Environmental review panel asks B.C. mining company to explain accusations

VANCOUVER – The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency wants a British Columbia mining company to explain its accusations that an agency panel used incorrect information in determining that its gold and copper mine would result in severe adverse environmental effects.

The agency panel issued its report a couple of weeks ago, saying it did not believe that Taseko’s (TSX:TKO) design for the New Prosperity mine near Williams Lake could avoid contaminating a nearby lake, as the company said.

The mine project was already rejected once by the federal environment minister because the company proposed using the lake as a tailings pond, so preserving the lake was key to the revised proposal.

Taseko issued a news release last week saying Natural Resources Canada and the review panel used the wrong design in their analysis of the new proposal.

The company said they had advised Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq and asked her to consider additional information outside the panel report.

Yves Leboeuf, vice-president of operations for the federal environmental assessment agency, is now asking Taseko to identify the basis for those claims, and explain how and why it believes it was prevented from raising its concerns while the review was underway.