Pacific Free Press publishes my article!

Pacific Free Press published an article I wrote about the Stratus report:  Fighting for Fish Lake: Project Enviro. Assessment Questioned

Thanks Chris at PFP!

Dead willows along Silverbow Creek are surrounded by acid producing metal-laden mine tailings deposited by the 1908 flood. 
 from http://www.earthscienceworld.org/images/search/results.html?Keyword=Acid%20Mine%20Drainage#null

Excellent Article on Acid Mine Drainage and Alternatives to Tailings Ponds

Safe Haven | Contaminated Mining Environments: It's Better To Be Green

November 29, 2009

Contaminated Mining Environments: It's Better To Be Green
by Richard Mills

Richard Mills writes an excellent backgrounder on Acid Mine Drainage, its effects on the environment, and means of dealing with waste rock that avoids or greatly lessens the risk of releasing toxins into the environment.

Mills concludes with these words:

I'm not against mining. In fact, I'm very much in favor of resource extraction. Mining, fishing and logging all provide quality high paying jobs and these industries are some of only a handful that create new money, bringing prosperity and security to communities. But we inhabit this earth and call it our home. Clean water, breathable air and a land free of contamination have to be the legacy we leave our children.

I agree with this, mines need to be, but they don't belong anywhere there happens to be ore.

Fighting for Fish Lake: Project Enviro. Assessment Questioned

Pacific Free Press published an article I wrote:

Fighting for Fish Lake: Project Enviro. Assessment Questioned

Pacific Free Press is an excellent web site, and not just because the published the article. They take an activist approach and aren't afraid to take on tough issues!

Even More on Acid Mine Drainage

Here are some snippets of information on Acid Mine Drainage and what lies ahead for Taseko Mines' Prosperity Mine:

Soils and spoils exposed to acid mine drainage do not support vegetation and are susceptible to erosion. When acid mine drainage enters natural waterways, changes in pH and the formation of voluminous precipitates of metal hydroxides can devastate fish populations and other aquatic life.  There may be as many as 500,000 inactive or abandoned mines in the United States, with mine drainage severely impacting approximately 19,300 km of streams and more than 72,000 ha of lakes and reservoirs (2-3, ). Once initiated, mine drainage may persist for decades... solve.http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a740169972

Acid mine drainage has already polluted more than 12,000 miles of rivers and streams and over 180,000 acres of lakes and impoundments in the United States. According to the U.S. EPA, acid mine drainage from coal mining is the leading source of water pollution in the Mid-Atlantic States. Acid Mine Drainage from metal mines in Western states has caused some of the country's largest and most contaminated Superfund sites. Mining companies argue that modern mining methods can protect against Acid Mine Drainage, but they cannot point to a single mine that is more than a few years old that has not resulted in contamination. Because Acid Mine Drainage often takes several years to develop, recent mines that have not yet contaminated nearby waters do not provide proof that these ores can be mined safely. http://www.sosbluewaters.org/ 

Acid Mine Drainage Pictures 

http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/kirby/AMD.html

Prosperity a Foregone Conclusion?

 You'd Think So From Their Press Releases:

January 15, 2010
Taseko Receives Provincial Approval to Proceed With Prosperity

"Obviously we are tremendously pleased with the Provincial Government's decision. We put considerable effort and Company resources into the documentation and process and to have now received this approval is both gratifying and rewarding," says Taseko President & CEO Russell Hallbauer.

"The Government of British Columbia has authority and responsibility for mine development in the Province. Now that they have given their approval we will proceed to apply for and secure the necessary leases, licenses and permits required to advance the project," concluded Mr. Hallbauer.

Good for the stock prices, right?

And the environment?

More on Acid Mine Drainage

I've been reading more on Acid Mine Drainage... relevant to the sort we can expect of the Prosperity Mine goes ahead.

Need to know more about AMD? just look on the internet.

