A legal tit-for-tat between Taseko Mines Ltd. and the Tsilhqot'in Nation has broken out.
The Tsilhqot'in filed an injunction
Monday against the company to halt its plans for extensive road-building, drilling, excavation of test pits, and timber clearing at the site for the proposed New Prosperity gold and copper mine.
The move came on the same day Taseko said it initiated legal proceedings seeking a restraining order against the Tsilhqot'in after a reported three members obstructed efforts to carry out preliminary work at the location.
At issue are the permits Taseko received from the provincial government allowing the company to do such work as road-building, drilling, excavation of test pits and timber clearing.
"We view the B.C. exploration permits as illegal as they have failed to accommodate our already proven Aboriginal rights to this area - rights which will be adversely impacted by the significant amount of roads, drilling and test pits proposed by the company," Tsilhqot'in Chief Joe Alphonse said in a statement.
The proposed mine is to go through a second environment assessment after Taseko submitted a revised proposal. Ottawa rejected the original proposal, planned for a site 125 kilometres southwest of Williams Lake, because it would have turned Fish Lake into a tailings pond.
The reworked design will cost Taseko an additional $300 million, raising the total price tag to $1.5 billion.
But the Tsilhqot'in strongly oppose the latest version.
"Our people are deeply frustrated that having defeated this project last year, we are now faced with having the company once again cause extensive destruction - using permits issued in breach of our consultation rights - in an effort to promote a mining option that Taseko, Environment Canada, and the first federal review panel have all clearly stated is worse than the company's preferred plan," said Marilyn Baptiste, chief of the Xeni Gwet'in one of the six first nations in the Tsilhqot'in.
"We are particularly offended that the company is claiming this work is needed to save Teztan Biny [Fish Lake] when its own chief engineer and other officials told the review panel last year that the option now being pursued cannot save the lake, would poison it in the long run, would kill its support ecosystem, and raise other environmental concerns."
The Tsilhqot'in say the permits were issued five weeks before the federal government allowed the second environmental review and include construction of 23 kilometres of road.
The Tsilhqot'in have already filed an application for judicial review to invalidate or suspend the work permits on the grounds that the Tsilhqot'in were not properly consulted and their serious concerns were ignored.
