Steel giant ArcelorMittal fined $72M for polluting rivers in Quebec  

ArcelorMittal Exploitation Minière Canada s.e.n.c. (AMEM) was sentenced on May 15 by the Court of Québec to pay a fine of C$100 million ($72.4m), after pleading guilty to 100 counts of violating the Fisheries Act.  

ArcelorMittal Mining Canada LLP is the largest Canadian supplier of iron ore to the global steel market.

The conviction relates to various deposits of deleterious substances that took place between May 2014 and May 2022. 

The company, which operates mines in Mont-Wright and Fire Lake in Quebec, is 85% majority-owned and managed by the ArcelorMittal group, with the remaining 15% owned by a consortium led by POSCO and China Steel Corporation. 

AMEM was sentenced to pay C$1 million per count. The total fine is the highest ever imposed in Canada under the Fisheries Act, Environment and Climate Change Canada said in a news release.  

The amount of C$99,999,900 will be directed to the Government of Canada’s Environmental Damages Fund and will support projects that have a positive impact on Canada’s natural environments. 

In addition to the fine, the Court ordered AMEM to reimburse the cost of the investigation, nearly C$250,000.  

The Court also ordered AMEM to produce a detailed action plan specifying, among other things, effluent management measures for the Mont-Wright and Fire Lake mining complexes, as well as measures connected to mine drainage at the Mont-Wright complex.  

The company must submit this plan to Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers by mid-February 2027. 

The charges relate to the deposits of deleterious substances by the Mont-Wright mining complex and the Fire Lake mine into several streams and lakes frequented by fish in the Fermont region. 

The investigations, which began in 2018, revealed that AMEM illegally deposited or permitted the deposit of deleterious substances into water frequented by fish or in any place where there was a risk of these substances entering such water, in violation of subsection 36(3) of the Fisheries Act.  

The substances involved are low-pH effluents (acidic); effluents containing elevated concentrations of zinc, nickel, or suspended solids and effluents that are toxic to fish.  

According to the investigations, these unauthorized deposits were related to several factors associated with the planning of activities, the effectiveness of mitigation measures, and the lack of robust effluent treatment systems, which led to discharges in several areas of the Mont-Wright and Fire Lake sites. 

The waters in which there were deposits or the risk of deposits are the Petite rivière Manicouagan and Lac Irène, and tributaries of Lac Saint-Ange. The Lac Saint-Ange sub-watershed is a significant tributary of the rivière Moisie, which is a proposed province aquatic reserve. 

In a release issued the same day, the company said 96% of the offences to which ArcelorMittal pleaded guilty occurred in 2018 or earlier.  

“Since then, ArcelorMittal has invested over C$400 million in extensive permanent water control and treatment infrastructure designed to address operational and environmental water management challenges both on and around its sites,” the company said.  

“The settlement reached and announced today marks the end of this chapter,” ArcelorMittal Mining Canada CEO Mapi Mobwano said in the statement. “We are committed to improving the environmental performance of our operations.” 

“I am confident that the measures we have taken will prevent such situations from recurring,” Mobwano said. “The communities near our operating sites are extremely important to us, and we will continue to ensure that we are making the right decisions to protect the environment.”