Washington state has fined Crown Resources Corp. $395,000 for water quality violations at a gold mine near the Canadian border in north-central Washington.
The state Department of Ecology said in a statement Friday that the Buckhorn Mine near Chesaw failed to contain spring rains and snow melt, resulting in contaminated water reaching Gold Bowl Creek. The agency says water management during spring snow melt has been a well-documented problem at the mine.
Since operations began at the mine in 2007, Ecology has issued $62,000 in penalties over issues including storm water and slope failures to Crown Resources, which is a subsidiary of Toronto-based Kinross Gold Corp. Crown Resources has 30 days to pay the penalty or file an appeal with the state Pollution Control Hearings Board.
