BRITISH COLUMBIA – Taseko Mines has come out swinging in the fight to get environmental approval for its New Prosperity gold-copper project. The company alleges that Natural Resources Canada, and subsequently the federal review panel, used the wrong design to estimate seepage rates from the proposed tailings storage facility.
The company was alerted to the possible mistake by Knight Piesold, one of the engineering firms working on New Prosperity.
Taseko believes the review panel relied on modeling undertaken by NRCan that indicated there would be significant seepage from the tails pond into Fish Lake. The company noted that this assumption was integral in the panel's conclusion that New Prosperity presents unacceptable environmental risk.
Taseko's design for the tailings facility includes a continuous, low permeability compact soil liner to restrict seepage losses. The company said in a release, "This is a common and acceptable practice for modern facilities that have been recently permitted and developed in British Columbia and elsewhere in the world. The NRCan design, which was the basis of their analysis, is completely different than the Taseko design."
Taseko has instructed its legal counsel to notify Environment Canada that it will challenge certain aspects of the review panel's findings.
For more information on the New Prosperity project and Taseko's plan, please visit NewProsperityProject.ca
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