Imperial Metals (TSX: III) and engineers Wood Canada face 15 federal Fisheries Act charges in the British Columbia Supreme Court over the Mount Polley copper-gold mine tailings dam failure a decade ago.
The Mount Polley Integrated Investigation Task Force, formed from two federal ministries and a provincial service, brought the charges about destroying fish habitat and polluting water following a multi-year probe. The charges are proceeding by direct indictment, a legal step that bypasses a preliminary hearing.
Vancouver-based Imperial, which also owns the Huckleberry copper mine and 30% of the Red Chris copper-gold mine, is due to make its first court appearance Dec. 18. If convicted, penalties under the Fisheries Act could range up to $12 million per offence for corporations, according to the federal ministries.
The company had sought water discharge permits for a decade when the accident happened. The company declined to comment on the case in a statement on Monday that acknowledged the indictment.
Salmon spawning lakes
A breach at Mount Polley on Aug. 4, 2014, sent 17 million cubic metres of water and eight million cubic metres of toxic mining waste into salmon spawning lakes and streams in the Cariboo region. It was the equivalent of 2,000 Olympic swimming pools and tore a 45-metre-wide swath down a previously metre-wide waterway.
The task force panel included Environment and Climate Change Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the B.C. Conservation Officer Service.
In 2021, seven years after the tailings accident, the Engineers and Geoscientists B.C., responsible for upholding industry standards, concluded disciplinary proceedings against three engineers involved with the failure.
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