision by his government has shattered “hopes and dreams” of many in his constituency. ( see previous story).
Comments
It might be harder for Dick to get re-elected for another term -oh well, he can live happpily ever after on his gold plated pension.
Funny how a union mill worker or mechanic etc retires with a good pension and they can be proud of it but politicians or police or fireman are all shunned for getting a pension eh?
This Government we have now could care less about the future of this province.They think that they are above the law and nothing should get in there way to do as they please.I guess maybe they think that after they wreck this Planet they have another one close by that they can move to.
Oldman1 what is your point.
I cannot figure out what you are trying to say. As far as the mine promoters go, I think their modus operandi is “if you tell a lie long enough people will think its true.” This is the same theory as the Northern pipeline people. If their project is so great why do we need such blanket onerous advertising.
pizza: “This is the same theory as the Northern pipeline people. If their project is so great why do we need such blanket onerous advertising.”
Mostly to have a balance to the immense amount of false information and fear mongering by the anti-pipeline people.
Firstly we need to “Get the Dick Out”, and get us a politician that lives here and represents us.
secondly, It does not surprise me that they would do this to TKO, mainly because of their previous preemptive move.
The one thing we do know is, the gold is not going anywhere, it will remain locked up in the ground. What TKO needs to do is sell it to the first nation and they will get it built.
“It might be harder for Dick to get re-elected for another term -oh well, he can live happily ever after on his gold plated pension.” .. I think he has already announced he is not running again, didn’t he? If Taseko can NOW mine without any adverse affects to Fish lake and the environment, WHY wasn’t that part of their first proposal. These kinds of things are what discredits companies like Taseko. They try to get it done on the cheap and hope no one sees through it. And 20 years ago that would have worked, sorry boys, not today. I hope our BC gov’t sticks to their guns and conditions on Enbridge, because they too have proven time and time again they try to get things done on the cheap at the cost of environment.
Well Johnny:
the media you consume must be far different from what I read and see. All I see is trust us pipelines don’t leak. I don’t see “immense amounts of false information” on the part of the anti-pipeliners. I don’t think they have nearly as much money as the Northern pipeliners and the federal government.
Not to mention they usually conveniently forget the $100,000,000.00 supplied by China to help push this pipeline through, but a few hundred thousand (if its that) donated to environmental groups is obviously foreign eco-terrorists out to cripple the Canadian economy. Who’s really doing the fear mongering here?
Huh actually it’s millions.
Thanks to pizza and Huh for proving my point. See, you don’t have to go far to find mis-information and fear mongering.
You can say that again JB, you continually prove my point over and over with your misinformation. And when asked to prove your information you continually point people to the Enbridge website like that is some sort of prove, when economists in BC state there is very little economics wise for BC to gain with this project. Just because a very individual companies will make out like bandits doesn’t mean its’ good for BC or Canada.
well its good for Alberta. Most of the workers working on the pipelines are Albertans. Helicopter companies taking BC jobs are from Red Deer. Canadian Helicopters LTD has mostly foreign pilots flying the pipeline. Local companies are not finding this pipedream very advantageous or profitable up to this point. Smoke and mirrors coming from TransCanada pipeline as well as Enbridge.
Seamutt
Actually the Northern Gateway is funded by 10 different proponents, many still anonymous (chinese?) who have each contributed 10 million . So a hundred million dollars is accurate.
I was referring to so called environmental groups who receive money from the oil sands competitors
And aren’t taxed because they are charities. Oh what a tangled web we weave.
So one side gets a few million, the other side gets a few million. I guess it’s all a level playing field then, aye? So why are the millions going to the pro side any more sanctified than the millions going to the anti side? The one BIG glaring difference I see is the pro side stands to make billions on the project and the anti side not so much. Who are these competitors? How exactly are they competing with big oil? Are you saying wind farms and solar panels are going up against big oil? Not likely. If you are talking about our neighbours to the south nothing wanting the oil to go to Asia, well, they need someway to get it to them as well.
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