Denver-based Newmont Mining Co. fined millions for cyanide spill at Ghanaian mine

EARTHWORKS

Denver-based Newmont Mining Co. fined millions for cyanide spill at Ghanaian mine

Panel faults company for failing to prevent accident, delays in notifying authorities

Joint release: EARTHWORKS * WACAM

Accra and Washington, 01/21: Ghanaian authorities are fining Denver-based Newmont Mining millions of dollars for negligently spilling cyanide at its Ahafo gold mine in October 2009, resulting in water contamination and fish kills. A Ghanaian Ministerial Panel that evaluated the spill and its aftermath recommended that the company be fined US$ 4.9 million for failing to prevent the spill or to properly report on and investigate the spill. 

Newmont Mining has been around a long time, they aren't a relative newbie like Taseko Mines, and still they show complete disregard for the environment. Should it matter that they are in a country without adequate environmental protection?

That must depend on the attitude of the mining company. BHP Billiton, for example, is working to extend the same level of environmental practices to all of its operations worldwide, kind like an ISO exersize.  Taseko? Mines? they have certainly never shown this sort regard for the environment at its Gibraltar operation.

The most recent additions to that mine have seen their waste management grandfathered into the old permit, rather than raise the bar to modern standards. Farmers below the mine have spoken for years about hush money paid to those whose cattle drink downstream.

A report on AMD from Alaska states that:

Logarithmic increases in metal levels in waters from sulfide-rich mining environments are common where surface or groundwater pH is depressed by acid generation from sulfide minerals.Acid Mine Drainage and Effects on Fish Health and Ecology: A Review

A logarithmic increase is the sort I showed in a graph the other day. In that case we were looking at surface area as a rock is broken into smaller and smaller pieces. The result of all that extra surface area is skyrocketing levels of metals reaching the groundwater.

Will Taseko build the 1 Billion dollar "pond" liner that the federal review panel suggests it will need to prevent groundwater?

How should we know, they won't say... the company line is, "let us build this mine and THEN we'll plan our mitigation strategy".

Meanwhile, publishers like the Williams Lake Tribune suggest that the mine is being held up by "professional environmentalists" and "obstructionist aboriginal groups", as if these two had nothing better to do than prevent "progress".

I see Taseko Mines is advertising in the Tribune, no doubt to ensure favourable coverage!

Tom Fletcher of BC Local News disses Federal Review Panel

Tom Fletcher writes for Black Publishing, and he recently wrote an article dissing the Federal Review Panel as simply keeping people in Ottawa in business:

...they rearrange the same scientific data into nice big binders in French and English, taking an Ottawa amount of time to do so... B.C. VIEWS: Ottawa make-work costs real jobs

According to Mr. Fletcher, "obstructionist aboriginals" and "professional environmentalists" simply don't want any more mines, pipelines or power projects. Funny, since the TNG is at work on a bioenergy project for the Chilcotin. As Fletcher says,

 They apparently want B.C.’s vast hinterland to depend entirely on taxpayer-funded welfare, supplemented with politically correct public works like hiking trails, all paid for with money borrowed against those of us still lucky enough to work in the private sector, our children and grandchildren.

I despise this sort of  special interest rhetoric, it's simply sycophantic, brown-nosing partisanship, it's Tom Fletcher employed by Black Publishing to dispense nonsense to the masses.

And it works: if you read the comments after his articles, his writings lead to frequent discussions demeaning aboriginal people and their beliefs and values.  Commentors are quick to criticize anyone in opposition to the mine as being anti-free enterprise and pro-welfare bum. Racism lies close to the surface in these discussions, and commentors use stereotypes to paint First Nations people as hypocritical and adverse to modernization.

http://www.bluecorncomics.com

Alisha's Economics Blogs!

This is from Alisha's Economic Blogs!, which you can find here:

Alisha's Economics Blogs!
JAN 23, 2010
Gold and Copper Mines in B.C.

Economics Blog #4
By: Alisha Tupchong

Gold and Copper Mines in B.C.

Summary of the Event

Taseko Mines Ltd.’s $800-million copper-gold Prosperity project was environmentally approved of by the British Columbia provincial government during the week prior to January 15, 2010. The Prosperity project, which pumps out copper and gold from the earth, is scheduled for construction this summer as it joins Copper Mountain Mining Corp.’s similar $440-million project. The demand for mining industries has increased recently, as there is more money to be made now than before. Copper is a metal highly demanded by China because it used widely in manufacturing. Back in the 1990s, the price of copper was less than $1 (U.S.) per pound; now, copper is around $3.40 a pound. While environmental controversy and poor relations with first nations communities have slowed development in the past, companies like Taseko Mines Ltd., who now have environmental approval by the provincial government, will be able to carry out their mining activities as demanded. The price of gold is also looking strong, according to the Energy and Mining Minister, breaking $1100 (U.S. per ounce). Now, all there is left to wait for is the approval of the federal government in the next several months.

