Mexico’s proposed higher mining royalties could block nearly $7bn in investments
The Mexican government proposed raising mining royalties under the argument that metal prices have risen in recent years.
Investors piled into Taseko Mines (TSX: TKO) (NYSE: TGB) on Thursday after the company formally submitted a new Environmental Impact Statement for its Prosperity gold-copper project in northern British Columbia.
By the close the $660 million company had jumped over 5% in New York and 3.7% on the Toronto big board as investors placed bets that the revised plan will meet environmental approval from a special 3-member review panel established by the Canadian federal government.
The province of BC had initially OK’d the controversial project – which would have seen the Vancouver-based company drain a nearby lake – in 2010 only to have federal officials reverse the decision months later.
The revised plan sees Taseko, which had taken Prosperity to the feasibility stage as far back as 1998 and restarted work on the project in 2006, spend an additional $300 million to preserve Fish Lake and move its tailings pond further upstream.
The mine – now called New Prosperity – will cost $1.1 billion to build and take two years to complete with a 20-year mine life. Recoverable metal is 7.7 million ounces of gold and 3.6 billion pounds of copper.
Initial exploration activity in the vicinity of the Prosperity deposit date back to the early 1930s.
