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Posts tagged New Prosperity Mine
Governments need to operate on educated common sense
Williams Lake Tribune - May 23, 2012
Editor:
Socialism begets ultra conservatism. Like a bouncing ball, the populace of Greece has had a government giving into demands, to eventually be replaced by a government that will introduce severe cost cutting measures. There is no way that Greece can avoid the massive economic cutbacks and changes that are heading its way.
Looking to Canada and B.C., what is necessary is a government where neither party has the power to do things, as we have seen here in B.C., like the introduction of HST, or the sale of BC Rail without strong opposition and educated leadership.
Federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, the potential next leader of Canada, blames the oil sands as being the primary cause of an increased value of the Loonie for causing the high number of manufacturing jobs heading south. For a leader of a party, a socialist party, where the oil sands production is today primarily financing Canada’s social safety net, Mulcair’s position reflects a lack of knowledge of global affairs.
North America is buying goods from China, China’s currency is pegged to the U.S. dollar, and China is hoarding those dollars to keep the value of China’s currency devalued, so that China can maintain a continued trade advantage.
The process also devalues the U.S. dollar against world currencies including the Loonie. Oil sands not-with-standing, a weak U.S. dollar causes many Canadian-based American manufacturing companies to look back home for a more economical manufacturing environment.
Mr. Mulcair should be aware that the U.S. is further devaluing their currency by printing increasing amounts of their devalued dollar, to pay for a growing deficit, a deficit that has grown by $4.9 trillion in the three years since socialist-leaning Obama became president.
The devaluation of the U.S. dollar is pushing the price of commodities, including oil, to record highs putting Canada in the enviable position of avoiding the financial crunch of countries like Greece and even the U.S.
In B.C. the NDP has taken a position against economic development, and job creation, such as the Enbridge pipeline and the New Prosperity mine.
For the future of Canada and B.C., what is needed in both B.C. and Canada are governments that operate on educated common sense. With attitudes like Mulcair and Dix’s I am skeptical of the future.
Doug Wilson
Williams Lake
Mine opposition creates party confusion
Williams Lake Tribune - May 16, 2012
Editor:
In a recent radio interview, Williams Lake’s provincial NDP candidate Charlie Wyse said that he had sent a note to Minister of Environment Peter Kent in support of First Nations drumming. I find nothing wrong with those who support people of various persuasions in following what they believe to be fair presentations; everyone should have the right to their opinions and Wyse expressed his on this subject.
Wyse followed up his comments, however, regarding the First Nations drumming by expressing the view and the position of the NDP party regarding the development of the New Prosperity mine. Wyse said that the NDP, as expressed by leader Adrian Dix when he was here in Williams Lake last year, was against the development of the New Prosperity mine.
As the forest industry heads into decline, where many jobs in the greater community will be lost, I find that any position against the development of alternate industry that would in the process develop employment opportunities, whether it be the development of a new mine or otherwise, to be an astounding position for any political party to take.
Taking a position against alternate employment sources, in the Williams Lake Area where the NDP is both generally speaking supported by labour and having at the same time a sincere hope of winning an election, unless I am wrong, is in reality shooting themselves in the foot.
Unless the NDP party is supporting something on the horizon that could offer employment opportunities somewhat equal to what the New Prosperity mine is offering to this community, many people in the community are going to be in a quandary as to whom or whom not to vote for in next year’s coming provincial election.
It is good for the NDP to enunciate their position on issues of importance in communities such as Williams Lake. However, to be against something of this nature and to say it out loud at this time seems like very strange politics to me.
I would say that those who speak up against job creation at a time like this and prior to an election will, without alternate development plans, create confusion within their own party. I for one see life as a matter of give and take.
Being against something without offering something in exchange makes no economic sense.
Doug Wilson
Williams Lake
First Nations should be allowed to express beliefs at hearings
Williams Lake Tribune - May 7, 2012
Editor:
An open letter to Minister of the Environment Peter Kent, re: Taseko Mines Ltd.’s request to prohibit First Nations drumming at environmental hearings.