I added the following comment to her blog:

Bill Layton said...
Hello Alisha,

I appreciate your economic viewpoint on minerals and strategic choices, but where do you account for the environmental impacts of mines like "Prosperity", and the effects they will have on those who live (and have lived) next to them?

I have been following this mine for some time, and created a simple blog to follow the issue: http://prosperity-mine-vs-fish-lake.blogspot.com/

I am amazed at how little the "outside world" cares about what this mine will do to the land, the lakes it is set to destroy, and the aboriginal people who have made use of both for at least 7500 years. It's all stock promotion and strategy, and the "indians" can go to hell because they are hypocritical anyways.

Any thoughts? and when Taseko has not had to make any accounting for how it will care for and repair the land, and ensure the toxic acid mine waste does not reach groundwater or streams, after the mine is finished, who accounts for those costs? What's a hundred million dollars when your tailings pond leaks, the dam breaks, and your downstream fisheries are "impacted"? Who accounts for the cumulative impact on an already threatened salmon population? Who accounts for the risk? And what about already-established rights and title of aboriginal people, especially here where the Xeni Gwet'in people have shown in court they hold title to this land?

January 24, 2010 11:00 AM

Google Alert - taseko mines, prosperity mine

Here is some of the latest news

Google Blogs Alert for: taseko mines, prosperity mine

B.C. government approves controversial Prosperity gold-copper mine ... By Metals Place B.C. government approves controversial Prosperity gold-copper mine project. Taseko Mines Ltd's ambitious $800-million Prosperity gold-copper project cleared a major hurdle Thursday with the awarding of a provincial environmental ... Metals News - Metals Place - http://metalsplace.com/news/

Alisha's Economics Blogs!: Gold and Copper Mines in B.C. By Alisha Tupchong Taseko Mines Ltd.'s $800-million copper-gold Prosperity project was environmentally approved of by the British Columbia provincial government during the week prior to January 15, 2010. The Prosperity project, which pumps out copper and gold from the earth, is scheduled for construction this summer as it joins Copper Mountain Mining Corp.'s similar $440-million project. The demand for mining industries has increased recently, as there is more money to be made now than ... Alisha's Economics Blogs! - http://limabeansandcoconuts.blogspot.com/

Google Web Alert for: taseko mines, prosperity mine

Mineweb - Taseko Mines receives environmental approval for ... Taseko Mines receives environmental approval for Prosperity gold-copper mine. Shares in the Canadian miner jumped 18% on the news ...

TASEKO MINES LTD - T.TKO , NYSE TGB Mining Company Database TASEKO MINES LTD - T.TKO , NYSE TGB ... Prosperity Provincial EA review due to be complete in October and EA Approvals Federal ...

Taseko project receives environmental OK | Mining & Extraction ... After clearing a key environmental permitting hurdle, Taseko Mines Ltd. is ... assessment certificate for Taseko's proposed Prosperity Mine last week. ...

Taseko Announces a New 7.7 Million Oz Gold and 3.6 Billion Lb ... 2 /CNW/ - Taseko Mines Limited (TSX: TKO; NYSE Amex: TGB) (Taseko or the Company ) ... Prosperity now has the largest gold/copper reserve base of any mining ...

PROSPERITY PROJECT ENVIROMENTAL APPROVAL - TASEKO MINES LIMITED ... Taseko Mines announced that the company received the environmental assessment certificate for its proposed Prosperity Gold- Copper Project from the BC ...

Fresh off the wire

Mining company Taseko Mines maintains that Prosperity Mine is inevitable.....

