The Taseko Mines Prosperity project, slated for the Nemiah Valley, is about 100 miles southwest of Williams Lake in British Columbia and would span 22 miles and include an access road, a mill, and 77-mile-long power transmission line.
The $800 million project would drain pristine Fish Lake—renowned for its rainbow trout—and use Little Fish Lake and Fish Creek as tailings ponds, and contaminate other nearby bodies of water. Tailings ponds are used to store waste such as oil residues and heavy metals from oil sands processing. Canada is one of a few countries that allow using natural bodies of water as tailings ponds. Since the government approved the destruction of two Newfoundland lakes in 2006, mining companies have applied to use 13 lakes as dump sites.
The project has already passed a provincial environmental assessment and now hinges on the federal government’s decision.
Many politicians, businesses, and laid off mill workers in the Williams Lake area support the project, which would bring hundreds of much-needed jobs to a region impacted by the fallout from a pine beetle infestation that caused widespread damage to forests in the region.
But Chief Joe Alphonse of the Tsilhqot’in First Nation says the mine, which would be “right in our back yard,” is unacceptable to the Tsilhqot’in.
Alphonse says the band has multiple concerns around the project, in particular the destruction of Fish Lake and potential harm to the Chilcotin Lake sockeye salmon run, on which the band depends.
Besides being an abundant source of trout and one of the top 10 fishing lakes in British Columbia, he says Fish Lake has for centuries been of profound cultural and spiritual significance to the Tsilhqot’in.
“It would be huge loss to our people, our way of life.”
But replacing Fish Lake is easier said than done, says Alphonse.
“You can’t just create that type of lake that’s taken thousands and thousands of years to create that would sustain such a large number of lake trout. Just digging a hole in the ground and filling it with water—what they plan on proposing—is not a replacement at all as far as we’re concerned.”
But regional business groups believe the mine will be a boon to the province. Jock Finlayson of the BC Business Council says the project is needed, given the province’s declining trade balance and weak forestry sector.
“Prosperity is one of the most significant new anchors of economic development available to the province at this time,” said Finlayson. “Federal government approval of Prosperity will be a significant boost for BC’s [British Columbia] future prospects.”
The mine is expected to generate $9 billion Canadian over its 22-year life, contributing $340 million annually to the provincial GDP, $400 million in provincial revenue, and $43 million to local and regional governments.
An independent review panel appointed by Environment Minister Jim Prentice in 2009 found that Prosperity would have irreversible adverse impacts on the local ecosystem and First Nations culture.
The panel concluded that the project “would result in significant adverse environmental effects on fish and fish habitat, on navigation, on the current use of lands and resources for traditional purposes by First Nations and on cultural heritage, and on certain potential or established Aboriginal rights or title.”
The panel said the project would also have a negative impact on grizzly bears and that a replacement lake was “unlikely” to be viable. Wildlife including grizzly, mule deer, and moose depend on Fish Lake.
Taseko spokesman Brian Battison did not return calls from The Epoch Times seeking comment.