As a resident of Williams Lake and a Canadian I am deeply concerned about Taseko’s request to prohibit First Nations drumming at the federal environmental review on the New Prosperity mine.
While in Victoria recently I attended a Truth and Reconciliation session.
It was a powerful gathering as First Nations people told their stories.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is working at rebuilding the relationship between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians.
We know, from their own stories, that First Nations children sent to residential schools were punished for speaking their language.
We also know that important cultural traditions such as Potlatch were forbidden by the governments of the day.
Given the work being done now to repair the damage inflicted by governments and churches in earlier decades we cannot support Taseko’s request.
If First Nations people are not permitted to express their feelings and beliefs in their own traditional ways we are condemning them once more to an oppressive environment in which they are, once more, considered as second-class citizens.
I urge you to reject Taseko Mines Ltd.’s request and allow the environmental review process to unfold with all Canadians able to express their concerns in culturally appropriate ways.
Charlie Wyse
Williams Lake
Taseko Mines: First Nations Input On Prosperity Mine Should Be Limited
Huffington Post Business Canada - May 1, 2012
New Prosperity open houses to run Monday
Williams Lake Tribune - April 11, 2012
Two public open houses on the New Prosperity mine will take place on Monday at the Gibraltar Room.
The first will be held from 1 to 3 p.m., with a presentation to start it off. The second will take place from 7 to 9 p.m., beginning with a presentation.
Brian Battison, vice president of corporate affairs for Taseko Mines Ltd., says there are three reasons the company will hold the open houses: to ensure that people have factual information; to help people understand what the new mine design looks like and for people to better understand the plans to preserve Fish Lake; and for people to understand the potential value and benefits of the proposed project.
He says that in addition to an overview of the project and how it can be built, people will be able to ask questions of Taseko staff who are familiar with the different aspects of the project.
“For example, we will probably have five or six different stations to go to if you want,” Battison says, citing stations pertaining to economic benefits and community value; water and fish management; mining operations and infrastructure; reclamation, land use, terrestrial assessments; and respecting First Nations interests, for example.
Battison says there will be six representatives from Taseko at the open house, including four local people.
He says there has been misinformation circulating about the project.
“That is an unfortunate situation,” he says. “We want the public to have all of the information, all of the facts. That’s why we created that microsite (http://www.newprosperityproject.ca/ ) to get people to have all of the facts because it is a very important project.”
An animated video on the project will also be shown at the open houses, which will also take place in 100 Mile House from 7 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17 at the Valley Room in the 100 Mile Lodge Conference Centre.
“We need to engage with the public, consult with the public, and get them information, and this is one of the ways to do that,” he adds.
Battison notes that the environmental review panel hearings are expected to be held in late summer/early fall as well.
“There are still no final terms of reference, and no panel, but we are expecting them (CEAA) to issue the final terms of reference for the panel and appoint the panel members, and we are expecting that to take place in April but we don’t know for sure.”
A federal government decision on the project, he says, is expected late this year.
Fish Lake would be preserved: Battison
Williams Lake Tribune - April 3, 2012
Taseko Mines Ltd. vows it can preserve and protect Fish Lake in its entirety if the New Prosperity Mine goes ahead.
Speaking to 93 people at the Williams Lake & District Chamber of Commerce’s monthly luncheon on March 29, Taseko’s vice president of corporate affairs Brian Battison said the tailings facility will be moved two kilometres upstream and away from Fish Lake.
In addition, a new location will be found to store the waste rock and the overburden required for reclamation.
“Fish Lake, and the environment completely surrounding it on which it depends, can be preserved and secure,” Battison said. He said the deposit at the site contains the world’s seventh largest gold/copper reserve, measuring approximately 1,500 metres by 800 metres and extending to a depth of 880 metres.
It is located within the Fish Creek watershed, which contains Fish Lake, Little Fish Lake and Fish Creek. The original plan for the mine called for the draining of Fish Lake. That is no longer the plan.
Battison shared a short video, prepared by Taseko, that outlines how the company believes the lake and its watershed can be saved. The company plans to spend $300 million more than its last proposal to save the lake.
