Science Response 2012/040

Sufficiency review of lake productivity information contained in the environmental impact statement for the new prosperity gold-copper mine project

Context

Taseko Mines Limited (The Proponent) has proposed the development and operation of a gold and copper mine (New Prosperity Mine), located on the Fraser plateau, approximately 125 km southwest of Williams Lake, British Columbia. The project has a 20 year estimated operating life, and would employ conventional copper porphyry floatation processing. Development of the mine would involve new construction of an open pit, an onsite mill and support infrastructure capable of processing 70,000 tonnes of ore per day, a 125km power transmission line, a 2.8km mine access road, a tailings storage facility and ore and waste rock storage areas.

The proposed mine would be located within the Fish Creek watershed, which hosts several fish-bearing creeks and lakes, including Fish Lake, that are likely to be impacted by the development. A previous project submission to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) occurred in 2009-2010, but was deemed by a federal review panel to have significant adverse environmental effects. The Government of Canada agreed with the federal review panel and the project was not approved for development. The current New Prosperity project is a modification of the former development proposal, and the subject of an ongoing Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) review (CEAA Registry 11-05-63928).

In October, 2012, Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Pacific Region Ecosystem Management Branch (Environmental Assessment and Major Projects Unit - EAMP) requested Pacific Region Science Branch to conduct a review of the New Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine Project Environmental Impact Statement (hereafter referred to as the EIS; submitted September 27, 2012) for information adequacy and completeness necessary to the proper evaluation of potential effects of mining activities on the productivity of Fish Lake.

Specifically,

1. Is the information referenced both sufficient and recent enough for Science to assess future productivity of Fish Lake and its tributaries?
2. If not, what other information would be reasonable to request to infer future productivity?
3. Is there enough information to make reasonably informed inferences, or to identify risks associated with data gaps?
4. Are the methods used to assess the potential effects on future productivity of Fish Lake appropriate and executed properly.

The current EIS review updates an earlier Science Branch review of the draft New Prosperity EIS (DFO 2012), as part of the Agency-led screening concluded on June 27, 2012, and is referenced throughout this document as DFO 2012.

This Science Special Response is from the October 22, 2012 Science Special Response review process considering the sufficiency of the lake productivity information submitted in relation to the New Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine project.

Complete document (PDF, 106 KB)

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