Taseko wants to prove its case at trial

VANCOUVER – A mining company that has filed two Federal Court applications against the federal government over the rejection of a $1.5-billion mine in B.C. now wants a full trial.

Taseko Mines (TSX:TKO) spokesman Brian Battison says the company has filed an application asking that both applications be set for a single trial, which he said would give the company greater access to legal tools as it attempts to argue the federal government’s decisions were unfair.

Earlier this year, the government cited the potential impact on a lake considered sacred by area First Nations in rejecting the New Prosperity mine, which is located about 125 kilometres southwest of Williams Lake, B.C.

Taseko first filed an application challenging a report written by a review panel with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, and then filed a second application once the government turned down the project.

The Tsilhqot’in (sill-KOH’-teen) nations say they’re looking forward to getting into the courtroom as Taseko fights for the largest undeveloped gold and copper deposit in Canada.

In June, the Tsilhqot’in won a decades-long court case that recognized their aboriginal title over 1,750 square kilometres of territory west of Williams Lake in a case unrelated to the mine.