Imperial Metals now wants to expand the Mount Polley mine and continue discharging effluent into a lake. Conservation advocates wonder if charges today will reduce future risks

Sarah Cox, The Narwhal

Imperial Metals, the company that owns the Mount Polley mine in B.C.’s Interior, has been charged on 15 counts under the federal Fisheries Act.

The charges come more than 10 years after a Mount Polley tailings pond dam failed, sending 25 billion litres of toxic sludge into Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel Lake in what became one of the worst mining waste disasters in Canadian history.

The company will appear in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on Dec. 18, according to a media release the B.C. Conservation Officer Service posted on Facebook.

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