Canadian mining company Teck Metals fined $2.2M for polluting B.C. river

Environment and Climate Change Canada says Teck Metals Ltd., a subsidiary of Teck Resources Ltd., has been ordered to pay $2.2 million in federal and provincial fines for an effluent spill into the Columbia River.

The government department says in a statement that Teck earlier pleaded guilty to two charges laid under the federal Fisheries Act and one charge under British Columbia's Environmental Management Act.

The charges stem from a February 2019 release of effluent into the Columbia River, which the government says was caused by a leak from the company's fertilizer operations in Warfield, B.C.

The government says the low-pH effluent was harmful to fish.

Environment and Climate Change Canada investigated the spill and found that the 2.5-million-litre discharge resulted from numerous operational errors.

They say that Teck will be added to the Environmental Offenders Registry, and the federal fine of $2 million will go to the government's Environmental Damages Fund.