By Tiffany Crawford

VANCOUVER - Taseko Mines has filed a civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court seeking to recoup costs from the federal government after it rejected the company’s proposed copper mine southwest of Williams Lake.

The Vancouver company claims, in the suit filed Thursday, that it has spent more than $130 million in a bid to win approval for the $1.5-billion New Prosperity Project, an open-pit gold and copper mine in the Cariboo region.

The Taseko mine proposal has been controversial from the start, with First Nations and environmentalists against the project. The provincial government gave it environmental approval, while the federal government turned it down twice.

Taseko’s claim seeks damages in relation to the government’s Feb. 25, 2014 decision to reject the mine, citing environmental concerns. A federal environmental panel found the mine, which would have covered 27 square kilometres in the Fish Creek watershed, would result in the total loss of Little Fish Lake to a tailings pond and likely contaminate nearby Fish Lake and the upper Fish Creek system.

Taseko’s lawsuit claims the government failed to meet the legal duties that were owed to Taseko and that in doing so they caused and continue to cause damages, expenses and loss to Taseko.

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