Taseko Mines is taking legal action against the Western Canada Wilderness Committee and its outreach director for defamation.
The company filed a Notice of Civil Claim on March 1 for a series of "false and defamatory statements" concerning Taseko and its proposed New Prosperity Gold-Copper Project.
"Taseko welcomes a full, thorough and open process to evaluate the merits of the New Prosperity project, which we believe will be a big win for British Columbia, First Nations and Canada," said Taseko CEO Russell Hallbauer in a written statement. "We cannot, however, stand idly by when certain parties such as the Western Canada Wilderness Committee mislead the public about the project."
Taskeo also said the decision to pursue legal action is not taken lightly, and was only pursued after "repeated requests to the Western Canada Wilderness Committee to correct the record were not satisfactorily addressed."
The Western Canada Wilderness Committee is a registered, non-profit society created to protect the country's biodiversity through research and public education. They have mounted a campaign to protect Fish Lake and the surrounding watershed, which they claim will be affected by Taseko's gold-copper mining project.
"Taseko has expended considerable resources and effort to minimize the environmental impact of New Prosperity and we remain committed to developing an efficient, sustainable and responsible mine," Hallbauer said.
In response, Joe Foy, national campaign director for the Wildnerness Committee said his group would continue to speak out about the mine and the risks it poses.
"We are very disappointed that this mining company has chosen litigation instead of fair and open public debate," Foy said. "We believe this court action stifles fair comment about Taseko's environmentally risky mine proposal. People should be able to enjoy full participation in the Federal Environmental Review process - including the right to comment - without fear of time-consuming and costly litigation."
