VANCOUVER — Taseko Mines Ltd. (TSX: TKO) is suing the us government in B.C. Top court and seeking unspecified compensation for any 2014 decision that blocked development of a proposed $1.5 billion gold and copper deposit.
The Vancouver-based company claims that the government and it is agents – including the environment minister at that time – failed to meet their legal duties to Taseko once they blocked the New Prosperity project.
Taseko also alleges, among other things, that it is property was effectively expropriated without compensation when a federal cabinet decision on Feb. 25, 2014, made its mineral rights essentially worthless.
The company didn’t say how much cash it’s seeking with the lawsuit, filed in the provincial court, but said its seeking general and punitive damages, plus interest, and any other relief that the court may choose.
The authorities did not immediately return a note seeking comment.
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The suit was announced Friday, three days before Taseko and also the authorities are scheduled to manage off in Vancouver with a related dispute prior to the Federal Court of Canada.
The latest claim dated Thursday pertains to an open-pit project, 125 kilometres southwest of Williams Lake, B.C., Taseko had promoted as a major economic driver in the Cariboo region from the B.C. Interior.
Its suit says the work would have provided about 550 direct jobs and 1,280 indirect jobs and contribute about $459-million annually to the province’s gdp.
The project and it is predecessor, the Prosperity project, encountered opposition over environmental issues and both were rejected in 2014 and 2010 through the Harper Conservative government on advice from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.
“Given the conduct from the Government of Canada and it is agents we’ve not one other choice but to defend the interests in our shareholders and to protect their assets,” Taseko CEO Russell Hallbauer said in a statement.
