Taseko Mines' proposed Prosperity Mine and the destruction of Teztan Biny

The Federal Government announced on Tuesday November 2, 2010 that they would not allow Taseko Mines proposed Prosperity Lake Mine project to proceed.

The provincial government had rubber stamped the mine project earlier this year, leaving it to the feds to make the final decision. In Canada this occurs when a nationally managed resource is involved, and in this case it was the salmon. The Chilcotin people fought very hard to see this proposal crushed as the mine would empty a large productive lake and fill it with toxic mine tailings.

Taseko Mines has said that filling the lake with toxic acid mine tailings was the ony option they had in engineering the mine. It doesn't sound like they can come up with any other options at this point.

You can read more at my blog http://prosperity-mine-vs-fish-lake.blogspot.com/.

from http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2009/11/halt-taseko-mines-at-teztan-biny-bc.html

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Halt: Taseko Mines at Teztan Biny, BC
Quote: From the very good and very strong letter below: "Your company is doing everything in its power to construct a massive open-pit mine in the heart of our traditional lands, and you have offered no options that do not require the complete destruction of an ancestral lake that has sustained our people for generations. You are coming into our homeland with plans to desecrate an enduring bond between our people and our lands that is deeper than you will ever understand - all for some twenty years of "prosperity". When you deride our efforts to honour our responsibilities and to protect our lands as "activist strategies", and when you complain that we still oppose your project after you have "exhausted" your imagination to please us, you make it abundantly clear that you have not heard a word that we have said, despite your careful records of countless meetings. We stand committed to the protection of Teztan Biny and our traditional lands. Your most recent letter makes it clear that Taseko still has not heard a word that we have said."

Taseko Mines Ltd. (TGB) has proposed a massive open pit mine southwest of Williams Lake, British Columbia, Canada. The mine would use an existing lake that is rich in both fish and aboriginal heritage to store tailings. Under their plan, the lake would be re-classified as a tailings pond.

Strato Consulting of Colorado has studied Taseko's plans and found that the mining company has not provided sufficient information for an environmental assessment to be made. They have also not looked at any alternate scenarios or thought about what they would do in years where the amount of water available drops.

The report is available here: http://bit.ly/oPffD http://bit.ly/3DPpCM

There are a number of issues with the proposed mine, including the simple fact that the objective is to use a large, productive, and culturally significant lake as a tailings pond. The pond would submerge some of the tailings but not all.
The mine itself would be about 4km by 6km with a projected life of 20 years. Taseko Mines has not said yet what it would do to prevent acid and toxic leachates from entering streams and groundwater, as well as deal with toxic and acidic dust from the tailings, after the mine closes.

In Canada, mining companies must by law have a rehabilitation plan and security deposit in place at the start of operations.

Potential environmental consequences associated with the Prosperity project include:

*Discharge of acid mine drainage into Fish Creek and the Taseko River

*Infiltration of contaminated tailings seepage to groundwater

*Permanent production of acid drainage from the surface of the TSF and exposure to
wildlife

*Flow of contaminated water through fractured bedrock and the pit to groundwater and
ultimately to downgradient surface water

*Insufficiency of proposed mitigation habitat (Prosperity Lake) to support native fisheries
and uses

*Changes in water balance, especially decreased flows in streams currently downgradient
of the proposed tailings impoundment and pit areas

*Tailings dam breaks and spills and input of contaminated sediment to surface water.

The report states quite clearly that information provided byTaseko does not provide does not permit a reasoned evaluation of potential adverse effects to water quality, water quantity, fish, and wildlife under variable environmental conditions.

The report was written by Cameron Wobus (PhD in geomorphology/hydrology, Ann Maest (PhD in geochemistry), and James Holmes (MSc in hydrology) for the Strato Consulting Inc. of Boulder, Colorado.