Liberal MP Mark Holland, shown in September, asked the RCMP to investigate the October run on B.C.'s Taseko Mines Ltd. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

RCMP in Ottawa have confirmed that the Taseko Mines Ltd. issue has been referred to them.

"We acknowledge we have been referred the case," Sgt. Julie Gagnon said Friday, although she could not say who had referred the case to the Mounties.

Mark Holland, the federal Liberal Party's public safety critic, who raised the issue in the House of Commons on Thursday, had written to the RCMP, asking the force to investigate the October run on B.C.'s Taseko Mines Ltd. stock and a possibility the sell-off in the shares was triggered by a government leak.

RCMP A Division, which deals with matters in the national capital region, will take the lead, looking into the allegations to see if a criminal investigation is warranted, Gagnon told CBC News.

She couldn't say how long that might take, because it can vary greatly from "case to case."

As CBC News first revealed Monday, shares in Taseko Mines Ltd. mysteriously dropped almost 40 per cent in frantic trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Oct. 14, more than two weeks before Ottawa announced it was blocking the company's planned development of a controversial B.C. mine.

Federal officials interviewed by CBC News on condition of anonymity said the unexplained crash of Taseko stock caused instant panic in the ministerial offices that were involved in reviewing the proposed mine. Everyone, they said, had the same fear: that it was a government leak.

The proposed mine project is located about 125 kilometres southwest of Williams Lake.