After months of speculation, Taseko Mines Ltd. confirmed Monday it has submitted a revised proposal for the Prosperity mine to both the federal and provincial governments.
The new proposal differs in two fundamental ways from the old one, says Brian Battison, vice-president of corporate affairs for Taseko.
The mine’s tailings pond will be located two kilometres away from Fish Lake rather than adjacent to it, and the waste rock generated from mining activity will be hauled to a different location rather than be placed on the dry lake bed.
Fish Lake would not be drained.
“The proposal greatly reduces environmental impacts, preserves Fish Lake and its aquatics and enables all mine operations and related components to be contained within one single watershed,” according to a Taseko press release.
Because the provincial government had approved the former proposal with some reservations, Battison thinks the design changes are consistent with the initial provincial environmental assessment approval.
“They may require an amendment or something but we don’t expect it to be an onerous change from their perspective,” he said.
Battison expects the federal government to assess only the items in the plan that the company has changed.
He cites a letter from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans that suggests it might be possible that portions of the environmental assessment done for the former project be used in a new assessment.
“The assessment that was just completed is still fresh and so this is an amendment to the project. We would expect large portions of the environmental assessment that have been done would be deemed appropriate and can be considered under this new assessment.”
Prosperity’s revised proposal is due to strong gold and copper prices. Price projections for copper average $2.50 a pound and for gold $1,000 an ounce — nearly two times the prices the company used in its original assessment.
