Fifteen charges under the federal Fisheries Act have been laid against Imperial Metals Corp. more than a decade after a tailings pond collapsed at the Mount Polley mine, spilling more than 20 million cubic metres of wastewater into B.C. Interior waterways.More than a decade after spilling millions of litres of toxic wastewater into rivers in the B.C. Interior, Imperial Metals Corp. has been charged with 15 violations of the federal Fisheries Act.
It happened following the failure of the Mount Polley tailings dam, which sent hundreds of tonnes of toxic materials into local waterways near Likely, B.C., about 170 kilometres south of Prince George.Mine records filed with Environment Canada reported that materials including arsenic, lead, copper and nickel flowed out in the sludge.
The offences under the Fisheries Act listed in the indictment carry fines between $500,000 and $6 million.Individuals guilty of an offence under the act can be imprisoned for up to three years if convicted for a second time. However, only companies face charges in connection to the dam's collapse. A report from an independent expert panel released in 2015 said the engineers didn't take into account the complexity of the geological environment in relation to the dam embankment foundation.It says engineers failed to recognize that the dam was "susceptible to undrained failure" when subject to the stresses associated with the embankment.
In September 2023, the Mount Polley Mining Corp. was awarded the Jake McDonald Reclamation Award for its habitat remediation work in Hazeltine Creek and adjacent areas.