Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver – First Nations leaders are extremely pleased with today’s decision by the federal government to reject the Taseko Ltd. Prosperity Mine proposal.

“We are very pleased that the federal government heeded the strong advice of the federal review panel which found that the proposed mine would have caused ‘significant adverse environmental effects’ as a direct result of having to drain Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) to store waste tailings from the copper and gold processing operations”, said Grand Chief Edward John of the First Nations Summit political executive.

“At the end of the day the federal review panel process was detailed and complete and resulted in sound justifiable reasons for rejecting the proposed mine. The real winner in today’s decision is the pristine environment in central BC, and in particular, Teztan Biny (Fish Lake), which will now be preserved for future generations of the Tsilhqot’in Nation”.