Taseko Prosperity Mine Not a Done Deal

Chief Alphonse Sees Dim Future For Taseko's Prosperity Mine

BY CHIEF JOE ALPHONSE, 

VANCOUVER SUN OCTOBER 5, 2012

Re: New Prosperity will live up to its name, Sept. 20, and responsible mining begins before opening and ends long after closure, Sept. 27

The Prosperity Mine proposal and its prospects are far from a done deal.

First, the proposal is one which the company itself, and Environment Canada, initially claimed would be worse for the environment than the original plan that was soundly rejected by the federal government in 2010.

Since then, the company has tried to revise that claim. Earlier this summer, the company submitted an environmental-impact statement (EIS) which was rejected by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) and the relevant government ministries. The company received 250 criticisms dealing with major inaccuracies, omissions, failures to address issues outlined for it in February, and poor, often unreadable, drafting.

The above are all matters of verifiable public record.

Mr. Russell Hallbauer, president and CEO of Taseko Mines Ltd., says these issues have now all been addressed, but that claim has been made before and proved wrong. CEAA and other parties will review the new EIS and even if it is accepted as the basis for hearings, it will then have to stand up to public scrutiny. So will its economic claims and feasibility studies. We have analyses raising detailed specific problems with these economic reports, which at the hearings stage will not so easily be dismissed with platitudes.

Signed

Chief Joe Alphonse Tribal chair, Tsilhqot'in National Government

Taseko Mines Stock Price Plummets

Well I have to feel a bit sorry for the shareholders of Taseko Mines after seeing this:

That says it all, doesn't it? I thought this looked pretty bad, but notice it's just this week.

Here is a five year stock chart for Taseko:

Doesn't look so bad really. They've been up and down before.  The discussion now from the business community is around BC not being mining friendly.  My thought is that this is a good message to the mining industry and business in general 

• the land has value all on its own and a mine doesn't necessarily mean a positive return to society, and
• First Nations people count, their opinions and their values count.

Interesting, too, that the Mount Milligan mine has gotten the OK from the federal government. To me that is balance. They say the Mt Milligan mine is designed to minimize damage to the environment, whereas the Prosperity Mine never was. 

Ecological Economics

There has been some good articles on Ecological Economics lately. Ecological Economics isn't just a fancy new term, it's placing a value on the environment to compare with something like a Prosperity Mine. And what it tells us is that an area the size of the Prosperity project does not outweigh the value of a mine, especially when you add in the massive risk of things like acid mine drainage leaking from the lake-cum-tailings pond. 

It is a very human-centered way of looking at the world, but it tells us that the environment provides us with services like clean air, fish, grizzly bears, clean filtered water and so on, and a value can be placed on all of this. 

To my way of thinking, mining companies need to come to grips with this way of thinking. Ensuring a mine's value outweighs (or possibly even improves...) the value of all the services provided for free should be their starting point. Telling society that the mine must be developed or we'll all suffer is old school and blackmail. 

Try Listening Next Time

I like this quote from Marilyn Baptiste on Reuters:

"We hope today's decision will demonstrate the need to find a way forward for industry and governments to work with First Nations from the outset to identify and develop projects that are environmentally and culturally acceptable," said chief Marilyn Baptiste of the Xeni Gwet'in First Nation, in a statement.

Good on her.

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.

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

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.