Highlights from the video are listed here:
During the four-phase, 20-year-mine life, it is estimated the open pit will grow up to 1,600 metres in diameter of the pit rim and that the rim of the pit will be approximately 500 metres from the lake.
Waste rock will be stock piled north of the pit, and lower grade ore will be stored northeast of the pit for processing later in the life of the mine. Over time the tailings facility will increase in size, keeping pace with the rate of mining taking place in the pit. Some of the waste rock will contain naturally occurring sulphites, which must be kept submerged in the tailings pond to prevent oxidation and potential acid rock drainage.
The aim is to ensure that all mining activity and disturbance occurs in a single watershed upstream of the pit.
Currently rain and snow melt are the only sources of water within the Fish Creek watershed. Upper Fish Creek flows to the northwest and discharges into Fish Lake, which drains into lower Fish Creek, which then drains into the Taseko River.
During mining operations, the project will impede the natural water flows in the watershed; specifically the tailings facility will cut off and limit the flows into Fish Lake, while the open pit will cut off the outflow from Fish Lake.
However, the company will implement a number of mitigation measures, including the preservation of the lake and the viability of its trout population.
To maximize the contribution of non-contact water to Fish Lake, surface water from the upland area east of the project will be intercepted and directed to the lake.
In an effort to maintain appropriate water levels and flows into Fish Lake, the water draining out of Fish Lake will be recirculated back to feed Fish Creek’s spawning and rearing habitat, and ultimately Fish Lake itself.
Any excess water not required to maintain Fish Lake will be pumped to the tailings pond, while rainfall and groundwater, in and around the pit, will be pumped directly to the concentrator for use in the milling process and then pumped up to the tailings pond.
Ditches around the ore and waste stock piles will also collect water to be pumped to the concentrator.
To ensure water from the tailings pond is contained and restricted from impacting the water quality of Fish Lake, it will be collected in seepage ponds and pumped back into the tailings facility.
Deep watering wells will be installed in the area of the pit to increase the stability of the pit walls. The wells will temporarily lower the ground table in the immediate area.
The tailings pond will sit on low, permeability, clay-like glacial till, which the company suggests will be ideal for limiting seepage.
Additional monitoring wells will be installed downstream of the tailings embankments to monitor ground water quality and determine rates of the water’s movement.
If the monitoring suggests an undesirable deterioration of water quality, then this water will be collected and pumped back into the tailings pond.
Reclamation plans for the mine after operations discontinue include restoration of the natural drainage pattern of the watershed.
It is assumed the pit will naturally fill up with rain and water — a process, the company estimates, will take about 40 years.
At the end of the mine life, the crushers, mills, conveyors and all mining facilities will be removed from the site and disposed of.
The waste rock stockpile will be re-sloped and, along with the tailings, embankments and beaches, covered with soil, seeded and planted to establish wildlife and waterfowl habitat.
Once the pit is filled with water, and provided the water quality meets the expectations and guidelines of the day, the natural drainage course for the entire watershed will be re-established. The site will continue to be monitored to ensure that two new lakes will become successful components of the Fish Creek watershed.
Battison said in the 22-year construction and operating life of the mine, the company anticipates that it will increase annual employment by 3,000, increase federal government revenues by $4.3 billion and provincial government revenues by $5.5 billion, and increase consumer spending by $9 billion.
“At a time when the economy in our province and indeed the country is struggling, unemployment is too high and government revenues are falling and deficits are climbing, there’s an opportunity for Williams Lake and this region for an infusion of billions of private sector investment that will last for 22 years.”
When asked about copper prices dropping and stockpiles increasing around the world due to the slow down of the economy in China and whether that’s causing Taseko concern, Battison responded it’s a concern to everybody.
“The price of copper, in relation to those reports, only dropped five to 10 cents. So whether the economic growth of China is 14 per cent or whether it’s growing at six per cent or eight per cent there is a huge demand for copper around the world and we expect that to continue,” he said.
Mayor Kerry Cook asked Battison to clarify the accommodation and shift schedule with the new project proposal.
