A Taseko media release issued today states, “The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has formally accepted Taseko Mines Limited’s project description for its proposed $1 billion New Prosperity gold-copper mine in British Columbia’s central interior. ‘Acceptance of the project description ensures the Federal Government’s environmental assessment of New Prosperity will begin on or before November 7, 2011. …CEAA will have 365 days in which to complete its review and submit a final report to the Federal Minister of the Environment,’ said Russell Hallbauer President and CEO of Taseko.”
The Williams Lake Tribune had reported this past May that, “Acceptance by CEAA that the project description as complete marks the beginning of a 90-day period within which the agency posts a Notice of Commencement and posts the project description on its website. Then CEAA, in discussions with other departments, the province, and First Nations, decides on the nature and type of environmental assessment process to be used. The time it takes from this point for the federal government to complete its environmental assessment process is depends on the process selected.”
Taseko had submitted a ‘draft’ proposal on February 21, according to a CBC report. A Globe and Mail report in mid-March noted that the CEAA “asked Taseko Mines to provide more details about its revamped proposal for the controversial Prosperity Mine, saying a revised description the company submitted in February was incomplete.”
For information on the Council of Canadians concerns about the Prosperity Mine, please go to http://canadians.org/water/issues/TIAs/teztan-biny.html.
More soon.
