Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver, BC) – The First Nations Summit is urging the federal government to immediately reject Taseko Mining LTD.’s Prosperity Mine Proposal as a result of the findings contained in a federal environmental review panel report confirming the potential for devastating cultural environmental impacts which could result from the proposed mine.
“The environmental review panel has clearly indicated there would be ‘significant adverse environmental effects’ as a direct result of the proposed Prosperity Mine. We urge the federal government to immediately reject Taseko’s Prosperity Mine proposal”, said Chief Doug White of the First Nations Summit political executive.
The Federal Review Panel extensively reviewed Taseko Mines Limited’s proposed $800 million Prosperity gold-copper mine at Teztan Biny (Fish Lake), near Williams Lake BC. The proposal would entail draining the lake to store waste tailings from the copper and gold processing operations and replacing the lake with an artificial one (Fish Lake is currently habitat to 90,000 rainbow trout and the artificial one would support 20,000 trout). The panel’s findings are similar to those that ultimately led to the rejection of the Northgate Mineral’s Kemess North proposal in 2007.