The Tsilhqot'in National Government defended a federal environmental assessment critical of the proposed New Prosperity mine Thursday, calling claims the report was flawed "demonstrably false."
Last month, a three-member Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency panel concluded seepage from the tailings pond for the proposed open pit copper and gold mine 125 kilometres south of Williams Lake could cause significant adverse effects on fish and fish habitat in Fish Lake.
Taseko, the company behind the project, has said publicly and in letters to the agency and Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq that Natural Resources Canada used the wrong mine design when modeling seepage rates presented in evidence presented to the panel.
The Tsilhqot'in National Government (TNG) responded on Thursday with a letter to the assessment agency refuting the mining company's claims. The First Nations group said the panel was relying on the right information when it reached its conclusions.
"In our view, the proponent's after-the-fact attempt to contend it proposed something different all along is misleading, demonstrably false and clearly calculated to undermine the second independent panel to confirm the devastating cultural and environmental impacts of its proposed project," TNG mining, oil and gas manager J.P. Laplante wrote.
At issue is how the proposed tailings pond would be lined with soil and how that soil liner would be used to contain the waste water to prevent it from entering Fish Lake, located two kilometres away.
Taseko said it plans to engineer a soil layer of uniform thickness and compacted in areas to reduce seepage rates by an order of magnitude over what Natural Resources Canada claims would happen.
TNG counters that all the company has promised in its proposal is to supplement some areas with extra till, but will not fully engineer a soil liner. According to TNG, that's the type of design that was modeled by Natural Resources Canada.
Both Taseko and TNG cited comments made by Taseko senior vice-president of operations John McManus to the panel on July 25 to defend their respective points of view. Taseko highlighted a section where McManus said "if there's an area where the till is thinner than your models had shown, that's when you go in - compacted till, then you can escalate the level of what needs to be done up to a shotcrete area, a liner. . ."
TNG chose to emphasize a similar quote a little later on in the proceedings where McManus said "[Taseko is] very confident at this point there is no need for an entire lined basin. But there may be spots which need to be - a little bit more work put into them. . ."
Taseko argued McManus told the panel the company clearly intends to engineer the tailings ponds to certain minimum specifications, while TNG contended all McManus said was the company will only do work in some parts of the pond.
Despite a lengthy back-and-forth between McManus and panel members on July 25, no one from either side clarified the actual design being contemplated.
Given these arguments are being made after the report has been released, it's unclear how the government will proceed.
Aglukkaq has four months from the date she received the report to decide if the mine would case significant adverse effects and then the federal cabinet must decide how to balance any potential effects with possible economic benefits.
Taseko is urging Aglukkaq to consider its argument that a wrong design was used in the seepage modeling, which the company said would reverse the finding of an significant adverse environmental impact.
"Accordingly, unless the project is allowed to move to the detailed permitting stages, we believe Canadian and international investors would be left to wonder whether any major project can be developed in this country going forward," Taseko president and CEO Russell Hallbauer wrote to Aglukkaq
TNG, on the other hand, has asked Aglukkaq to not take into account the "unsolicited information."
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