Representatives from Taseko Mines are in Federal Court today arguing that two judicial review applications to Ottawa should be combined into one civil lawsuit seeking damages for the rejected New Prosperity mine.
Taseko claims that the Federal Government acted deliberately and unlawfully and that environmental hearings on the proposed mine took place behind closed doors, with no opportunity to respond.
Although the 1.5 billion dollar project was rejected by an environmental panel, who found the project was likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects in 2013, Taseko says no reason was stated this year when the project was rejected yet again in February.
The proposed New Prosperity Mine is the largest undeveloped gold-copper deposit in Canada and the 10th largest of its kind in the world.
Taseko has invested 140 million dollars over the last 19 years to advance the New Prosperity mine.