“When we took over Gibraltar Mine it was a seven-seven shift and a number of employees actually lived in other communities, but our president, who is a small-town British Columbia type of guy, says if you’re going to build a mine in a community you have to make that community strong and direct the spending in that community.”
He changed the shift to four and four and as much as 40 per cent of the workforce quit.
“We had to find all new people because those people did work in other communities. We found those people and they are living here and some of them are in the room today,” Battison added.
Taseko reaches deal with B.C. first nations to conduct tests at site
Vancouver Sun - February 27, 2012
Taseko Mines and the Tsilhqot’in Nation have agreed to a compromise that will let Taseko do some work on the site of its proposed $1-billion New Prosperity mine without interference.
Last October, the province of British Columbia granted Taseko permits allowing it to carry out work on the property near Williams Lake.
The Tsilhqot’in objected to the provincial permits, saying the first nation had not been consulted or accommodated — a legal requirement — before the permits were issued.
They blocked Taseko’s workers from entering the site to do the work and both parties brought legal actions — Taseko asking for an injunction preventing the blockade and the Tsilhqot’in asking for an injunction prohibiting Taseko from carrying out the work until the proper consultations had taken place.
The court supported Tsilhqot’in and imposed a 90-day injunction which was to expire in early March but which could be renewed.
In its decision, the court urged the parties, including the provincial government, to “engage in consultation immediately with a view to resolving the differences and competing interests.”
“And the three parties listened,” Taseko’s vice-president of corporate affairs Brian Battison said.
The three-way agreement among Taseko, the Tsilhqot’in National Government, which represents six first nations (TNG) in the area of the proposed mine, and the provincial government was reached after a number of face-to-face meetings.
The terms of the agreement are confidential, but it allows Taseko to do tests on the land that directly relate to its proposed mine.
In November 2010, Taseko had its proposal for a mine rejected by the federal government because of its plan to drain a trout-filled lake called Fish Lake.
Taseko has now submitted a revised plan that saves Fish Lake and is in the early stages of review.
The tests Taseko plans to carry out now would be helpful in the environmental assessment process and the permitting process that will follow it if Taseko gets a favourable assessment, Battison said.
In particular, Taseko needs to do soil tests to determine what the effect the tailings pond — situated two kilometres upstream from Fish Lake — will have on the trout.
“This agreement is a good and welcome development for the project,” Battison said.
And he hopes more meetings can take place as the environmental process continues, something that hasn’t happened since 2008.
“It’s always best to be able to talk face-to-face,” he said.
Calls to the TNG were not returned by press time.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Taseko+reaches+deal+with+first+nation+conduct+tests+site/6218640/story.html#ixzz1niU2lFYV
New Prosperity Mine proposal panned by chief
By Carole Rooney - 100 Mile House Free Press
Published: February 15, 2012 8:00 AM
Updated: February 15, 2012 8:10 AM
Taseko Mines Ltd. vice-president Brian Battison is involved in extensive studies for the New Prosperity Mine federal environmental assessment. Last November, it was granted one year to resubmit its proposal.
An area First Nations leader doesn’t agree Taseko Mines Ltd. could successfully preserve Fish Lake in the proposed New Prosperity Mine project.
Tsilhqot’in National Government (TNG) tribal chair Chief Joe Alphonse says Fish Lake might remain there, but it wouldn’t have any fish in it.
The new proposal is “wiping out 80 per cent of the spawning grounds,” he explains. Regardless, what the plan is, Alphonse says the proposal for a mine and dam there would destroy the lake.
“There’s no dam in the world that has never leaked. Seepage is going to happen whether you like it or not.”
Even moving the mine a kilometre or two upstream, everything is still going to drain into Fish Lake, the TNG chair explains.
“We’re concerned that population of fish is going to be wiped out. That’s our biggest concern … has always been our concern…. What good is a lake that’s got no fish in it?”
Brian Battison, Taseko Mines Ltd corporate affairs vice-president, says the main reason the first proposal was rejected was the impact it would have on Fish Lake, but there is a way to retain the lake and control seepage.
“It was one of the ways that was examined as part of the alternatives assessment, which was part of the previous assessment as one of the options.
