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The Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society (CCCS) would like to give an environmental perspective on the proposed Prosperity Mine project. The following points are brought forward by CCCS Director Bill Lloyd, and cover some of our concerns.

Environmental concerns surrounding the Taseko Mines New Prosperity Project

1. Environmental Review Process – This proposed mine has already failed an exhaustive review process costing the taxpayers of this province millions of dollars. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Authority’s Panel examined input from many stakeholder groups, the public and the Company, and has ruled that the environmental impact would be too great for the mine to be approved. It also judged that an alternate plan, which forms the basis of the current “New Prosperity” proposal, presents an even greater environmental threat. Taseko has submitted two Environmental Impact Statements in support of “New Prosperity”; the most recent was returned to them with a 77-page list of issues that had not been adequately addressed.
2. Ultimate Destruction of Fish Lake – Despite Taseko’s claims, the ultimate destruction of Fish Lake is inevitable if the mine is allowed to go ahead.  The planned tailings pond would destroy most of the lake’s feeder streams and 80% of the lake’s fish spawning habitat. As the pit deepens and expands toward Fish Lake, water containment would become more and more difficult. If the mine did succeed in reaching a 20 year point with Fish Lake still intact, what would we be left with? A water body whose natural in and out flows have been cut off for 20 years, completely surrounded by a 30-story tailings dam, contaminated waste dumps and a 1.4 km pit.  Additionally a portion of the existing orebody will still lie under Fish Lake itself.  If, as seems probable, Taseko applied to expand operations, the pit itself would necessarily encroach on the lake and destroy it.
3. Over-all Footprint of Prosperity Mine on the Chilcotin – This huge project in one of the last untouched and most pristine watersheds in British Columbia would leave a footprint similar to the Highland Valley. The mine and tailings pond as laid out in the current Environmental Impact Statement would be bordered to the west by the Taseko River and to the south by Beece Creek and Big Onion Lake. However, Taseko’s own projections estimate it would take 33 years to extract the total orebody.  Expansion would obviously magnify the impact on the natural drainage systems. Post-operations seepage and acid rock drainage contamination of the entire Taseko River watershed, which eventually reaches the Fraser River, would have drastic consequences.
4. Deficiency of Water for Mine Start-up – Taseko Mines Ltd. maintains that surface water would be adequate for mine start-up. This assertion is highly questionable. It would take huge volumes of water to start the dam systems and initiate the concentration process. Other than the existing slow-flowing and seasonally-variable inflows, the only apparent water sources would be the Taseko River and Fish Lake. Would this mean a pumping station in the river and therefore an end to the ‘closed’ system proposed for Fish Lake? Or would the water level in Fish Lake have to be drastically lowered?
5. Major Fault Intersecting Proposed Pit – The orebody is bisected by a major east-west fault zone. This fault runs through the orebody and intersects the Taseko River. The natural water course (Fish Creek) draining the entire mining and tailings dam geography follows this fault zone to the Taseko River. The company proposes to eliminate this natural water flow but it would be impossible to seal such a giant underground crack and prevent sulphide and heavy metal contamination along the fractured fault structure. Once the ore is dug out, the resulting pit is supposed to be filled with water. How is it possible to keep water in a pit that has a fault running through it?
6. Threat to Sockeye & Chinook salmon – The most important spawning beds in the Taseko system are near the confluence of Beece Creek and the Taseko River, directly below the proposed mine site. The inevitable tailings dam seepage or acid rock drainage off the escarpment directly above these spawning beds would have drastic consequences for the wild salmon runs. Contamination would directly impact salmon runs in the Chilko Lake system, which is the healthiest remaining in the entire Fraser River system.  This population is uniquely adapted to extreme conditions, which could be crucial to surviving climate change.
7. Tailings Storage Containment Facility – The re-located tailings dam raises several concerns.  Natural drainage off the south toe of the dam would empty directly into Beece Creek, just upstream from major salmon spawning beds of the Taseko system. Beece Creek is also the most important Bull Trout rearing tributary of the Taseko drainage.  Taseko proposes to control seepage contamination by dewatering wells and containment ponds. Considering this area is a swampy wetland, how will it be possible to prevent some sulphide and heavy metal migration into the immediate drainage?  At the end of mine life, Taseko would leave behind a tailings dam 500 or more feet high with a natural spillway into whatever remains of Fish Lake and subsequently the water-filled pit. How would all that contaminated water be confined to the escarpment when its natural drainage has historically been directly into the Taseko River system?
8. Water Treatment - there is no mention in the Environmental Impact Study of the need for water treatment as the mine progresses. Historically mines of this type end up with a water surplus as they excavate the aquifer. This water would end up in the Taseko drainage and consequently it must meet environmental standards. This is an important and costly issue considering the geology of the proposed mine and surrounding area. This oversight must be addressed, as it will have a major impact both environmentally and economically.
9. Potential Pollutants specific to this Orebody – Taseko’s Environmental Impact Statement has not adequately addressed potential acid rock drainage specific to the orebody mineralization. Antimony, arsenic, mercury and selenium are of specific concern.  Selenium in concentrations less than those found in this orebody have caused major problems elsewhere in the province.
10. Lack of Commitment to the Process – The Canadian Environmental Assessment Authority review process was designed to protect the environment and the taxpayer. Regulations specify that technical reports must be conducted by an independent body, but Taseko’s latest technical reports are authored by one of the company’s own Vice Presidents.

The preceding are just a very few of the issues that need to be addressed extensively.  These significant environmental issues must be assessed on facts and proper science, not politics.

 

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