Claude Resources has been fined $172,000 for a January 2013 diesel leak at the Seabee goldmine, about 125 kilometers northeast of La Ronge.
The company recently pleaded guilty in La Ronge provincial court to charges under Saskatchewan’s Fisheries and Environmental Protection Act.
About 24,000 litres of diesel fuel leaked from the storage tank.
Daryl Minter, a compliance manger with the provincial environment department, says this type of spill can cause a lot of damage.
“A spill of 24,000 litres has the potential to be quite devastating on any environment, particularly on one of the northern lakes,” he says. “However, because the lake was covered with ice at the time of the spill, it made containment and clean up easier which reduced the actual environmental damage.”
Investigators determined the tank had been serviced by an uncertified installer and that a connection point failure resulted in the spill.
The spill affected an area along a shoreline and had to be contained with booms on the lake.
Environment officials concluded the spill was preventable and proceeded with charges against the company.
Clean up of the spill is still not completely done.