“There were other ways to do it, but none of them were economic … it was not viable at the time.”
Battison says the points Chief Alphonse raises will be examined in “considerable” detail in the environmental assessment process.
Taseko’s studies are still underway, he adds, and will continue for some time yet during the year’s timeline it was granted last November to resubmit.
“Those points will be addressed in detail, and need to be addressed to the satisfaction of regulators and to the Government of Canada.”
Battison explains Taseko expects examination of the interrelationship between the mine components and Fish Lake will be the “central focus” during the upcoming environmental assessment process.
“That is precisely what the studies we’re doing [are], and the kind of studies that need to be done to satisfy an environmental assessment.”
Meanwhile, Alphonse says it’s “just another kick at the can” for Taseko Mines and “more about bruised egos” than anything else.
However, Battison says Taseko would not be making the effort to submit a new plan if it didn’t believe these issues could be satisfactorily addressed for federal and provincial government regulators.
“We would not be pursuing an environmental assessment for this project if we weren’t fully confident we could address the concerns identified in the first environmental assessment.
“[The federal government was] very clear in their signals that they weren’t opposed to the mine being here, if we can address things.”
The process incorporates participation from the public, he notes, along with government regulators, that all have or may have direct input and questions answered.
Alphonse adds Taseko’s proposal is unlikely to succeed if an impartial review panel is selected.
“[Tsilhqot’in chiefs] are in a situation where we know they have to pick a panel, and as long as the panel is unbiased and that panel is comprised of a bunch of professionals, we think the findings are going to be again no different than they were the last go-around. We have confidence in that.”
Regarding the legal action Taseko announced Nov. 14 against undisclosed individuals who obstructed its employees and equipment convoy from entering the mine site, Battison remains tight-lipped.
“I’m not going to make any comment on that. I’m just not able to.”
He won’t confirm if this is due to legal proceedings.
Esketemc Nation Supports Injunction Against Taseko
For Immediate Release
December 7, 2011 - Esketemc
The Esketemc Nation congratulates the Tsilhqot’in on obtaining an injunction to prevent Taseko Mines from beginning exploratory work for the New Prosperity mine. “The injunction signals that the province of BC must take First Nations’ concerns about New Prosperity mine seriously and that it cannot avoid addressing First Nations rights and title, as previously proven in the first environmental assessment,” says Chief Fred Robbins.
The exploratory work would pave the way for the New Prosperity mine, even though Taseko has not obtained the environmental approvals it requires from the provincial and federal governments in order for the mine to proceed.
“This injunction is a positive sign that courts won’t allow industry or government to ignore First Nations while pushing ahead with work on New Prosperity that sets the stage for serious cumulative impacts and serious impacts to First Nations’ rights and title,” Chief Robbins continued. “It confirms that First Nations’ rights and title cannot be ignored while Taskeo takes a second-run at the environmental assessment process. We need to have meaningful consultation and accommodation on all aspects of the mine, including exploratory work. Without it, First Nations stand to lose the land we rely on for our traditional culture, food and ceremonial purposes for our future generations.”
Esketemc Nation is opposed to the New Prosperity mine, particularly given the Federal Review Panel found that the original Prosperity mine Taseko proposed had the potential for serious adverse impacts to Esketemc’s aboriginal title lands. The Panel was concerned about the impacts of a transmission line associated with the Prosperity Mine project and concluded that no accommodation would make up for the losses First Nations would suffer. However, nothing in the New Prosperity proposal will alleviate these losses to First Nations or address the serious impacts to Esketemc’s rights and title.
“There has been no consultation on the New Prosperity so far,” said Chief Robbins, “and it seems that Taseko is trying to push its mine ahead without offering to meet with Esketemc to discuss how its plans will impact on our Aboriginal rights, our title, and our culture.” This is about our Nation’s future, and the future of these lands to all First Nations. We stand firm with the Tsilhqot’in to protect these lands, and Taseko and the governments need to hear that.”
For more information contact:
Chief Fred Robbins
Phone: 866-440-5611
Email: kukpi7@esketemc.ca
