LandKeepers News Archive
Prosperity panel wants more information from Taseko
June 25 2009 | News Articles | Williams Lake Tribune
Prosperity panel wants more information from Taseko
Williams Lake Tribune
Published: June 25, 2009
Public hearings on the Prosperity Mine project aren’t yet being scheduled because the Federal Review Panel says Taseko Mines Ltd. needs to provide more information before the hearings can be scheduled.
The panel released its decision Wednesday afternoon, citing information deficiencies in Taseko’s Environment Impact Statement.
The panel now expects Taseko to provide responses to each of the information requests and, where appropriate, to report on the results of discussions with government agencies on matters such as fish and fish habitat compensation and the alternatives assessment.
Before being able to provide information to the information requests, Taseko will need to wait for the submission of information from First Nations, the panel says.
That information is expected soon, or in some cases, once the Procedures for Requesting Confidentiality are finalized.
The panel notes that if the information isn’t submitted in a “reasonable timeframe,” the panel may take other measures to complete the review in a timely manner.
The panel also encourages the working group participants and any other parties to continue to resolve issues in advance of the public hearing.
Once Taseko provides the requested information, the information will be made available for 30 days for public review.
After the panel considers comments received on the additional information, it will determine within 30 days if Taseko’s environmental impact statement is sufficient to proceed to the public hearing, which would begin no earlier than 30 days after the schedule is announced.
Some of the information the panel is requesting Taseko provide includes:
• more information on its assessment of alternatives for tailings and waste rock storage
• the potential environmental effects of temporary closure scenarios
• the volume of water required to successfully operate the fish compensation works and tailings storage facility
• the water balance required to successfully operate Prosperity Lake under ideal conditions and in dry years
• the implications of increased water requirements resulting from the possible underestimation of the amount of potentially acid generating waste rock
• the mechanics of how that water would be diverted into Prosperity Lake and the tailing storage facility, as well as an assessment the diversion’s potential effects ( if Taseko would be diverting water from the catchment east of the headwater diversion channel)
• a rationale for the conclusion that the increased flow into Beece Creek is within range of natural variability for the creek
• an assessment of whether the additive effect of an additional four per cent increase in flow will result in any channel instability in the creek, and if so, whether water quality would be affected due to increased suspended solids
• as estimation of the costs associated with the proposed treatment methodologies and the economic feasibility of the project if water treatment is required in the long term
• clarification regarding who would have ultimate responsibility for ensuring that water treatment is implemented in perpetuity
• under an early or temporary closure scenario, an assessment of the risk of acid drainage/metal leaching and its effects on water quality posed by not processing the low-grade ore
• inputs from the low-grade ore stockpile in the water quality model completed for Pit Lake
• information on the likelihood that, should Pit Lake stratify, it would subsequently overturn, and an assessment of the effects of the discharge on the receiving environment if the mixing were to occur
In regards to Taseko’s Fish and Fish Habitat Compensation Plan, the Panel notes there is no current agreement between Taseko and Fisheries and Oceans Canada on how to address the loss of fish habitat.
The panel expects:
• further progress to be made on the development of the plan prior to scheduling the public hearing
• an agreed upon draft of Fish and Fish Habitat Compensation Plan (if no agreement can be reached in a reasonable period of time, Taseko would need to provide a summary of the attempts made to reach an agreement and areas of disagreement between the parties before the public hearing begins).
It also expects the plan to address the acceptability of transferring fish to other recipient lakes (if applicable) and the potential effect of the proposed fish compensation plan on migratory bird populations.
On aboriginal fishery usage, the panel requests Taseko to provide a more thorough description of the anticipated effects of the project on the current use of fish and fish habitat in the project area for traditional aboriginal purposes.
The panel says it anticipates First Nations will submit the information required to evaluate the anticipated effects of the project on the current use of fish and fish habitat in the project area for traditional purposes soon, or in some cases, following the finalization of the Procedures for Requesting Confidentiality.
It also expects Taseko to include this information in its analysis of the project’s potential effects on the fish and fish habitat that is of cultural, spiritual or traditional importance to potentially affected First Nations, and on the aboriginal fishery in the regional study area.
Taseko vice-president of corporate affairs Brian Battison says it is a rare occurence for a project to get an immediate green light for public hearings.
“This decision is routine in these matters,” he says. “It’s quite normal to receive these types of information requests. There’s nothing substantive in these requests that we are not able to address and fully answer.
Battison says Taseko expects to provide the requested information by the end of July.
“This is obviously going to delay the process, but how long, we can’t say,” he says. “Time is critical to this process, and the window of opportunity could slip away.”
Company needs to further address fish habitat, First Nations issues before public hearings will be scheduled.
http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_cariboo/williamslaketribune/news/49079681.html
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