The on-again, off-again debate over the proposed Prosperity Mine in the British Columbia Interior has fresh momentum with an economic study that concludes the project would boost provincial gross domestic product by $11-billion and create 71,000 jobs.
First nations that have spent years fighting the project are scheduled to hold a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday to denounce the mine and call on the federal government to cease any further reviews of the project.
The standoff is playing out as B.C. Premier Christy Clark has made mines – eight new ones by 2015 – the bedrock of her jobs plan.
Numbers in the report, by the Centre for Spatial Economics, include:
71,000
Jobs created over the life of the mine
$4.3-billion
Federal tax revenue
$5.5-billion
Provincial tax revenue
$11-billion
Production revenues
950 million
Tons of copper
4.5 million
Ounces of gold
$11-billion
Increase in B.C.'s real GDP from the project
5,400
Potential increase in B.C. population related to the project
20
Years of operation
$1.4-billion
Investment in machinery and equipment by outside contractors in relation to the project
18
Number of years since Taseko began its environmental assessment project for the mine
320
Number of presentations made to a federal review panel over 30 days of public hearings in 2010
2,700
Number of people who attended the hearing sessions