VANCOUVER – Taseko Mines Ltd. (TSX:TKO) hopes a new environmental assessment of its Prosperity gold-copper project in B.C. can be started by October as it looks to revive the proposed mine that Ottawa killed in 2010.
“We expect to enter the official federal environmental assessment review process very shortly,” Taseko president and chief executive Russell Hallbauer said Friday.
“After that it will be we believe a 365-day process to finalize the environmental assessment review for both the federal government and our amendments to our provincial environmental certificate.”
Taseko submitted a revised project description to the federal government earlier this year in hopes of reviving its Prosperity project in B.C. with a plan that adds $300 million in capital and operating costs to the proposed mine, which was previously expected to cost about $800 million.
The project was blocked by the Ottawa after a negative environmental assessment.
The miner reported late Thursday that it lost $1.1 million or a penny per share for the quarter ended June 30 compared with a profit of $44.8 million or 24 cents per share a year ago when the company recorded a $30.6-million one-time gain related to its taxes.
Included in the most recent quarter was a $10.3-million charge related to its copper hedges and a $2.8-million after-tax loss in connection with a joint venture, offset by a $6.4-million gain on marketable securities and dividend income.
Revenue totalled $48.3 million, down from $56.5 million.
Despite the loss for the quarter, Hallbauer noted that the company’s near term projects fully financed and its hedging strategy ensures minimum price levels for the next 16 months.
In addition to the Prosperity project, Taseko owns a 75 per cent stake in the Gibraltar mine and several other development stage projects in B.C.
Gibraltar produced 20 million pounds of copper in the quarter compared with 20.1 million pounds produced in the second quarter 2010.
Molybdenum production during quarter was 303,000 pounds, up 39 per cent from a year ago, helped by improved molybdenum recovery.
The mineral is widely used in steelmaking.
Shares in the company were down 10 cents at $3.49 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday.
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