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by Mike Caswell

Taseko Mines Ltd.'s case against a group of blockaders continued in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on Tuesday, with Tsilhqotin Nation lawyer Jay Nelson arguing that the B.C. government failed to properly consult the Indians before granting Taseko a work permit. He said that failure was part of a pattern by B.C. that goes back to the province's initial approval of Taseko's Prosperity mine. As he sees it, the province pressed through that approval without waiting for the Tsilhqotin to fully present their views, a problem it repeated with Taseko's present work permit.

Mr. Nelson is arguing for an injunction that will prevent Taseko from working at Prosperity until after a judicial review of the company's work permits is complete. His argument is one of two that the judge must consider, with the other being an application by Taseko for an injunction against a roadblock that kept the company from accessing the site on Nov. 12, 2011.

The dispute stems from work that Taseko is trying to perform as part of its second attempt at getting the Prosperity mine approved. The project, which the company touts as being able to provide 71,000 jobs over its 23-year life, stalled last year after the federal Ministry of Environment refused to give it the go-ahead, even after it received clearance from B.C. Taseko has since modified its proposal, removing a contentious plan to drain a small body of water called Fish Lake. It still, however, faces opposition from local Indians.

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