Ottawa blocks one open-pit mine in B.C., approves another

The federal government has turned down a controversial proposed Prosperity gold-copper mine south of the Interior B.C. city of Williams Lake, saying the mine would devastate the entire ecosystem around environmentally and culturally sensitive Fish Lake.

But federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice will allow a separate gold-copper mine, the Mount Milligan Project, to go ahead as planned in northern B.C. about 155 kilometres north of Prince George.

The British Columbia government had supported both mining ventures.

In Ottawa Tuesday, Prentice said the Prosperity proposal, put forward by Taseko Mines Ltd., "would result in the destruction of Fish Lake, and as a result, the destruction as well of the complex and highly productive ecosystem that included not only the lake, but dozens of connecting streams, wetlands and aquatic life."

The Prosperity proposal includes an on-site mill, a tailings facility, a transmission line, explosives factory and access road, and would cover 35 square kilometres in the Teztan Yeqox (or Fish Creek) watershed, which drains into Fish Lake, Little Fish lake and nearby areas.

Prentice acknowledged that a refusal to endorse the Prosperity project would mean lost jobs. "Certainly we are concerned about the economic consequences obviously, and the company is at liberty to re-submit a proposal to try in some way to resolve or ameliorate the recommendations of the panel in terms of the environment."

Environmentalists and aboriginal groups strongly oppose the mine, and in January 2009 the federal government appointed a review panel to study its feasibility.

It concluded the mine would "result in significant adverse environmental effects on fish and fish habitat, 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."

B.C., however, arranged its own environmental assessment and approved the project earlier this year. Prentice said Prime Minister Stephen Harper had informed B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell of the federal government’s contrary decision.

Prentice said the federal environmental assessment of the second project, Thompson Creek Metal Co.’s Mount Milligan mine, isn’t likely to cause significant environmental problems. B.C. had reached a similar conclusion.

"Thompson Creek Metals Company has adopted, in the case of Mount Milligan, highly consultative and a collaborative approach," he said. "The result is a responsible, successful project proposal and the government of Canada commends this approach and encourages other resource companies to follow this example."