The Ministry of Environment has issued an advisory to the Mount Polley Mining Corporation, directing the company to take prompt action to moderate all discharges from the tailings storage facility into the environment.
The advisory comes as the Mount Polley Mining facility was discovered to have still been discharging effluent into Hazeltine Creek on September 4th.
Mary Polak, Minister of Environment, says should Mount Polley not comply there are consequences.
“If they have not come into compliance, then the next step we have is enforcement…the penalties are quite severe; up to $300,000 per day in fines and jail time potentially.”
Polak says there is no guaranteed time for when the clean-up plan will be made public.
Although the discharges have since stopped, there are concerns that future rain events will trigger further discharges.
The next community meeting on the tailings pond breach is scheduled for tonight at 7 pm at the Likely Community Hall.