Google News Alert for: taseko mines, prosperity mine

IRW-Press: Taseko Mines Ltd.: Taseko Receives Provincial Approval To Proceed ...
OfficialWire (press release)
Taseko will host a conference call for analysts and investors to
discuss the Prosperity Project on Tuesday, January 19, 2010. Details
will follow later ...
See all stories on this topic
(AMM) Taseko project receives environmental OK
Metalbulletin.com (subscription)
After clearing a key environmental permitting hurdle, Taseko Mines
Ltd. is moving forward with relevant permitting on its Prosperity
gold-copper project in ...
See all stories on this topic
Silver Investing News
Mining to Bounce Back in BC
Silver Investing News
... and Taseko Mines' Prosperity copper-gold project near Williams
Lake. Thirty new mine development projects were submitted for
government approval in 2009 ...
See all stories on this topic

Google Blogs Alert for: taseko mines, prosperity mine

Taseko Mines – The Best Is Yet To Come « Grandich's Blog
By Peter Grandich
Taseko Mines – The Best Is Yet To Come. Posted by Peter Grandich at
10:06 AM on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010. Originally recommended on
4/29/09 at $1.40, TGB eventually became a client of mine but remained
in the model portfolio because it ... First and foremost, the news on
Prosperity is extremely bullish. Unless something changes in the 11th
hour, the ability to build a mine at Prosperity is truly a company
maker (not that they didn't have one already in Gibraltar) and ...
Grandich's Blog - http://grandich.agoracom.com/
Taseko Mines – The Best Is Yet To Come - Gold Speculator
By RssFeed
First and foremost, the news on Prosperity is extremely bullish.
Unless something changes in the 11th hour, the ability to build a mine
at Prosperity is truly a company maker (not that they didn't have one
already in Gibraltar) and lots ...
Gold Speculator - http://www.gold-speculator.com/
Official Conference Opening – Hon. Randy Hawes Presentation | The Core
By admin
At New Afton and Copper Mountain, mine construction is underway as we
anticipate what will be British Columbia's next major metal mine. And
just last week, Taseko Mines Limited received a provincial
environmental assessment certificate ...
The Core - http://blog.amebc.ca/
How Bad is The Record?: Even After This Campbell Pushed Ahead
By Gary E
Williams Lake, November 12, 2009 – A team of mining experts reviewing
Taseko Mines Ltd.'s proposed Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine Project has
concluded that the information provided to date "does not permit a
reasoned evaluation of ...
How Bad is The Record? - http://howbadtherecord.blogspot.com/

--
Sent from my mobile device

A Brief Explanation of Acid Mine Drainage

I've been reading up on acid mine drainage, the thing that will pose the greatest danger to the environment, should Prosperity go ahead.

The rocks that contain the metals Taseko wants also contain chemicals called sulphides. The  plan is to pile waste rock in the tailings pond... you know, where Teztan Biny or Fish Lake is today. The problem with waste rock is that you are taking a massive chunk of bedrock and breaking it into little pieces and bringing it to the surface. Now, instead of having a little bit of rock exposed you have a massive amount of surface, all of which is exposed to air, water and microbes.

I made a little graph of how surface increases as you break something down into smaller pieces...

To quote the Wikipedia entry:

After being exposed to air and water, oxidation of metal sulfides (often pyrite, which is iron-sulfide) within the surrounding rock and overburden generates acidity. Colonies of bacteria and archaea greatly accelerate the decomposition of metal ions, although the reactions also occur in an abiotic environment. 

These microbes, called extremophiles for their ability to survive in harsh conditions, occur naturally in the rock, but limited water and oxygen supplies usually keep their numbers low. Special extremophiles known as acidophiles especially favor the low pH levels of abandoned mines. In particular, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans is a key contributor to pyrite oxidation.

In other words, mine tailings are a Pandora's box full of toxic chemical stew. Like nuclear waste (though not radioactive), they will create this toxic stew for centuries. So when critics complain that the environmental effects of a mine last well past the mine's life, this is why.

Mining companies like Taseko don't really address this issue because it would suggest they aren't actually in complete control of the environment they propose to create. And they aren't...

