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Taseko: draining Fish Lake could be removed from equation

Taseko Mines Ltd. has confirmed it is “examining alternate ways to build Prosperity.”

Taseko Mines Ltd. has confirmed it is “examining alternate ways to build Prosperity.”

Brian Battison, vice-president of corporate affairs for Taseko, noted because there is some ambiguity with the federal government’s concerns on the project, in its re-engineering, the company is addressing the “stated concerns.”

It is unknown when the project re-engineering will be completed. However, due to the current price of copper and gold on the world market, Battison thinks the economics could be such that Fish Lake could be removed from the equation.

“There were always alternate ways to build the project that would mean no impact to Fish Lake but none of them were economic,” he says.

“Under the previous long-term copper and gold prices, it was not possible to have both the mine and the lake ... but given those significantly higher gold and copper prices it may now be possible for the first time to have both the mine and the lake.”

Battison could not say how long the re-engineering would take but indicated the company would need to have a “high degree of certainty” that it could meet the federal government’s concerns prior to resubmitting the proposal.

How the provincial and federal government’s would assess the project for a second time is unclear.

“We’ve got to have a project first and then once we have a project the governments can figure out how they’ll review it. We’re optimistic,” he says.