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by Mike Caswell

Imperial Metals Corp. has defeated a legal challenge brought by the Xatsull First Nation over the company's plan to increase the height of its tailings dam at the Mount Polley mine by four metres. The Xatsull had complained that the change should have gone through an environmental assessment process, with that process to include an effort to "achieve consensus" with the Xatsull. Imperial Metals, meanwhile, said that the dam had the necessary approvals and that the Xatsull had been consulted.

The victory for Imperial Metals is contained in an order handed down in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on Wednesday, Aug. 6. The judge has dismissed the matter in its entirety and has ordered both sides to attempt to reach an agreement on the issue of court costs. The judge heard the case over five days in June, 2025.

The ruling comes nearly four months after the Xatsull took the matter to court. In a petition filed on April 25, 2025, they said that the increase to the dam capacity at Mount Polley required provincial officials to perform an environmental assessment and to include the Xatsull in the process. This assessment would have required the government to "seek to achieve consensus with Xatsull" before proceeding, the petition read. The net effect is that the "impacts to Xatsull's Aboriginal title, rights, culture, and way of life" of the four-metre increase were not properly assessed, the Xatsull claimed.

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