How can the Toxic Stew leave the tailings pond? Easy, it can:

• leak through the dam holding it back
• the dam can break (see this link for a list of dam breaks List of Tailings Dam Breaks)
• enter the groundwater through cracks in the rock

Mine tailings are forever, and turning Teztan Biny into a tailings pond means perching a toxic stew directly 

above what is for all intents and purposes a pristine watershed critical to a broad spectrum of people, animals and ecosystems.

Campbells Rubber Stamp Decision On Fish Lake Denounced By Whites And Natives Alike

Campbells Rubber Stamp Decision On Fish Lake Denounced By Whites And Natives Alike

Tsilhqot'in National Government denounces "rubber stamp" of approval from BCEAO for Taseko Mines project Monday Jan 18, 2010
	January 18, 2010, Williams Lake -- The Tsilhqot'in National Government denouced the BC Environmental Assessment Office (BCEAO) decision to grant an evnironmental assessment certificate (EA) to Taseko Mines Ltd. for a proposed massive mine at Teztan Biny (Fish Lake), an area where the Tsilhqot'in Nation holds proven Aboriginal hunting and trapping rights.

http://howbadtherecord.blogspot.com/2010/01/campbells-rubber-stamp-decision-on-fish.html

“I find it ironic that the province claims it has done „due diligence‟ in terms of consulting with First Nations,” stated Chief Ivor Myers, Yunesit‟in (Stone) First Nation. “The Province rejected all of our efforts to meet with them to set up a consultation process that would work for our people and our communities. Despite government and company efforts to put a positive spin on this, we do not agree with the proposal. Investors should be aware that this project is not a done deal.”

The above blog entry has a good article on how Campbell's government has never listened to the concerns of the Xeni Gwet'in or other neighbouring bands about Taseko Mines' Prosperity Mine proposal.

Bill

Zemanta helped me add links & pictures to this email. It can do it for you too.

"Intrusive Rentier"

I was reading a "Review of the Proposed Prosperity Project..." by MiningWatch and came across the term, "Intrusive Rentier". I had to look it up and find out what it meant.

The report said:

Mining projects are notorious for the creation of an “Intrusive Rentier” syndrome in the communities and regions where they are located. This term is used by Polèse & Shearmur (2006)1 to describe an observed effect in regions dominated by a small number of highly capitalized (and high wage) employers.

href="http://www.mwatch.koumbit.org/sites/miningwatch.ca/files/Social%20Impacts%20Review%20Executive%20Summary.pdf">

I'm glad someone is thinking of these things. The MiningWatch report also waded into the fact that the "Economic Benefits" analysis provided by Taseko is very one-sided and confusing, and does not include any attempt at true cost-benefit analysis. Everyone knows these things up front, but the lust by a few to make a killing trumps the need for many to look beyond a few years.

The report states:

It is pretty clear that, at least for the first few years, low income renters in the region will be faced with a vacancy rate of less than zero, escalating rents and over‐crowding. Most of these will be single parent women and Aboriginal people, but the pressure will extend to low wage earners across the region.
Eventually more accommodation will be built, and trailer parks hastily thrown up ( with all the regulatory hassles that entails) but that will take years, and after 2012, when the mine starts to wind down, the owners of those units will once again face a dramatic drop in market value.

So What's an Intrusive Rentier?

According to a report from the Centre - Urbanisation Culture Société, Intrusive Rentier refers to a syndrome where where a large employer bids up salary and benefit expectations to the detriment oflocal entrepreneurship. In the case of the Prosperity Mine, it refers to the effects of a single employer paying very high wages to a small group of employees, but enough to skew standards of living and social inequities.

If you live in the South Cariboo and have tried to buy land, you may have noticed another version of this syndrome, but in this case the Intrusive Rentiers are those from the coast that have pushed real estate prices beyond the locals' reach.

You may have also seen this if you live in a sawmill town (while the mills are doing well, unlike right now...), and noticed how one group in town is prosperous and another is almost equally UNprosperous.

Intrusive Rentier's Syndrome. Now you know!

The Straight goods: Say goodbye to Fish lake,forever!

