Commenting on the court ruling, Yukon Territorial Court deputy judge Michael Block said the fine was “substantial”.
In fact, such an amount is considered “unusual” by Crown lawyer Sarah Bailey, who said it’s normally the smaller placer mining operations in the territory that are taken to court over environmental issues.
The only other significant fine was given last September to Victoria Gold (TSX: VGCX) for violating some of the licensing conditions for its Eagle gold mine near Mayo. The total fine amount was C$95,000.
Hecla’s even larger fine stems from an investigation into potential infractions of Yukon’s quartz mining and water regulations initiated by the government last summer.
Inspection by natural resource officers eventually pointed to an improper storage by the company of chemicals like copper sulphate and sulphuric acid, as well as a failure in its water treatment plant, CBC said.
These violations at…
