British Columbia has fined Barrick Gold $114,750 for exceeding the amount of cobalt in effluent from its decommissioned Nickel Plate gold mine outside Hedley, B.C., on 17 occasions from 2021 to 2023, when effluent flowed into Hedley Creek.
Cobalt can be toxic at high concentrations and is especially detrimental to invertebrate aquatic species. In B.C. it has a maximum limit of 0.9 parts per billion.
The administrative penalty is the second against the mining company in the past three years for excesses of the heavy metal into Hedley Creek, a tributary of the Similkameen River. Barrick was previously fined $35,000 in 2022 for failing to comply with the cobalt limit on 52 occasions between 2019 and 2020.
In its final determination about the penalty, the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Parks, Compliance and Environmental Enforcement Branch, wrote that the mining company Barrick “has indirectly and informally” taken issue with the cobalt limit for about a decade.
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“Barrick continues to argue that the cobalt limit is too stringent and out-of-date,” the ministry states.
The company has argued to the ministry that due to the unique “complexed” form of cobalt present in Hedley Creek, it is significantly less toxic to aquatic life.
As of March 5, 2025, however, the ministry noted that Barrick has “still not submitted a permit amendment application to increase the cobalt limit.”
Barrick has also been working on a new water treatment system at the B.C. mine.
Headquartered in Toronto, Barrick Gold Corporation is a mining company that produces gold and copper with 16 operating sites in 13 countries.
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