Over the past few years the Taseko Mining Company’s operations in British Columbia have been hugely affected and restricted by the societal/cultural trend of anti-eco.-degradation in the province. This external factor to Taseko’s business goals within BC is largely attributable to the protestations of BC First Nations peoples against any industrial “assaults” on their native lands.
In 1989, the Xeni Gwet’in Tsilhqot’in native people of BC stated with the Nemiah Declaration that there would be no more “mining, flooding or dam construction on [Nemiah Valley’s] principal lakes”. However in 2009, after the discovery of massive copper and gold deposits near Fish Lake (located within the Nemiah Valley), the Taseko Mining Company set about developing a new business model which would violate this very declaration. This new business model was centered on mining these newly discovered deposits and would consequently turn the nearby Fish Lake into a mine-waste reservoir. Here is where the societal/cultural trend of anti-eco.degredation driven by the BC First Nations People came into play.
BC First Nations People rallying to halt the creation of a mine near Teztan Biny in the Nemiah Valley (2012)
In the last five years this trend fueled enough political drama to force Taseko into severely altering its business model into one that was much more environmentally conscious. However just recently, a stunning 8-0 Canadian Supreme Court ruling which gave the Tslihqot’in native peoples the lawful rights to the lands they have for so long called home, this initial cultural trend actually resulted in the prevention of the Taseko business model for a new “Prosperity Mine” near Fish Lake from ever becoming a reality.
This case shows how major societal/cultural trends can have serious impacts on even the largest of corporations business models, and that in BC especially, the issues and concerns of First Nations peoples never go unheard.