Read this story from the Canadian Press on Taseko Mines’ decision to sue the Wilderness Committee and one of its campaigners for defamation regarding the environmental organization’s criticisms of the company’s proposed mine west of Williams Lake. (March 1, 2012)

VANCOUVER – The company behind a controversial mining proposal in British Columbia has filed a lawsuit against one of its critics, alleging an environmental group has made inaccurate and defamatory comments that threaten to mislead the public.

Taseko Mines Ltd. (TSX:TKO.TO – News) filed a notice of claim in B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday targeting the Western Canada Wilderness Committee and one of its employees over statements the environmental group has made about the company’s New Prosperity gold and copper project.

The project has faced fierce opposition from environmentalists and local First Nations communities and was rejected by a federal government environmental review in 2010…

…”Taseko welcomes a full, thorough and open process to evaluate the merits of the New Prosperity project,” Russell Hallbauer, CEO of Taseko, said in a news release issued Thursday.

“We cannot, however, stand idly by when certain parties such as the Western Canada Wilderness Committee mislead the public.”

Joe Foy, national campaign director for the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, dismissed the legal action as a “slap lawsuit” designed to silence criticism.

Foy said his group plans to defend itself against the lawsuit, and he suggested the company’s notice of claim doesn’t accurately reflect what’s currently on the Wilderness Committee’s website.

Foy noted the Wilderness Committee made changes in recent weeks after complaints from the company. For example, the web page quoted in the notice of claim no longer refers to Fish Lake as a “tailings pond.”

“We called Taseko mines and told them we did not think anything we said was actionable, that we were willing to look at the thing that we had up on our website and make some changes, which we did,” Foy said in an interview.

“We feel we behaved reasonable in this, but we do not agree that we’re guilty of libel so we’ll defend ourselves in court.”

Read full article: http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/b-c-mining-company-sues-024146812.html