Fifteen fisheries charges laid a decade after Mount Polley dam breached in B.C.

By The Canadian Press on December 10, 2024.

Contents from a tailings pond is pictured going down the Hazeltine Creek into Quesnel Lake near the town of Likely, B.C. on August, 5, 2014. Charges under the federal Fisheries Act have been laid against Imperial Metals Corp. more than 10 years after a tailings pond collapsed the Mount Polley mine, spilling more than 20 million cubic metres of waste water into B.C. Interior waterways. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

VICTORIA – Fifteen charges under the federal Fisheries Act have been laid against Imperial Metals Corp. more than a decade after a tailings pond collapsed the Mount Polley mine, spilling more than 20 million cubic metres of waste water into B.C. Interior waterways.

A statement from the B.C. Conservation Officer Service says it worked with the Department of Fisheries and Environment and Climate Change Canada to investigate possible contraventions of the act.

It says both federal and B.C.’s prosecution services have confirmed the charges by direct indictment.

The collapse of the dam at the gold and copper mine is considered one of the largest environmental disasters in provincial history.

The service says Mount Polley Mining Corp. and Wood Canada Ltd. face the same charges and all three companies are due to make a court appearance on Dec. 18.

Imperial Metals says in a statement the company received the indictment this week and as the matter is before the courts it won’t be making further comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2024.