EDMONTON - The Alberta Energy Regulator says two companies have been charged over a huge spill from a coal tailings pond that fouled tributaries that feed the Athabasca River.
An estimated 670 million litres of waste water gushed out of a broken earth berm at the Obed Mountain mine near Hinton on Oct. 31, 2013.
Coal Valley Resources Inc. and Sherritt International Corp. (TSX:S) face six charges under the Environmental Protection Act, Public Lands Act and Water Act.
The companies are to appear in Hinton provincial court on on Jan. 20.
At the time of the spill, Coal Valley operated the mine as a subsidiary of Sherritt.
An Environment Canada database said shortly afterwards that the spill contained damaging compounds such as arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead and manganese.