The Canadian Government has refused Taseko Mines Ltd's application to build the Prosperity copper and gold mine. The decision will save Fish Lake, located southwest of Williams Lake, but will also raise a question about future investments in the mining industry in British Columbia.
Fish Lake is a 111 hectare rainbow trout producing lake which would have to be destroyed to build the $800 million Prosperity Mine. Taseko Mines had proposed that it would replace it with an artificially created lake.
However the proposal was shown to have significant adverse environmental effects which could not be justified as per the federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice. That is why he announced the rejection of the Prosperity project. At the same time Mr. Prentice announced that another copper and gold mine near Prince George at Mount Milligan had been cleared by the federal government.
Pierre Gratton, CEO of the Mining Association of B.C said that it was hard to put any kind of positive spin on the decision. He added that the investors will draw their own conclusions from the decision, but it would make it difficult to promote mining in the province.
Williams Lake Mayor Kerry Cook called the decision very disappointing. B.C's Minister of State for Mining Randy Hawes was also disappointed with the decision but refused to declare the project dead.