The provincial government has come down hard on a Canadian mining company for repeatedly dumping illegal amounts of cobalt-laced waste into the river.

Barrick Gold Inc. has been handed a $114,750 fine after it was determined by provincial inspectors that the company had discharged effluent containing average cobalt concentrations 1,155 per cent above the legal limits from its Nickel Plate Mine.

Liquid waste from the mine 32 kilometres west of Penticton was dumped into into Hedley Creek, which flows into the Similkameen River, on 17 separate occasions between Sept. 8, 2021 and Oct. 5, 2023. At one point, the concentrations spiked up to 7,011 per cent above the permit limit, according to the director of the Environmental Management Act Jason Bourgeois.

"Cobalt is an essential element for human and animal life but is toxic in high concentrations," Bourgeois stated in his Penalty Assessment Form. "High concentrations of cobalt can result in reduced growth and emergence and reproductive effects in aquatic invertebrates, [and] aquatic invertebrates are a food source for salmonids and considered good indicators of chronic long term contaminant impacts."

Bourgeois also stated that Barrick Gold had performed chronic toxicity tests in the receiving environment. Still, he found uncertainty around whether those tests were carried out during times or locations of highest risk. He also found uncertainty around whether the released cobalt cyanide complex will pose a risk to aquatic life and noted that additional research is needed.

Barrick Gold was charged separate penalties for each of the 17 dates in which they discharged the effluent, ranging from $19,000 to $27,000, and the initial penalty for all infractions was $520,000. 

Bourgeois said that the much lower fine is reasonable and appropriate.

"After applying a 17-day multiplier, I have determined a total penalty of $114,750," he stated. "I find that this amount is necessary to deter Barrick鈥檚 future non-compliance with the cobalt limit."