This article is part of a 20 article special report on "Metals, miners and money".

Taseko Mines (AMEX: TGB) "operates the Gibraltar open-pit copper mine in British Columbia, which it is significantly expanding and upgrading," notes Tom Bishop, editor of BI Research. "One of the big advantages of investing in Taseko is that its operations are all located in North America, which removes a lot of uncertainty.

"An even bigger advantage is that with copper prices soaring (and sticking to the ceiling around $3.50 a pound), Taseko has actually been able to step up to the plate and relatively quickly (and inexpensively) essentially double production capacity.

"The Gibraltar expansion everything appears to be on track. A combination of higher grade ore and better recoveries, not to mention copper prices around $3.50, should spark some more earnings improvement in the coming quarters.

"Meanwhile, don't forget their giant Prosperity project -- one of the largest open pit gold-copper deposits in North America in development. It is estimated to have 4.5 million recoverable ounces of gold and 2 billion recoverable pounds of copper.

"The project cost is $800 million and production is expected to average 108 million lbs. of copper and 247,000 oz. of gold. Prosperity continues to move through the permitting process. I see earnings per share of $0.50 - $0.55 for 2008. Taseko has more than lived up to my expectations as my favorite for 2007 and I continue to rate the stock a buy."