Google Blogs Alert for: Tsilhqot'in National Government

The Straight goods: Say goodbye to Fish lake,forever! By Grant G ... is on traditional First Nations lands(Tsilhqot`in) and they are opposed to this project, the chief doesn`t believe mankind has the ability to make a replacement lake, his words are "Only the creator can do that" the goes onto say " . ... In 2002 Federal fisheries on orders from the government of the day made changes to the fisheries act Section 36 of the act(Metal,mining,effluent regulations), the changes were almost a carte blanche permission to use lakes as dumps, ... The Straight goods - http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.com/

News from Mining Watch Canada

MiningWatch reported in early January of this year that it had been awarded $37,200 to participate in the federal environmental assessment of the Prosperity review process.



Mining watch was encouraged by the Xeni Gwet'in and Tsilhqot'in National Government to become involved and help fight the project. Their focus will be the tailings pond that would see two lakes drained and destroyed, as well as the surrounding area which has been in use for at least 7500 years.

The Xeni Gwet'in and TNG are not satisfied with the current process, especially now that the provincial government has signed off on the project.

Taseko is proposing it build a lake to "replace" Teztan Biny (Fish Lake).

In my opinion, nothing can justify the destruction of these lakes, and nothing is safe about building a holding pond for toxic waste when it sits immediately upstream of incredibly high value salmon habitat. Nothing makes the disrespect shown to First Nations people alright, especially the sort of grassroots racism you see in the Williams Lake Tribune editorials and comments sections.

Wow, they already know the mine's a go?

Hatch to build transmission line

• Published: 19/08/2008

HATCH Energy will establish a transmission line to provide power to the Prosperity Mine in British Columbia.

The company will engineer the 125km, 230kV transmission line. It will also provide cost estimates to determine long-term development possibilities.

Basic engineering is scheduled to be completed by early September 2008, with the transmission line to be in service by mid-2010.

Hatch Energy offices in Winnipeg, Castlegar, and Oakville are undertaking the project.

Fwd: Google Alert - "prosperity mine"

Google News Alert for: "prosperity mine"

WEB FIRST: Prosperity review panel: Morin will not be recused Williams Lake Tribune One of the federal panel members reviewing the Prosperity mine will not be asked to recuse herself, board chair Robert Connelly wrote in a letter to Taseko ...

Google Web Alert for: "prosperity mine"

BCLocalNews.com - WEB FIRST: Prosperity review panel: Morin will ... One of the federal panel members reviewing the Prosperity mine will not be asked to recuse herself, board chair Robert Connelly wrote in a letter to Taseko ...

Fwd: Google Alert - "prosperity mine"

Google News Alert for: "prosperity mine"

BC government approves controversial Prosperity mine project Vancouver Sun Estimated capital cost to bring Prosperity into production is $800 million. The mine would support 700 jobs for two years during construction, ...

BC government approves Prosperity Mine Williams Lake Tribune By Erin Hitchcock - Williams Lake Tribune The provincial government has approved Taseko Mines Ltd.'s Prosperity Mine project, the government announced ...

BCLocalNews Province approves Prosperity BCLocalNews THE provincial energy and environment ministers have granted Taseko Mines an environmental assessment certificate for the Prosperity mine. ...

Benzinga MABC Hails B.C. Approval of Prosperity Mine Benzinga 14, 2010) - The Mining Association of British Columbia (MABC) hailed the approval by the BC Environmental Assessment Office of the Prosperity gold-copper ...

Google Blogs Alert for: "prosperity mine"

Rural BC: Province Issues Environment Assessment Certificate for ... By Bernard von Schulmann The Prosperity mine is located near Taseko Lake in the Chilcotin, it is about 125 km from Williams Lake. It was granted an environment assessment certificate today. The deposit is a large copper gold porphyry. ... Rural BC - http://ruralbc.blogspot.com/

VernonBlog: Olympic Torch Relay Route (VERNON) By Don Quixote B.C. government approves Prosperity Mine - The provincial government has approved Taseko Mines Ltd.'s Prosperity Mine project, the government announced minutes ago. 31 minutes ago. News - Vernon Morning Star ... VernonBlog - http://vernonblog.blogspot.com/

Steve Forseth: Thursday News Round-up By Steve Forseth 2) Federal Environmental Assessment Panellist Morin will not be asked to recuse herself (Prosperity Mine Project) - more here 3) WL Council signs 5-year lease with CMHA for Heritage House - more here ... Steve Forseth - http://bclcarsouth.blogspot.com/

Google Web Alert for: "prosperity mine"

MABC Hails B.C. Approval of Prosperity Mine VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Jan. 14, 2010) - The Mining Association of British Columbia (MABC) hailed the approval by the BC Environmental ...

