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ARTICLE · 13 JANUARY 2015

Largest Canadian Environmental Penalty: $7.5 MM

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Environment Canada obtained the largest environmental penalty ever imposed in Canada for breaches of the Fisheries Act and Metal Mining Effluent Regulations by a mining company: $7,500,000.

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Environment Canada obtained the largest environmental penalty ever imposed in Canada for breaches of the Fisheries Act and Metal Mining Effluent Regulations by a mining company: $7,500,000. The breaches occurred in 2011 and earlier under the old Fisheries Act, before massive changes to the law in 2012.

Bloom Lake General Partner Limited pleaded guilty to 45 charges, resulting from several incidents including the breach of a tailings pond dam. The Bloom Lake mine site released large amounts of water pollution (non-compliant mining effluent and ferric sulfate) into fish-bearing water in Quebec, and failed to comply with an Inspector's Direction. Bloom Lake is a subsidiary of Cliffs Natural Resources, which has since pulled out of mining in Canada.

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