British Columbia upholds C$800,000 Peace River Coal penalty

British Columbia’s Environmental Appeal Board has upheld a ruling that handed Peace River Coal Inc. an C$800,000 ($580,000) fine after it repeatedly failed to comply with its environmental permit at its Trend Roman coal mine near Tumbler Ridge, Business in Vancouver reported.

The metallurgical coal mine in northeastern BC was previously operated by Anglo American up until 2014, when it shut down due to low coal prices. In February 2025, the idled mine was sold to Conuma Resources, a coal miner with operations in the region.

The penalty was the largest ever issued by the BC Ministry of the Environment under the Environmental Management Act when it was first handed down in 2021. Amongst the infractions were the mine’s failure to limit the discharge of selenium into three nearby creeks and rivers, BIV reported.

In the original 2022 decision to penalize the company, Peace River’s mine was reportedly found to have breached selenium discharge limits by as much as 350% between 2016 and 2019.

“The company’s environmental permit was initially issued on October 31, 2015. It recognizes that effluent from the mine site is directed to a set of sedimentation ponds. One permit required that Peace River construct and start operating a second water treatment facility on Gordon Creek, downstream of the sedimentation ponds, by March 31, 2017, to reduce selenium levels in Gordon Creek. In May 2016, Peace River applied for an amendment to the permit to delay the construction of the second facility,” the ruling reads.

The director designed under the Environmental Management Act concluded that Peace River had violated the permit by not submitting quarterly reports (six times) and one annual report as required. These infractions came with a C$4,200 penalty.

The director also determined that the selenium concentrations at the site’s two monitoring stations exceeded those allowed under the permit. While considered a “moderate” contravention by the director, the company was charged a C$5,000 penalty, plus 10% to reflect the economic benefit that it experienced as a result of its noncompliance.

Furthermore, the director determined that there were 40 exceedances at a second monitoring station, downstream of the planned location of the second facility. This was a “major” contravention, according to the director, who fined Peace River a base amount of C$20,000 per case.

Four other coal mines in the province

Conuma Resources resumed mining at its Quintette coal mine in northeastern BC last year, 24 years after it was placed in care and maintenance. It now operates four mines in the province — Brule, Wolverine, Willow Creek and Quintette — the last of which was acquired in 2022 from Teck Resources for $120 million.

In June 2024, the company was fined for over 400 environmental protection violations committed between 2020 and 2023 at its Brule mine site. These infractions included failing to monitor mine waste discharge into fish-bearing waters and neglecting to limit airborne particulate emissions.