StreetInsider.com - MABC Hails B.C. Approval of Prosperity Mine MABC Hails B.C. Approval of Prosperity Mine. More News related to Press Releases . Stanford Graduate School of Business Research: Outsourcing May Be Slowing ...

BCLocalNews.com - WEB FIRST: B.C. government approves Prosperity Mine The provincial government has approved Taseko Mines Ltd.'s Prosperity Mine project, the government announced minutes ago. Jake Jacobs, spokesperson for the ...

B.C. government approves controversial Prosperity mine project BC government approves controversial Prosperity mine project http://bit.ly/ 7mk7Pi.

Stock Market News | Stock Market Headlines MABC Hails B.C. Approval of Prosperity Mine. 22 minutes ago - Marketwire Canada ... MABC Hails B.C. Approval of Prosperity Mine ...

---

BC Government Approves Prosperity Mine

Herein lies the great paradox of the BC Liberal government: supporting First Nations' in achieving stronger, healthier communities, while at the same time being perfectly willing to steamroll any band that dares oppose "progress".

The Vancouver Sun reported today that,

Taseko Mines Ltd's ambitious $800-million Prosperity gold-copper project cleared a major hurdle Thursday with the awarding of a provincial environmental assessment certificate.

The approval is contingent on the mine, among 102 other things, replacing Fish Lake (Teztan Biny) and Little Fish Lake with an artificial lake. Presumably the 80,000 or so trout in the big lake will be lovingly carried to the man-made one.

I am disappointed at all of this since there has been no respect paid to the local Xeni Gwet'in First Nation in their rather obvious concerns over the effect the mine and tailings pond will have on their ancestral home. The mining company has stomped rather typically on the Xeni's rights and ignored their opinions and opposition to the whole process.

Only the federal review panel holds any chance of stopping the mine, or even changing the plan to destroy the lakes.

The lakes must be destroyed, according to Taseko Mines, because it is the only possible place to put the tailings. If the tailings aren't covered in adequate amounts of water, they generate acid waste. If the acid waste leaves the tailings pond, through a spill or in groundwater and aquifers, it WILL create serious issues with fish, wildlife and water quality. In other words, it will poison the environment.

The province said it was satisfied that the duty of the Crown to consult and accommodate first nations interests had been discharged, noting that 13 aboriginal groups were consulted.

The Xeni Gwet'in First Nation has previously indicated its opposition to the project and in in January 2009 filed a writ in B.C. Supreme Court in an attempt to stop the project.

Xeni Gwet'in Chief Marilyn Baptiste, who announced the court case, could not be reached for comment.

Back up to speed on Taseko Mines' proposed Prosperity Mine

I have been without internet service, or at least any sort of consistent service, for the past month and a half.... I realized today what I'd been missing in reporting the situation with Taseko Mines' proposed Prosperity Mine in the Chilcotin.

So I'll go back and post what has happened in the past month and a half, starting with a request from the Federal Review Panel for more information on hydrology and First Nations information.

Briefly, the Panel requested the following:

1. Aquifers Identified for Use as a Source of Make-up Water

2. Ability of the aquifer to supply Make-up Water

The Panel wanted to confirm that there was only one aquifer under discussion. If you read may first post, the issue of aquifers came up when Taseko realized it might not have enough water at all times to prevent the mine tailings from generating acid waste. Their own original hydrology report showed that stream flows were, at best, inconsistent, and the mining company did not consider any contingencies should flows go low in years of low precipitation

The letter can be found here: href="http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/document-eng.cfm?document=39079">

The pdf response is here: http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/documents/39192/39192E.pdf

Taseko Mines does not seem worried about proving the environmental safety of this proposed mine... their attitude is, let us build it first then we'll worry about making it safe!

From speaking with other minewatchers, I'd say that Taseko is a promotion company first, and mining company second.

I've Been Without Internet!