Taseko Mines Ltd. planned to drain Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) in central British Columbia (B.C.) to access gold and copper deposits and make room for a toxic tailings pond. A Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) panel report found that creation of the mine and destruction of Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) would impose irreversible harm to the environment, fish and wildlife and on First Nations rights, lives, culture and spirituality. The proposed Prosperity open-pit mine is on the traditional lands of the Xeni Gwet'in First Nation, a member of the Tsilhqot'in National Government.

"We were very pleased to see many of our concerns about this project reflected in the Panel Report," commented Ramsey Hart of Mining Watch Canada, "We are even more pleased to see the government respect those findings and reject the project."

"Now we must close the legislative loophole that allows destruction of Canada's freshwater bodies for toxic mine tailings," said Sierra Club B.C. Executive Director George Heyman, referring to changes made to Canada's Fisheries Act which allow metal mining corporations to use Canadian lakes to dispose of millions of tonnes of toxic waste rock and tailings. Fish Lake would have been Canada's fifth pristine natural water body authorized for as a tailing pond.

First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining (FNWARM) founding member Chief Marilyn Baptise and her fellow Tsilhqot'in National Government chiefs intend to follow up their recent victory saving Fish Lake with a court appeal to establish their Title and Right.

Takla Lake First Nation Chief Dolly Abraham explained, "before we can start to deal with individual proposals effectively we need Land Use Plans that clearly state where mining - and other resource extraction - can be pursued, and where it cannot - and this must take into account the accumulative effects of all projects on the environment."